Hercules Mata'afa: DL · Washington State · #50.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Hercules Mata'afa
Disrupts the pocket from the interior. Second year in the Washington State defensive front. First career honor, 2017: All-America (Athlon). A game that shows it: 6 tackles and 3 tackles for loss against Boise State — Week 2, 2017.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
37 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 17.5 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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Washington State | 37 | 23 | 17.5 | 7.5 |
| 2016 | Washington State | 47 | 34 | 12.0 | 5.0 |
| Career | 84 | 57 | 29.5 | 12.5 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 10 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 31-0vs Montana State | 5 | 2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | 2.5 TFL |
| Wk 2 | W 47-44vs Boise State | 6 | 3 | 3.0 | 0.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 4 | W 45-7vs Nevada | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | — | 0 | 2.5 sacks |
| Wk 5 | W 30-27vs No. 5 USC | 5 | 3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 3-37@ California | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 8 | W 28-0vs Colorado | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 37-58@ Arizona | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 24-21vs No. 18 Stanford | 3 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 14-41@ No. 15 Washington | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 17-42vs No. 18 Michigan State | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 37 | 23 | 17.5 | 7.5 | — | 0 |
Week 1 · 2017
W 31-0
1.5 sacks · 2.5 tackles for loss · 5 tackles
Dominant 31-point win at home against Montana State.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
47%18 TFLSack rate
20%8 sacksHurry rate
14%5 hurries37 tackles · 17.5 for loss · 7.5 sacks.
2 seasons under Mike Leach, all pass-heavy, fast tempo offenses — 17-9 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.5 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
| Road3g | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 4.0 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mike Leach
Pass share
70.5%
713 pass / 299 run
Plays / game
77.8
13 games
Team sack rate
5.6%
765 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-heavy, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2017
37 tackles in 10 games, about as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive lineman who plays every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at Washington State, 12 sacks — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2017
1 coachPlayed every college season under Mike Leach.
