cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Gannon Weathersby /James Madison

Gannon Weathersby

LB · James Madison · Jr · #3

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

50 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to James Madison for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to James Madison for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · James Madison

Returning around him

  • 78% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +7 net (37 in / 30 out)

2026 Award watch

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

James Madison · Last season: 12-2 (AP #19) · Talent rank #127 · 2026 recruiting class #108

LB · JAMES MADISON · SUN BELT

Gannon Weathersby

  • 3
  • #3
  • 5-10 | 222 lb
  • Atlanta, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

60

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

#9282

<1% win probability

Fan Belief

Awaiting

Player-specific FI not yet ingested. Falls back to team mood below.

Respect Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

Reality Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

ACCOLADE PROBABILITY

Heisman

<1%

TOP LB AWARD

Butkus

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
James Madison
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionLB
Class3
Jersey3
Measurements5-10 | 222 lb
HometownAtlanta, GA
Primary teamJames Madison

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree Not on file No matched recruiting profile in the loaded archive
Composite rating -- Composite rating unavailable for this player
Signed with -- Commitment history unavailable
Origin -- Hometown and high school unavailable
Class Profile Context
No recruiting profile is on file for this player.

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
Season Move Context
No transfer portal moves on file for this player.

Heisman Lens · 2024 Season · Final

Where the player landed at the end of the listed season — final nowcast rank, win/finalist/ballot probabilities, and the cleanest official Heisman placement on file.

HIGH CONFIDENCE· through week 16
Current nowcast#9282Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#8862Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman Futures

Not yet listed on major futures markets.

No achievements unlocked yet this season.

Selector Grid · 2025

AP
FWAA
AFCA
WCFF
SN
SI

Selector recognition fills in once the major honors lists (AP, FWAA, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, SI) are scraped and ingested.

Today’s Hot-Take

The Hot-Take engine fires when this player’s percentile profile crosses a defensible threshold (top 10% in a cohort, 100+ snap sample). When it’s quiet, the model is honoring its “must be defensible” rule.

Anti-Take

PENDING

The contrarian read fires when the rules-engine detects a stat that complicates the Hot-Take. Quiet here means the model hasn’t found a defensible counter yet — not that one doesn’t exist.

The Room on Gannon Weathersby

Fan sentiment · Awaiting signal

The Room reads fan conversation around a player — who’s talking, what they believe, and how that shifts. It publishes once weekly volume rebuilds; for most players that’s in-season, when game-week chatter spikes.

Cohort divergence map

Cohort divergence reads how different fanbases talk about this player. Returns once weekly mentions clear the publish floor.

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Gannon Weathersby

No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.

Signature Story

Awaiting candidate metric

He hasn't written his page yet — we'll start filling it in when there are enough snaps to rank against his peers.

Signature Moment

No signature moment on the ledger yet.

Returns once this player puts together a multi-game body of work — single-game flashes alone don't clear the bar.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 11g
50Tackles
3Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
5Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
59Tackles
3.5Tackles for loss
1.2Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 50): needs 15/game over remaining 2.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 50): needs 25/game over remaining 2.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 2.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 4.5/game over remaining 2.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Gannon Weathersby is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on James Madison's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss, and -- interceptions through the current loaded season. For a defender, the question is never just production; it is whether elite disruption and team context can become nationally undeniable.

Current place #9282 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 1.0 sacks | 3.0 TFL

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

DEF season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Total tackles 50 14 solo | #600/4942 (88th pct)
TFL 3.0 Backfield disruption | #1006/4972 (80th pct)
Sacks 1.0 Pass-rush finish | #872/4972 (82nd pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
50 88th
SOLO
14 67th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
1.0 82nd
QBH
5 90th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 45-10vs Weber State400.00.00
Wk 2L 14-28@ Louisville731.01.00
Wk 4W 31-13@ Liberty410.00.00
Wk 5W 35-10vs Georgia Southern421.00.00
Wk 6W 14-7@ Georgia State910.00.00
Wk 7W 24-14vs Louisiana400.50.00
Wk 8W 63-27vs Old Dominion310.00.00
Wk 11W 35-23@ Marshall1150.50.00Season-high 11 tackles
Wk 12W 58-10vs App State100.00.00
Wk 13W 24-20vs Washington State210.00.00
Wk 15W 31-14vs Troy100.00.00
Total50143.01.00
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2023James Madison11-2HC: Damian Wroblewski · Balanced
2025James Madison12-2HC: Bob Chesney · Run-heavy
SeasonTeam
2025James Madison50143.01.0------
2023James Madison1--0.50.0------
Career2 loaded seasons51143.51.0------
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

Every percentile is compared against players at the same position and level, so an FBS quarterback is judged against FBS quarterbacks, not the whole sport.

