Elijah Garcia: DL · Rice · #92.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Elijah Garcia
Wins the gap play after play. The five seasons at Rice span two head coaches: David Bailiff and Mike Bloomgren. First career honor, 2021: All-Conference USA. A game that shows it: 9 tackles against North Texas — Week 9, 2021.
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
64 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 4.5 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.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-38@ Arkansas | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 7-44vs Houston | 6 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 0-58@ Texas | 8 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 48-34vs Texas Southern | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 24-19vs Southern Miss | 6 | 2 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 7 | L 0-45@ UTSA | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-30vs North Texas | 9 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 9 tackles |
| Wk 10 | L 24-31@ Charlotte | 5 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 21-42vs Western Kentucky | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 28-38@ UTEP | 5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 35-31vs Louisiana Tech | 7 | 0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 64 | 22 | 4.5 | 4.0 | — | 1 |
Week 5 · 2021
W 24-19
2 sacks · 2 tackles for loss · 6 tackles
A close one, won by 5 at home.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
7%4 TFLSack rate
6%4 sacksHurry rate
6%4 hurries64 tackles · 4.5 for loss · 4 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 6.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 5.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 5.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 6.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mike Bloomgren
Pass share
42.0%
343 pass / 473 run
Plays / game
68.0
12 games
Team sack rate
8.2%
377 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2021
First team in his league at the position.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Two-star recruit. Now #273 at the position.
How it ended
Five seasons at Rice, 6 sacks, a first-team All-Conference season (2021) — the college career is complete.
Recruited as a two-star, and honored since.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 1ST TEAM
All-Conference USA 1st team (2021)
Coaching lineage · 2017–2021
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: David Bailiff → Mike Bloomgren. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
