Senior safety for West Virginia. 2025: 1 interception, 4 pass breakups, 31 tackles.
5′10″ · 185 lb · Birmingham, AL
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.
How he plays
Moves between deep coverage and the slot.
Passes defended: 86th percentile.
The full scouting readThe numbers
interception · 2025
4 PBU · 31 tackles · 2 TFL
Best game: 8 tackles, vs Utah
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
4 safety for West Virginia. 2025: 1 interception, 4 pass breakups, 31 tackles.
Derek Carter
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Third year in the West Virginia secondary, same address the whole way. 2023 brought the first one: All-Conference USA. One game to point at: 8 tackles, 2 TFL against Utah — Week 5, 2025.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
His career
He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 2ND TEAM
All-Conference USA 2nd team (2023)
Coaching lineage · 2023–2025
3 coachesPlayed under 3 different head coaches: Neal Brown, Chad Scott, and Rich Rodriguez. Multi-era developmental context.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Elite: passes defended (86th percentile). Concern: qb hurries (22nd 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
2025 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 5.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Road6g | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 4.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Rich Rodriguez
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2025
Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
Recognition
Production · CFB Index Score
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big 12
Based on 2025: #22 of 40 Big 12 Ss
15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | West Virginia | 31 | 21 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 4 | 1 | -- |
| 2024 | Jacksonville State | 31 | 21 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | Jacksonville State | 44 | 26 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 8 | -- | -- |
| Career | 106 | 68 | 5.5 | 0.0 | 13 | 2 | -- |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 9 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | L 10-17@ Ohio | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 10-41@ Kansas | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | L 14-48vs Utah | 8 | 7 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 6 | L 24-38@ BYU | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 13-45@ UCF | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 17-23vs TCU | 7 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 10 | W 45-35@ Houston | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 29-22vs Colorado | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 23-25@ Arizona State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 31 | 21 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 4 |
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
CFB Index positional classification
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
31 tackles. 4 passes defended. 1 interceptions. 2 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.
2026 Outlook
West Virginia
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Safety · West Virginia
Returning around him
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
West Virginia · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #49 · 2026 recruiting class #25
Player DNA
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to LJ Early’s 2021 season.
Matches LJ on
Differs from LJ on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Andrew Duhart's junior season at Navy (2024).
Matches Andrew on
Player DNA