Traditional first

The top tables stick to the stats fans already know from broadcasts and box scores. Advanced context is pushed underneath instead of replacing the basics.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 0 Coverage disruption
QB pressures 5 Quarterback hurries | #188/1878 (90th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 50 #600/4942 88th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 3.0 #1006/4972 80th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 5 #188/1878 90th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 14 #1520/4584 67th pct Volumevs FBS DEF

Player Standing

Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION · Rung None of 16

Why he’s here

Standing classification populates when honors, Heisman, and roster signals all align.

What moves him up

What moves him down

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Butkus award tracker integrates per-week probability once a dedicated scraper for this award lands. Confirmed past winners and finalists for this player will surface here.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home7g2.70.20.00.0
Road4g7.80.40.20.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins10g4.30.20.00.0
Losses1g7.01.01.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g5.30.40.20.0
Weeks 8+5g3.60.10.00.0

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

60Solid starter
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (92nd). Concern: passes defended (17th).

QB hurries#188 / 2975 · 92nd pct
5defe
Tackles#600 / 2975 · 79th pct
50defe
Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
Solo tackles#1520 / 2975 · 47th pct
14defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · LB · 2024

Percentile Card

Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.

P4G5All FBS
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

Advanced Savant

Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.

Advanced opponent-adjusted metrics are coming soon for this player. Selected cohort: P4.

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 6 metrics
Gannon WeathersbyJames MadisonMarcAnthony ParkerNavy· 75% simMicah DaveyUTEP· 74% simEthan WesloskiNorth Texas· 73% sim
QB hurries
92
Weathersby
88
Parker
82
Davey
95
Wesloski
Tackles
79
Weathersby
98
Parker
99
Davey
99
Wesloski
Sacks
63
Weathersby
80
Parker
63
Davey
74
Wesloski
Tackles for loss
63
Weathersby
87
Parker
91
Davey
95
Wesloski
Solo tackles
47
Weathersby
96
Parker
99
Davey
99
Wesloski
Passes defended
18
Weathersby
18
Parker
18
Davey
18
Wesloski

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Bubba Arslanian’s 2021 season.

Bubba Arslanian

83%match

Akron · 2021

#2

Jamih Otis

Hawai'i · 2025

81%
#3

Jerome Jolly Jr.

Liberty · 2024

76%
#4

Jake Chaney

Wisconsin · 2024

76%
#5

Marques Watson-Trent

Nebraska · 2025

74%

Matches Bubba on

TFL rate
Tackle volume
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Treshawn Chamberlain's junior season at Rice (2022).

Treshawn Chamberlain

87%match

Rice · 2022

#2

Jamih Otis

Hawai'i · 2025

85%
#3

Sharif Denson

Florida · 2025

76%
#4

Gavin Willis

Charlotte · 2025

75%
#5

Marco Patierno

Eastern Michigan · 2025

74%

Matches Treshawn on

Weight
Tackle volume
TFL rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Bob Chesney

Pass share

39.7%

385 pass / 584 run

Plays / game

69.2

14 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.8%

269 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

2 coaches
2023
Damian Wroblewski
James Madison
2025
Bob Chesney
James Madison
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Damian Wroblewski → Bob Chesney. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownAtlanta, GA
Height5'10"
Weight222 lb
Class3
PositionLB
Jersey3

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

No formal honors on the ledger yet

All-America, all-conference, player-of-the-week, watch-list, and postseason awards land here when they're earned. The absence is the signal: most players never collect formal honors, and that's its own kind of context.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
No formal honors on the ledger yet. All-America, all-conference, weekly awards, watch lists, and postseason trophies land here when they’re earned.

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 James Madison LB3 #9282 #8862 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Sun Belt
2023 James Madison LB3 #9718 #9282 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Sun Belt

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 James Madison Sun Belt LB 3 No. 3 | 5-10 | 222 lb | Atlanta, GA
2024 James Madison Sun Belt LB 3 No. 3 | 5-10 | 222 lb | Atlanta, GA
2023 James Madison Sun Belt LB 3 No. 3 | 5-10 | 222 lb | Atlanta, GA