#40

Elijah Chatman

Senior defensive tackle for SMU. 2023: 4.5 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, 31 tackles.

DT · SMU · Sr. · #40

6′0″ · 278 lb · Shreveport, LA

CFB Index 87 · #15 of 302 interior linemenLow confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamSMU 2023 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

DT recruit

No. 2181 nationally · Signed with SMU

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 defensive tackle for SMU. 2023: 4.5 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, 31 tackles.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to SMU in 2019.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at SMU, 144 tackles, a first-team All-Conference season (2023) — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20197 games

Signed with SMU3-star out of Evangel Christian Academy

202112 games

All-AACsecond

202212 games

All-AACsecond

202312 games

All-AACfirst

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#2181 national

CFB

College

SMU

2019–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

6 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-AAC · 1ST TEAM

All-AAC 1st team (2023)

Coaching lineage · 2019–2023

3 coaches

2019–2020

Sonny Dykes

SMU

2021

Jim Leavitt

SMU

era →

2022–2023

Rhett Lashlee

SMU

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Sonny Dykes, Jim Leavitt, and Rhett Lashlee. Multi-era developmental context.

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019SMU10-3HC: Sonny Dykes · Balanced, fast tempo

2020SMU7-3HC: Sonny Dykes · Balanced

2021SMU8-4HC: Jim Leavitt · Balanced

2022SMU7-6HC: Rhett Lashlee · Balanced, fast tempo

2023SMU11-3HC: Rhett Lashlee · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

87All-Conference level #15 of 302?

Low confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sacks (94th percentile). Strength: tackles for loss (92nd percentile). Concern: passes defended (19th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Sacks#163 / 2842 · 94th pct

4.5

Tackles for loss#215 / 2842 · 92nd pct

8.0

QB hurries#369 / 2842 · 83rd pct

Solo tackles#992 / 2842 · 64th pct

Tackles#1248 / 2842 · 55th pct

Passes defended#1751 / 2842 · 19th 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

2023 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	1.8	0.3	0.1	0.0
Road6g	3.3	1.0	0.7	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.3	0.6	0.2	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	2.8	0.8	0.6	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Rhett Lashlee

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

87 · #15 of 302 interior linemen

Three-star recruit. Now #15 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	SMU	31	21	8.0	4.5	--	--	--
2022	SMU	37	21	4.0	3.0	--	--	--
2021	SMU	40	25	10.0	2.5	--	--	--
2020	SMU	25	22	7.5	3.0	--	--	--
2019	SMU	11	7	3.5	0.5	--	--	--
Career		144	96	33.0	13.5	--	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 12 · 2023

W 38–34

at Memphis

1 QB HUR · 2 SOLO · 2 TOT

Edged out Memphis on the road in a shootout.

With P. Stone — 286 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 92.5 · 10 rush yds (8 car) · 1 TD · R. Daniels — 3 rec · 45 yds

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 38-14vs Louisiana Tech	1	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 3	W 69-0vs Prairie View A&M	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 4	L 17-34@ TCU	3	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 5	W 34-16vs Charlotte	1	0	0.5	0.0	—
Wk 7	W 31-10@ East Carolina	5	2	0.0	0.0	—	Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 8	W 55-0@ Temple	3	2	2.5	1.5	—	2.5 TFL
Wk 9	W 69-10vs Tulsa	3	2	0.5	0.5	—
Wk 10	W 36-31@ Rice	4	3	1.5	1.5	—
Wk 11	W 45-21vs North Texas	4	4	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 12	W 38-34@ Memphis	2	2	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 13	W 59-14vs Navy	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Bowl	L 14-23@ Boston College	3	2	1.0	1.0	—
Total		31	21	8.0	4.5	—

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