Daveren Rayner is a linebacker who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Kentucky.
Rayner carries tight ends down the field in coverage. The six seasons span two programs and two head coaches: Thomas Hammock and Mark Stoops. The first one came in 2025: SEC Defensive Player of the Week. A game that shows it: 15 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss against Vanderbilt — Week 13, 2025.
Play style
Carries tight ends and patrols the middle of the field in coverage.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
69 tackles. 4 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 6.5 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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kentucky | 69 | 32 | 6.5 | 2.0 | 4 | 2 |
| 2024 | Kentucky | 13 | 7 | 3.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Kentucky | 30 | 18 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2022 | Northern Illinois | 71 | 30 | 5.0 | 3.5 | -- | -- |
| 2021 | Northern Illinois | 30 | 24 | 1.0 | 1.0 | -- | -- |
| 2020 | Northern Illinois | 27 | 10 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3 | -- |
| Career | 240 | 121 | 20.5 | 7.5 | 8 | 2 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 24-16vs Toledo | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 23-30vs No. 20 Ole Miss | 8 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 48-23vs Eastern Michigan | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 13-35@ South Carolina | 7 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 14-35@ No. 12 Georgia | 4 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 13-16vs No. 21 Texas | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 34-56vs No. 17 Tennessee | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 10-3@ Auburn | 8 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 38-7vs Florida | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 42-10vs Tennessee Tech | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 17-45@ No. 12 Vanderbilt | 15 | 8 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 15 tackles |
| Wk 14 | L 0-41@ Louisville | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Total | 69 | 32 | 6.5 | 2.0 | 2 | 4 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
69tackles this seasonTFL rate
9%6 TFLSack rate
3%2 sacksPD rate
6%4 pass breakups69 tackles · 6.5 for loss · 2 sacks · 2 interceptions.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 4.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Road5g | 7.4 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 5.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 5.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mark Stoops
Pass share
46.2%
366 pass / 427 run
Plays / game
66.1
12 games
Team sack rate
6.8%
409 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2025
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS linebacker who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #68 at the position.
2026 outlook
In the mix for All-SEC
Based on 2025: #10 of 76 SEC LBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).
The No. 2,058 recruit in the country is starting at linebacker in the SEC as a senior.
A stat line in 47 games over six seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2020–2025
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Thomas Hammock and Mark Stoops.
