#35

Daniel Bituli

Senior linebacker for Tennessee. 2019: 86 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 3 sacks.

LB · Tennessee · Sr. · #35

6′3″ · 252 lb · Nashville, TN

Tennessee 2019 alumnus

Recruiting

4★

OLB recruit

No. 217 nationally · Signed with Tennessee

Statement game19 tackles · 0.5 TFLat Kentucky (FBS) · W 17-13

Top 0.1% tackles game since 2021.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 linebacker for Tennessee. 2019: 86 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 3 sacks.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Tennessee in 2016.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Tennessee, 264 tackles — his college career is complete.

His career

He was on the field for 4 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

20164 games

Signed with Tennessee4-star out of Nashville Christian

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#217 national

CFB

College

Tennessee

2016–2019

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2016–2019

2 coaches

2016–2017

Butch Jones

Tennessee

2018–2019

Jeremy Pruitt

Tennessee

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Butch Jones → Jeremy Pruitt. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2019 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2016Tennessee9-4HC: Butch Jones · Run-leaning

2017Tennessee4-8HC: Butch Jones · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2018Tennessee5-7HC: Jeremy Pruitt · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2019Tennessee8-5HC: Jeremy Pruitt · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: solo tackles (95th percentile). Strength: tackles (95th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Solo tackles#122 / 2688 · 95th pct

Tackles#139 / 2688 · 95th pct

Sacks#322 / 2688 · 86th pct

3.0

QB hurries#308 / 2688 · 85th pct

Passes defended#749 / 2688 · 66th pct

Tackles for loss#1061 / 2688 · 57th pct

3.0

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2019 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	6.4	0.2	0.0	0.3
Road4g	10.2	0.4	0.8	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-75g	5.4	0.1	0.4	0.2
Weeks 8+6g	9.8	0.4	0.2	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

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

Awards

Player standing · 2019

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2019	Tennessee	86	50	3.0	3.0	2	--	--
2018	Tennessee	79	39	6.5	1.0	1	--	--
2017	Tennessee	90	42	3.0	0.0	2	1	--
2016	Tennessee	9	7	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		264	138	12.5	4.0	5	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 19 · 2019

W 23–22

vs Indiana

6 TOT · 4 SOLO · 0 TFL

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 1 at home.

With T. Chandler — 35 rush yds (12 car) · P. Brooks — 37 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 43 LONG

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2019 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 3	W 45-0vs Chattanooga	2	2	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 4	L 3-34@ Florida	6	3	0.0	2.0	—	0	2 sacks
Wk 6	L 14-43vs Georgia	6	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 7	W 20-10vs Mississippi State	7	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 8	L 13-35@ Alabama	4	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 9	W 41-21vs South Carolina	15	11	1.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 10	W 30-7vs UAB	1	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	W 17-13@ Kentucky	19	10	0.5	0.0	—	0	Season-high 19 tackles
Wk 13	W 24-20@ Missouri	12	10	1.0	1.0	—	0
Wk 14	W 28-10vs Vanderbilt	8	4	0.0	0.0	—	0
Bowl	W 23-22vs Indiana	6	4	0.5	0.0	—	0
Total		86	50	3.0	3.0	—	2

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

Daniel Bituli

20164 games

2019 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

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