Eriq Kitchen

Senior defensive lineman for Southern Miss. 2021: 3.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, 28 tackles.

DL · Southern Miss · Sr. · #2

6′2″ · 286 lb · Batesville, MS

CFB Index 68 · #94 of 370 edge rushersLow confidenceSouthern Miss 2021 alumnus

Recruiting

2★

WDE recruit

No. 332 nationally · Joined Southern Miss

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 defensive lineman for Southern Miss. 2021: 3.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, 28 tackles.

Signed as a 2-star recruit to Southern Miss in 2019.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Three seasons at Southern Miss, 6 sacks — his college career is complete.

His career

He was on the field for 3 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

201912 games

Signed with Southern Miss2-star out of East Mississippi C.C.

Career arc

Recruit

★★

#332 national

CFB

College

Southern Miss

2019–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2019–2021

3 coaches

2019

Jay Hopson

Southern Miss

2020

Scotty Walden

Southern Miss

era →

2021

Will Hall

Southern Miss

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Jay Hopson, Scotty Walden, and Will Hall. Multi-era developmental context.

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019Southern Miss7-6HC: Jay Hopson · Balanced

2020Southern Miss3-7HC: Scotty Walden · Run-leaning

2021Southern Miss3-9HC: Will Hall · Run-heavy, slow tempo

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

68Quality starter #94 of 370?

Medium confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sacks (89th percentile). Strength: tackles for loss (89th percentile). Concern: passes defended (19th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Sacks#280 / 2743 · 89th pct

3.5

Tackles for loss#295 / 2743 · 89th pct

7.5

QB hurries#530 / 2743 · 75th pct

Forced fumbles#59 / 673 · 46th pct

Tackles#1475 / 2743 · 45th pct

Solo tackles#1791 / 2743 · 33rd pct

Passes defended#1695 / 2743 · 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

2021 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	2.7	1.0	0.5	0.0
Road5g	2.4	0.3	0.1	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	3.0	1.0	0.4	0.0
Weeks 8+4g	1.8	0.1	0.1	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Blake Anderson

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

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Part-time starter

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

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

68 · #94 of 370 edge rushers

Two-star recruit. Now #94 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	Southern Miss	28	12	7.5	3.5	--	--	--
2020	Southern Miss	32	10	4.0	1.0	--	--	--
2019	Southern Miss	18	7	4.5	2.0	1	--	--
Career		78	29	16.0	6.5	1	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2021

W 37–0

vs Grambling

1 SOLO · 1 TOT · 1 TFL

Dominant 37-point win at home against Grambling.

With F. Gore Jr. — 162 rush yds (21 car) · 1 TD · M. Hunt — 47 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 53 LONG

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	L 7-31@ South Alabama	2	2	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 2	W 37-0vs Grambling	1	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 3	L 9-21vs Troy	4	3	2.0	2.0	—	2 sacks
Wk 4	L 14-63@ Alabama	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 5	L 19-24@ Rice	4	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 6	L 13-26vs UTEP	4	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 7	L 0-34vs UAB	5	2	3.0	1.0	—	Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 9	L 10-35@ Middle Tennessee	3	2	0.5	0.5	—
Wk 10	L 14-38vs North Texas	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 11	L 17-27@ UTSA	2	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 13	W 37-17vs Florida International	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Total		28	12	7.5	3.5	—

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

Eriq Kitchen

201912 games

2021 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

3-Tech Penetrator

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