cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Elias Rudolph /UNLV

Elias Rudolph

LB · UNLV · Fr · #91

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

10 TACKLES · 1.5 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to UNLV for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to UNLV for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · UNLV

Returning around him

  • 15% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: +0 net (15 in / 15 out)

2026 Award watch

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

UNLV · Last season: 10-4 · Talent rank #51 · 2026 recruiting class #95

LB · UNLV · MOUNTAIN WEST

Elias Rudolph

  • 1
  • #91
  • 6-5 | 205 lb
  • Deerfield Beach, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

33

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 74th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#7999

<1% win probability

Fan Belief

Awaiting

Player-specific FI not yet ingested. Falls back to team mood below.

Respect Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

Reality Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

ACCOLADE PROBABILITY

Heisman

<1%

TOP LB AWARD

Butkus

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 1 · 2-deep

R03 · Backup

Backup. On the two-deep, pushing for snaps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★★
#362 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionLB
Class1
Jersey91
Measurements6-5 | 205 lb
HometownDeerfield Beach, FL
Primary teamUNLV

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 4-star No. 362 recruit
Composite rating 0.8999 HighSchool
Signed with Miami 2024
Origin Taft Cincinnati, OH, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 4-star | 0.8999 No. 362 recruit | HighSchool | Miami

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
Season Move Context
No transfer portal moves on file for this player.

Heisman Lens · 2024 Season · Final

Where the player landed at the end of the listed season — final nowcast rank, win/finalist/ballot probabilities, and the cleanest official Heisman placement on file.

HIGH CONFIDENCE· through week 16
Current nowcast#7999Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#7688Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman Futures

Not yet listed on major futures markets.

No achievements unlocked yet this season.

Selector Grid · 2025

AP
FWAA
AFCA
WCFF
SN
SI

Selector recognition fills in once the major honors lists (AP, FWAA, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, SI) are scraped and ingested.

NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft

Market value, pedigree & pro outcome

Recruit stars

★★★★☆

to Miami

Composite

0.8999

#362 national

Today’s Hot-Take

The Hot-Take engine fires when this player’s percentile profile crosses a defensible threshold (top 10% in a cohort, 100+ snap sample). When it’s quiet, the model is honoring its “must be defensible” rule.

Anti-Take

PENDING

The contrarian read fires when the rules-engine detects a stat that complicates the Hot-Take. Quiet here means the model hasn’t found a defensible counter yet — not that one doesn’t exist.

The Room on Elias Rudolph

Fan sentiment · Awaiting signal

The Room reads fan conversation around a player — who’s talking, what they believe, and how that shifts. It publishes once weekly volume rebuilds; for most players that’s in-season, when game-week chatter spikes.

Cohort divergence map

Cohort divergence reads how different fanbases talk about this player. Returns once weekly mentions clear the publish floor.

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Elias Rudolph

No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.

Signature Story

Awaiting candidate metric

He hasn't written his page yet — we'll start filling it in when there are enough snaps to rank against his peers.

Signature Moment

No signature moment on the ledger yet.

Returns once this player puts together a multi-game body of work — single-game flashes alone don't clear the bar.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 6g
10Tackles
1.5Tackles for loss
1.5Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
22Tackles
3.2Tackles for loss
3.2Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 10): needs 10/game over remaining 7.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 10): needs 12.9/game over remaining 7.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1.5): needs 0.6/game over remaining 7.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1.5): needs 1.2/game over remaining 7.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Elias Rudolph is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on UNLV's defense, with 1.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, and -- interceptions through the current loaded season. For a defender, the question is never just production; it is whether elite disruption and team context can become nationally undeniable.

Current place #7999 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 362 recruit

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

DEF season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Total tackles 10 6 solo | #2859/4942 (42nd pct)
TFL 1.5 Backfield disruption | #1771/4972 (64th pct)
Sacks 1.5 Pass-rush finish | #724/4972 (85th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defender

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
10 42nd
SOLO
6 43rd
TFL
1.5 64th
SACK
1.5 85th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 6 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 38-21@ Sam Houston210.00.00
Wk 7W 51-48vs Air Force210.00.00
Wk 8L 31-56@ Boise State110.00.00
Wk 10L 35-40vs New Mexico110.00.00
Wk 11W 42-10@ Colorado State321.01.00Season-high 3 tackles
Wk 12W 29-26vs Utah State100.50.50
Total1061.51.50
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2024Miami10-3HC: Mario Cristobal · Balanced, fast tempo
2025UNLV10-4HC: Dan Mullen · Run-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025UNLV1061.51.5------
2024Miami1--0.00.0------
Career2 loaded seasons1161.51.5------
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

Every percentile is compared against players at the same position and level, so an FBS quarterback is judged against FBS quarterbacks, not the whole sport.

Traditional first

The top tables stick to the stats fans already know from broadcasts and box scores. Advanced context is pushed underneath instead of replacing the basics.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 0 Coverage disruption
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 10 #2859/4942 42nd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 1.5 #1771/4972 64th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.5 #724/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 6 #2592/4584 43rd pct Volumevs FBS DEF

Player Standing

Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION · Rung None of 16

Why he’s here

Standing classification populates when honors, Heisman, and roster signals all align.

What moves him up

What moves him down

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Butkus award tracker integrates per-week probability once a dedicated scraper for this award lands. Confirmed past winners and finalists for this player will surface here.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 6 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home3g1.30.20.20.0
Road3g2.00.30.30.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins4g2.00.40.40.0
Losses2g1.00.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-72g2.00.00.00.0
Weeks 8+4g1.50.40.40.0

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

33Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles (1st).

Sacks#707 / 2975 · 74th pct
1.5defe
Tackles for loss#1711 / 2975 · 39th pct
1.5defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe
Solo tackles#2560 / 2975 · 12th pct
6defe
Tackles#2859 / 2975 · 2nd pct
10defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · LB · 2024

Percentile Card

Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.

P4G5All FBS
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

Advanced Savant

Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.

Advanced opponent-adjusted metrics are coming soon for this player. Selected cohort: P4.

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 6 metrics
Elias RudolphUNLVMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 44% simJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 43% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 42% sim
Sacks
74
Rudolph
89
Montgomery
63
Vaughns
24
Martin
Tackles for loss
39
Rudolph
85
Montgomery
85
Vaughns
63
Martin
QB hurries
22
Rudolph
22
Montgomery
22
Vaughns
22
Martin
Passes defended
18
Rudolph
67
Montgomery
48
Vaughns
67
Martin
Solo tackles
12
Rudolph
82
Montgomery
96
Vaughns
87
Martin
Tackles
2
Rudolph
99
Montgomery
99
Vaughns
98
Martin

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Dan Mullen

Pass share

46.5%

423 pass / 487 run

Plays / game

65.0

14 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.8%

283 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

2 coaches
2024
Barry Odom
UNLV
2025
Dan Mullen
UNLV
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Barry Odom → Dan Mullen. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownDeerfield Beach, FL
Height6'5"
Weight205 lb
Class1
PositionLB
Jersey91

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

No formal honors on the ledger yet

All-America, all-conference, player-of-the-week, watch-list, and postseason awards land here when they're earned. The absence is the signal: most players never collect formal honors, and that's its own kind of context.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
No formal honors on the ledger yet. All-America, all-conference, weekly awards, watch lists, and postseason trophies land here when they’re earned.

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Miami LB1 #7999 #7688 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 UNLV Mountain West LB 1 No. 91 | 6-5 | 205 lb | Deerfield Beach, FL
2024 Miami ACC LB 1 No. 91 | 6-5 | 205 lb | Deerfield Beach, FL