cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Isaac Smith /Michigan State

Isaac Smith

EDGE · Michigan State · Sr · #13

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

25 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Michigan State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Michigan State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Edge · Michigan State

Returning around him

  • 69% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • 2 Michigan State players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -18 net (28 in / 46 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Michigan State · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #38 · 2026 recruiting class #57

EDGE · MICHIGAN STATE · BIG TEN

Isaac Smith

  • 4
  • #13
  • 6-6 | 253 lb
  • Wagoner, OK

CFB Zeitgeist Score

38

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

#12291

<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 DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
2 teams
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds

#8 in market ▼ from #6 · 4 books

+10009.1% implied

Identity & Role

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

PositionEDGE
Class4
Jersey13
Measurements6-6 | 253 lb
HometownWagoner, OK
Primary teamMichigan State

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#12291Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#12223Where 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 Isaac Smith

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 Isaac Smith

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
25Tackles
1Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
30Tackles
1.2Tackles for loss
1.2Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 25): needs 27.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 25): needs 37.5/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.

Isaac Smith is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Michigan State's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 1.0 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 #12291 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

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 25 15 solo | #1667/4942 (66th pct)
TFL 1.0 Backfield disruption | #2051/4972 (59th 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?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
25 66th
SOLO
15 69th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
1.0 82nd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 23-6vs Western Michigan220.00.00
Wk 2W 42-40vs Boston College110.00.00
Wk 4L 31-45@ USC210.00.00
Wk 6L 27-38@ Nebraska220.00.00
Wk 7L 13-38vs UCLA440.00.00Season-high 4 tackles
Wk 8L 13-38@ Indiana200.00.00
Wk 9L 20-31vs Michigan210.00.00
Wk 10L 20-23@ Minnesota211.01.00
Wk 12L 10-28vs Penn State410.00.00
Wk 13L 17-20@ Iowa100.00.00
Wk 14W 38-28vs Maryland320.00.00
Total25151.01.00
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

2022Texas Tech8-5HC: Joey McGuire · Balanced, fast tempo
2025Michigan State4-8HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Michigan State25151.01.0------
2022Texas Tech951.00.0------
Career2 loaded seasons34202.01.0------
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 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 25 #1667/4942 66th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 1.0 #2051/4972 59th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 15 #1434/4584 69th 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

Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g2.70.00.00.0
Road5g1.80.20.20.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g2.00.00.00.0
Losses8g2.40.10.10.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-75g2.20.00.00.0
Weeks 8+6g2.30.20.20.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the EDGE cohort

38Mid-pack
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (17th).

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Solo tackles#1434 / 2975 · 50th pct
15defe
Tackles#1667 / 2975 · 43rd pct
25defe
Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct
1.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

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

Advanced Savant · EDGE · 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
Isaac SmithMichigan StateJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 60% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 60% simMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 58% sim
Sacks
63
Smith
63
Vaughns
24
Martin
89
Montgomery
Solo tackles
50
Smith
96
Vaughns
87
Martin
82
Montgomery
Tackles
43
Smith
99
Vaughns
98
Martin
99
Montgomery
Tackles for loss
28
Smith
85
Vaughns
63
Martin
85
Montgomery
QB hurries
22
Smith
22
Vaughns
22
Martin
22
Montgomery
Passes defended
18
Smith
48
Vaughns
67
Martin
67
Montgomery

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

Player DNA

The Versatile End

Holds up against run and pass without a single dominant trait.

EDGE

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Cam Williams’s 2023 season.

Cam Williams

81%match

Jacksonville State · 2023

#2

Roy Williams

Northern Illinois · 2025

79%
#3

Zion Young

Michigan State · 2022

NFL Rd 2 · Pk 13
75%
#4

Vincent Anthony

Duke · 2022

74%
#5

Princely Umanmielen

Florida · 2021

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 13
72%

Matches Cam on

Weight
Sack rate
TFL rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Tyreem Powell's junior season at Rutgers (2023).

Tyreem Powell

81%match

Rutgers · 2023

#2

Daniel Grobe

Air Force · 2025

80%
#3

Lander Barton

Utah · 2024

78%
#4

Cory Stover

Oregon State · 2022

78%
#5

Lebbeus Overton

Alabama · 2024

76%

Matches Tyreem on

Class year
Weight
TFL rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jonathan Smith

Pass share

49.7%

378 pass / 382 run

Plays / game

63.3

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

11.2%

303 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

2 coaches
2022
Mel Tucker
Michigan State
2025
Jonathan Smith
Michigan State
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Mel Tucker → Jonathan Smith. 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.

HometownWagoner, OK
Height6'6"
Weight253 lb
Class4
PositionEDGE
Jersey13

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 Texas Tech EDGE4 #12291 #12223 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big 12
2023 Texas Tech EDGE4 #12182 #11913 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big 12
2022 Texas Tech EDGE4 #10669 #10593 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big 12
2021 Texas Tech EDGE4 #12316 #12224 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big 12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Michigan State Big Ten EDGE 4 No. 13 | 6-6 | 253 lb | Wagoner, OK
2024 Texas Tech Big 12 EDGE 4 No. 13 | 6-6 | 253 lb | Wagoner, OK
2023 Texas Tech Big 12 EDGE 4 No. 13 | 6-6 | 253 lb | Wagoner, OK
2022 Texas Tech Big 12 EDGE 4 No. 13 | 6-6 | 253 lb | Wagoner, OK
2021 Texas Tech Big 12 EDGE 4 No. 13 | 6-6 | 253 lb | Wagoner, OK