Essang Bassey: DB · Wake Forest · #21.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Essang Bassey
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Fourth year in the Wake Forest secondary. The first career honor came in 2019: All-ACC. One game to point at: 10 tackles and 1 tackle for loss against Syracuse — Week 14, 2019.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
60 tackles. 11 passes defended. 1 interception. 2.5 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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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Wake Forest | 60 | 41 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 |
| 2018 | Wake Forest | 74 | 53 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 15 | 1 |
| 2017 | Wake Forest | 69 | 48 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 15 | 3 |
| 2016 | Wake Forest | 19 | 16 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 3 | -- |
| Career | 222 | 158 | 11.5 | 1.0 | 44 | 5 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2019 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-35vs Utah State | 7 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 41-21@ Rice | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 3 | W 24-18vs North Carolina | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | W 49-7vs Elon | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | W 27-24@ Boston College | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 59-62vs Louisville | 6 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 22-20vs Florida State | 7 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 3 | |
| Wk 10 | W 44-10vs NC State | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | L 17-36@ Virginia Tech | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 3-52@ No. 3 Clemson | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 39-27vs Duke | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 14 | L 30-39@ Syracuse | 10 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 10 tackles |
 Bowl | L 21-27vs Michigan State | 5 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Total | 60 | 41 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 11 |
Week 8 · 2019
W 22-20
0.5 tackles for loss · 7 tackles · 3 pass breakups
A close one, won by 2 at home.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
18%11 pass breakupsInterceptions
1interceptionsTackle volume
60tackles this seasonTFL rate
4%2 TFL60 tackles · 2.5 for loss · 11 pass breakups · 1 interception.
4 seasons under Dave Clawson — 30-22 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2019 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 4.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Road5g | 4.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 3.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Dave Clawson
Pass share
44.7%
468 pass / 580 run
Plays / game
80.6
13 games
Team sack rate
4.7%
494 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2019
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
How it ended
Four seasons at Wake Forest, 222 tackles — the college career is complete.
A stat line in 47 games over four seasons.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-ACC
All-ACC mention (2019)
Coaching lineage · 2016–2019
1 coachPlayed every college season under Dave Clawson.
