#90

Dominic Bailey

Senior defensive lineman for Tennessee. 2025: 4.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss, 27 tackles.

DL · Tennessee · Sr. · #90

6′3″ · 292 lb · Baltimore, MD

CFB Index 69 · #98 of 420 edge rushersLow confidenceReturning to Tennessee for 2026

How he plays

Disrupts the pocket from the interior.

Sacks: 95th percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

4.5

sacks · 2025

6.5 TFL · 27 tackles · 4 hurries

Best game: 1 sacks, 1 TFL, 5 tackles, vs Georgia

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 defensive lineman for Tennessee. 2025: 4.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss, 27 tackles.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Tennessee in 2020.

His career, year by year

Dominic Bailey

DL · Tennessee · Sr · #90

Disrupts the pocket from the interior. This is his fifth year in the same defensive front at Tennessee. The receipt on tape: 5 tackles, 1 sacks against Georgia, Week 3, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
seasons on the roster
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

5 seasons under Josh Heupel — 45-20 over that span.

2021Tennessee7-6HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy, fast tempo

2022Tennessee11-2HC: Josh Heupel · Run-leaning

2023Tennessee9-4HC: Josh Heupel · Run-leaning

2024Tennessee10-3HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy

2025Tennessee8-5HC: Josh Heupel · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

69Quality starter #98 of 420?

Medium confidenceSustained Ascent6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sacks (95th percentile). Strength: qb hurries (88th percentile). Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Sacks#136 / 2975 · 95th pct

4.5

QB hurries#288 / 2975 · 88th pct

Tackles for loss#340 / 2975 · 87th pct

6.5

Tackles#1543 / 2975 · 47th pct

Solo tackles#1855 / 2975 · 35th pct

Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct

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

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home8g	2.5	0.4	0.3	0.0
Road5g	1.4	0.6	0.4	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	2.3	0.4	0.4	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	1.8	0.6	0.3	0.0

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 · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

69 · #98 of 420 edge rushers

Former four-star. Now #98 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-SEC

Based on 2025: #8 of 60 SEC DLs

How the All-SEC estimate is computed

35% estimated, 95% confidence interval 31–38%. 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.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Tennessee	27	11	6.5	4.5	--	--	--
2024	Tennessee	25	10	3.5	2.0	--	--	--
2023	Tennessee	13	7	0.5	0.5	--	--	--
2022	Tennessee	10	3	1.0	0.0	--	--	--
2021	Tennessee	1	--	0.0	0.0	1	--	--
Career		76	31	11.5	7.0	1	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2025

W 72–17

vs East Tennessee State

2 TOT

Dominant 55-point win at home against East Tennessee State.

With J. Aguilar — 288 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 74.4 · J. Merklinger — 118 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 89.8 · 17 rush yds (2 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 45-26vs Syracuse	2	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 2	W 72-17vs East Tennessee State	2	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 3	L 41-44vs Georgia	5	1	1.0	1.0	—	Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 4	W 56-24vs UAB	1	0	0.5	0.0	—
Wk 5	W 41-34@ Mississippi State	1	1	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 7	W 34-31vs Arkansas	3	0	0.5	0.5	—
Wk 8	L 20-37@ Alabama	0	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 9	W 56-34@ Kentucky	3	2	2.0	1.0	—
Wk 10	L 27-33vs Oklahoma	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 12	W 42-9vs New Mexico State	3	2	1.5	1.0	—
Wk 13	W 31-11@ Florida	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 14	L 24-45vs Vanderbilt	3	2	0.0	0.0	—
Bowl	L 28-30@ Illinois	2	1	0.0	0.0	—
Total		27	11	6.5	4.5	—

How he plays

Play style

Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

13 games

27Tackles

11Solo

6.5TFL

4.5Sacks

0Pass def.

0INT

27 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 6.5 TFL.

Week 31 sack
Week 51 sack
Week 70.5 sacks
Week 91 sack
Week 121 sack

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

Tennessee

Preseason read · May 27

2026 Depth chart

Returning starter

Defensive line · Tennessee

Returning around him

5 Tennessee players drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: -8 net (21 in / 29 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Tennessee · Last season: 8-5 (AP #18) · Talent rank #13 · 2026 recruiting class #8

DNA match

Player DNA

3-Tech Penetrator

Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jacob Merrifield’s 2024 season.

Jacob Merrifield

86%match

Florida Atlantic · 2024

Nate Clifton

Vanderbilt · 2023

85%

Etinosa Reuben

Clemson · 2021

84%

Kyon Barrs

Arizona · 2021

All-Pac-12

82%

Amari McNeill

Colorado · 2024

82%

Matches Jacob on

TFL rate

Hurry rate

Weight

Differs from Jacob on

Height (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Martez Poynter's graduate season at Toledo (2025).

Martez Poynter

80%match

Toledo · 2025

All-MAC

Jared Harrison-Hunte

SMU · 2024

All-ACC

75%

Rylie Mills

Notre Dame · 2024

NFL Rd 5

74%

Amin Vanover

Penn State · 2024

72%

Xavier Ross

Oklahoma State · 2024

71%

Matches Martez on

Weight

TFL rate

Sack rate

Differs from Martez on

Hurry rate (lower)

Player DNA

Players who play like Dominic Bailey

Gavin Meyer

Wyoming · 2023

92%

Ricky Barber

UCF · 2024

90%

Tyler Onyedim

Iowa State · 2024

90%

Ashun Shepphard

Mississippi State · 2024

90%

Dominique Ratcliff

Texas State · 2024

90%

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

2020

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

3-Tech Penetrator

Players who play like Dominic Bailey