Eric Butler

Senior safety on San Diego State's 2026 roster.

S · San Diego State · Sr. · #6

6′2″ · 190 lb · Corona, CA

CFB Index 38 · #377 of 544 safetiesMedium confidenceReturning to San Diego State for 2026

Next upSat Sep 19 · 10 pm ETvs James MadisonSnapdragon StadiumSan Diego State by 2.5

Recruiting

3★

CB recruit

No. 1424 nationally · Signed with San Diego State

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 safety on San Diego State's 2025 roster.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to San Diego State in 2022.

His career, year by year

How he projects

Erases the deep middle of the field.

The full scouting read

Eric Butler

S · San Diego State · Sr · #6

Erases the deep middle of the field. Eric Butler has been at San Diego State through two head coaches in four seasons. 2024 brought the first one: All-Mountain West. The receipt: 7 tackles against San José State — Week 13, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2022San Diego State7-6HC: Brady Hoke · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2023San Diego State4-8HC: Brady Hoke · Run-leaning

2024San Diego State3-9HC: Sean Lewis · Run-leaning

2025San Diego State9-4HC: Sean Lewis · Run-heavy

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

38Below cohort / limited sample #377 of 544?

Medium confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (94th percentile). Strength: qb hurries (82nd percentile). Concern: tackles for loss (18th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Passes defended#144 / 2975 · 94th pct

QB hurries#457 / 2975 · 82nd pct

Solo tackles#744 / 2975 · 74th pct

Tackles#937 / 2975 · 68th pct

Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct

0.0

Tackles for loss#2332 / 2975 · 18th pct

0.5

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
Home7g	3.1	0.1	0.0	0.6
Road6g	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.3

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	2.6	0.0	0.0	0.4
Weeks 8+6g	3.5	0.1	0.0	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Sean Lewis

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

38 · #377 of 544 safeties

Three-star recruit. Now #377 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Pac-12

Based on 2025: #12 of 17 Mountain West Ss — his program moves to the Pac-12 for 2026

How the All-Pac-12 estimate is computed

22% estimated, 95% confidence interval 19–25%. 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. The base rate was measured on players who stayed in the same conference; this estimate is not adjusted for the move to the Pac-12.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	San Diego State	39	25	0.5	0.0	6	--	--
2024	San Diego State	44	30	2.5	0.0	3	1	--
2023	San Diego State	21	14	2.5	1.0	1	--	--
2022	San Diego State	6	2	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		110	71	5.5	1.0	10	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 12 · 2025

W 17–7

vs Boise State

2 PD · 0 TFL · 1 SOLO

With H. Green — 45 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 53 LONG · L. Sutton — 150 rush yds (25 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 42-0vs Stony Brook	1	0	0.0	—	0
Wk 2	L 13-36@ Washington State	5	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 34-0vs California	1	1	0.0	—	1
Wk 5	W 6-3@ Northern Illinois	5	4	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	W 45-24vs Colorado State	4	3	0.0	—	0
Wk 7	W 44-10@ Nevada	0	0	0.0	—	1
Wk 9	W 23-0@ Fresno State	4	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 10	W 24-7vs Wyoming	4	3	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	L 6-38@ Hawai'i	0	0	0.0	—	1
Wk 12	W 17-7vs Boise State	3	1	0.5	—	2
Wk 13	W 25-3vs San José State	7	5	0.0	—	0	Season-high 7 tackles
Wk 14	L 17-23@ New Mexico	3	3	0.0	—	0
Bowl	L 47-49vs North Texas	2	1	0.0	—	1
Total		39	25	0.5	—	6

How he plays

Play style

Single-high range who erases the deep middle of the field.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

13 games

39Tackles

25Solo

0.5TFL

0Sacks

6Pass def.

0INT

39 tackles. 6 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 0.5 TFL.

Week 11 PD
Week 41 PD
Week 71 PD
Week 111 PD
Week 122 PD

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

San Diego State

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Safety · San Diego State

Returning around him

1 San Diego State player drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: +0 net (26 in / 26 out)

2026 Award watch

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

San Diego State · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #89 · 2026 recruiting class #83

DNA match

Player DNA

Centerfielder

Single-high range who erases the deep middle of the field.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Tony Grimes’s 2025 season.

Tony Grimes

84%match

Purdue · 2025

Hudson Clark

Arkansas · 2024

82%

Glendon Miller

Maryland · 2023

82%

Corey Thornton

Louisville · 2024

82%

Matches Tony on

Class year

PD rate

Tackle volume

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Nolan Johnson's senior season at Old Dominion (2023).

Nolan Johnson

94%match

Old Dominion · 2023

O'Donnell Fortune

South Carolina · 2023

88%

Tamon Lynum

Pittsburgh · 2024

88%

Christian Charles

Virginia · 2025

84%

Terrence Spence

James Madison · 2024

All-Sun Belt

84%

Matches Nolan on

Class year

Height

Tackle volume

Player DNA

Players who play like Eric Butler

David Daniel-Sisavanh

Troy · 2025

86%

Tony Grimes

Purdue · 2025

84%

Omarion Cooper

Memphis · 2025

82%

Ade Willie

Michigan State · 2025

78%

Damion Charity

Ball State · 2023

76%

The secondary · San Diego State

#30Jalen ThomesonS · Jr.86 tackles · 2025
#9Dalesean StaleyS · Sr.70 tackles · 2025
#6Eric ButlerS · Sr.39 tackles · 2025
#24Josiah CoxS · Sr.15 tackles · 2025
#17Deshawn McCuinS · Sr.12 tackles · 2025

22 more on the roster · San Diego State team page

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

Eric Butler

20225 games

202411 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Centerfielder

Players who play like Eric Butler

The secondary · San Diego State