Dallas Payne

Senior tight end for Florida International. 2025: 27 catches, 293 receiving yards, 4 TD.

TE · Florida International · Sr.

6′4″ · 250 lb · Bay Saint Louis, MS

CFB Index 51 · #63 of 156 TEsMedium-low confidenceIn transfer portal — destination TBD (from Florida Internati

How he plays

Shows up in the passing game from any alignment.

Catch rate: 82nd percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

293

receiving yards · 2025

27 catches · 4 TD · 10.9 per catch

Best game: 4 rec, 100 yds, 1 TD, vs Sam Houston

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 tight end for Florida International. 2025: 27 catches, 293 receiving yards, 4 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to UAB in 2022.

His career, year by year

Dallas Payne

TE · Florida International · Sr

Shows up in the passing game from any alignment. Dallas Payne has played for three head coaches across four seasons and two programs. The receipt on tape: 100 rec yds, 4 receptions against Sam Houston, Week 14, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2022UAB7-6HC: Bryant Vincent · Run-heavy

2023UAB4-8HC: Trent Dilfer · Balanced

2024UAB3-9HC: Trent Dilfer · Balanced

2025Florida International7-6HC: Willie Simmons · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

51Rotational starter #63 of 156?

Medium-low confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: catch rate (82nd percentile). Strength: rec tds (80th percentile). Concern: td rate (18th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Catch rate#142 / 798 · 82nd pct

77.4%

EPA / target#169 / 798 · 79th pct

0.60

Explosive rate#411 / 798 · 48th pct

9.7%

Yards / catch#565 / 798 · 29th pct

9.9

TD rate#507 / 798 · 18th pct

0.0%

Box-score rates (5)

Rec TDs#27 / 175 · 80th pct

Long catch#56 / 175 · 67th pct

Receptions#66 / 175 · 61st pct

Rec yards#75 / 175 · 57th pct

293

Yards / catch#77 / 175 · 55th pct

10.9

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

32%10 of his 31 targets came on third down · TE median is 22%

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home5g	2.4	16.0	6.9	0.0
Road6g	2.5	35.5	13.0	0.7

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-75g	1.8	16.0	8.7	0.2
Weeks 8+6g	3.0	35.5	11.4	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Willie Simmons

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

51 · #63 of 156 TEs

Three-star recruit. Now #63 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Florida International	27	293	10.9	4	--
2024	UAB	17	192	11.3	1	--
2023	UAB	18	190	10.6	0	--
2022	UAB	3	20	6.7	0	--
Career		65	695	10.7	5	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2025

W 42–9

vs Bethune-Cookman

1 rec · 7 yds

Dominant 33-point win at home against Bethune-Cookman.

With K. Jenkins — 187 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 48.8 · 3 rush yds (5 car) · 2 TD · T. Wilhoit — 51 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 51 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 13 · Jacksonville State · 4&3 · Q2 · EPA +2.90(01:59) No Huddle-Shotgun #16 J.Pesansky pass complete short left to #0 D.Payne caught at FIU49, for 9 yards to the JSU46 (#1 C.Nix), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 10 · Missouri State · 3&4 · Q1 · EPA +2.72No Huddle-Shotgun #1 K.Jenkins pass complete short right to #0 D.Payne caught at MSU00, for 6 yards to the MSU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 01:04, 1ST DOWN #16 N.Grant kick attempt good (H: #6 T.Wilhoit, LS: #47 J.Wood)
Week 1 · UTSA · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.65Dallas Payne 22 Yd pass from Joe Pesansky (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed)
Week 11 · Middle Tennessee · 2&2 · Q3 · EPA +2.49(02:17) No Huddle-Shotgun #16 J.Pesansky pass complete deep left to #0 D.Payne caught at MTSU03, for 30 yards to the MTSU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:16, 1ST DOWN #16 N.Grant kick attempt good (H: #6 T.Wilhoit, LS: #47 J.Wood)
Week 14 · Sam Houston · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.34No Huddle-Shotgun #1 K.Jenkins pass complete short left to #0 D.Payne caught at FIU50, for 42 yards to the SAM20 (#7 E.Allen; #24 C.Brown), 1ST DOWN
Week 14 · Sam Houston · 2&4 · Q1 · EPA +2.33No Huddle-Shotgun #1 K.Jenkins pass complete short left to #0 D.Payne caught at SAM02, for 4 yards to the SAM00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:46 #16 N.Grant kick attempt good (H: #6 T.Wilhoit, LS: #47 J.Wood)
Week 12 · Liberty · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA +2.33(01:43) Shotgun #16 J.Pesansky pass complete short right to #0 D.Payne caught at FIU49, for 4 yards to the LIB46 (#29 A.Jones), 1ST DOWN
Week 10 · Missouri State · 4&3 · Q1 · EPA +2.24No Huddle #0 D.Payne pass complete short middle to #18 J.Stone caught at FIU25, for 12 yards to the FIU39 (#27 D.Rutherford), 1ST DOWN
Week 14 · Sam Houston · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.24Shotgun #1 K.Jenkins pass complete short left to #0 D.Payne caught at FIU44, for 25 yards to the FIU50 (#0 A.Edwards Jr.), 1ST DOWN
Week 8 · Western Kentucky · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +1.81Joe Pesansky pass complete to Dallas Payne for 9 yds to the FIU 36 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 42-9vs Bethune-Cookman	1	7	7.0	0	7
Wk 2	L 0-34@ Penn State	2	18	9.0	0	10
Wk 3	W 38-28vs Florida Atlantic	1	7	7.0	0	7
Wk 4	L 16-38vs Delaware	3	21	7.0	0	9
Wk 8	W 25-6@ Western Kentucky	3	23	7.7	0	9
Wk 10	L 21-28@ Missouri State	2	8	4.0	1	6
Wk 11	W 56-30@ Middle Tennessee	2	37	18.5	1	30
Wk 12	W 34-27vs Liberty	4	21	5.3	0	14
Wk 13	W 27-21vs Jacksonville State	3	24	8.0	0	11
Wk 14	W 56-16@ Sam Houston	4	100	25.0	1	42	Season-high 100 yds
Bowl	L 20-57@ UTSA	2	27	13.5	1	22
Total		27	293	10.2	4	42

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Dallas Payne

2022

202511 games

2026

2025 snapshot

Situational

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Complete TE

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