Former defensive end at Cincinnati. Career stats, games and honors on CFB Zeitgeist.
6′3″ · 265 lb · Norfolk, VA
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
Recruiting
DT recruit
No. 1434 nationally · Signed with Temple
Statement game5 tackles · 3.5 TFL · 3.5 sacksvs Tulsa (FBS) · L 16-27
Top 1% sacks game since 2021.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
Former defensive end at Cincinnati. Career stats, games and honors on CFB Zeitgeist.
Darian Varner
Holds up snap after snap without a weakness to attack. Darian Varner has played for four head coaches across four seasons and three programs. His first career honor landed in 2022: All-AAC. The receipt on tape: 3 tackles against Pittsburgh, Week 2, 2024.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Four seasons at Cincinnati, 10 sacks, a first-team All-Conference season (2022) — his college career is complete.
His career
Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.
The snaps went the other way.
The role got bigger.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AAC · 1ST TEAM
All-AAC 1st team (2022)
Coaching lineage · 2021–2024
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Luke Fickell → Scott Satterfield. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Elite: forced fumbles (95th percentile). Concern: solo tackles (2nd percentile).
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 · Per-game
2024 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 1.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 1.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Scott Satterfield
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2024
Tackle volume for the position at the early end of the ladder.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Cincinnati | 11 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | 1 |
| 2023 | Wisconsin | 5 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Temple | 35 | 25 | 12.5 | 7.5 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | Temple | 22 | 17 | 7.0 | 3.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 73 | 47 | 22.5 | 10.5 | -- | -- | 1 |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2024
W 38–20
vs Towson
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 8 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-20vs Towson | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 27-28vs Pittsburgh | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 3 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 27-16@ Miami (OH) | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 41-44@ Texas Tech | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 24-14vs Arizona State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 17-34@ Iowa State | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 15-41@ Kansas State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 13-20vs TCU | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 11 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
Play style
No single standout number, but nothing missing either — competent across the board.
CFB Index positional classification
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
11 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Player DNA
No single standout number, but nothing missing either — competent across the board.
His 2024 production profile sits closest to Hardrick Willis’s 2021 season.
Matches Hardrick on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Philip Blidi's senior season at Indiana (2023).
Matches Philip on
Player DNA