Ja'Tavion Sanders

TE · Jr. · Texas6′4″ · 243 lb · Denton, TX · Denton Ryan

Ja'Tavion Sanders: TE · Texas.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Jack EndriesCalifornia · 2024 · 76% season match
Brock BowersGeorgia · 2023 · 76% season match
Sam LaPortaIowa · 2021 · 70% season match
Seydou TraoreArkansas State · 2022 · 66% season match
Grant CalcaterraSMU · 2021 · 65% season match

Ja'Tavion Sanders

TE · Texas · Jr

Creates mismatches lined up all over the formation. Three seasons in the Texas receiving corps to date. Named All-Big 12 two seasons running, most recently in 2023. One game to point at: 114 receiving yards and 5 receptions against Alabama — Week 2, 2023.

Style of play

Play style

Lined up out wide as often as inline. Creates mismatches downfield.

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Texas in the news

Colin Simmons out for Mississippi StateYahoo Sports Oct 31
Texas player out for seasonOct 26
Texas snaps losing streakSaturday Down South Oct 25
Meyer warns Sarkisian publiclyYahoo Sports Oct 20

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2023	Texas	45	682	15.2	2	50
2022	Texas	54	613	11.4	5	37
2021	Texas	--	--	--	--	--
Career		99	1,295	13.1	7	50

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 37-10vs Rice	2	44	22.0	1	44
Wk 2	W 34-24@ No. 3 Alabama	5	114	22.8	0	50	Season-high 114 yds
Wk 4	W 38-6@ Baylor	5	110	22.0	0	49
Wk 5	W 40-14vs No. 24 Kansas	1	10	10.0	0	10
Wk 6	L 30-34vs No. 12 Oklahoma	1	13	13.0	0	13
Wk 8	W 31-24@ Houston	2	29	14.5	0	23
Wk 9	W 35-6vs BYU	4	37	9.3	0	20
Wk 10	W 33-30vs No. 25 Kansas State	2	21	10.5	0	16
Wk 11	W 29-26@ TCU	4	47	11.8	0	19
Wk 12	W 26-16@ Iowa State	2	32	16.0	0	17
Wk 13	W 57-7vs Texas Tech	3	45	15.0	0	23
Wk 14	W 49-21vs No. 19 Oklahoma State	8	105	13.1	1	26
Bowl	L 31-37vs No. 2 Washington	6	75	12.5	0	21
Total		45	682	15.2	2	50

Signature game

Week 14 · 2023

W 49-21

vs Oklahoma State · neutral site

8 rec · 105 yds · 1 TD · 12 rush yds (1 car)

Dominant 28-point win at a neutral site against Oklahoma State.

With Q. Ewers — 452 yds · 4 TD · 1 INT · QBR 97.1 · K. Robinson — 75 rush yds (4 car) · 2 TD · 2 rec · 20 yds

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 4 · Baylor · 2nd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +3.49Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 49 yds to the BAY 21 for a
Week 1 · Rice · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +3.41Ewers to Sanders: a 44-yard touchdown pass.
Week 14 · Oklahoma State · 3rd and 4 · Q1 · EPA +3.18Ewers to Sanders: a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Week 4 · Baylor · 3rd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +2.92Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 11 yds to the BAY 47 for a
Week 14 · Oklahoma State · 4th and 1 · Q4 · EPA +2.60Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 8 yds to the OKST 43 for a
Week 2 · Alabama · 3rd and 5 · Q2 · EPA +2.57Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 18 yds to the TEX 45 for a

4 more plays

Week 12 · Iowa State · 3rd and 13 · Q2 · EPA +2.48Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 17 yds to the TEX 40 for a
Week 10 · Kansas State · 4th and 4 · Q4 · EPA +2.44Maalik Murphy pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 16 yds to the KSU 21 for a
Week 1 · Washington · 2nd and 10 · Q2 · EPA +2.35Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 14 yds to the WASH 47 for a
Week 2 · Alabama · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.27Quinn Ewers pass complete to Ja'Tavion Sanders for 50 yds to the ALA 7 for a

Teams and coaches

3 seasons under Steve Sarkisian — 25-14 over that span.

2021Texas5-7HC: Steve Sarkisian · Run-leaning

2022Texas8-5HC: Steve Sarkisian · Run-leaning

2023Texas12-2HC: Steve Sarkisian · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 81 (#5 of 137). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2023 season

81All-Conference level #5 of 137 · 2023?

12 metrics · season cumulative

2023 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: yards / catch (85th percentile). Strength: rec yards (98th percentile). Concern: td rate (8th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#98 / 639 · 85th pct

15.7

Explosive rate#192 / 639 · 70th pct

17.5%

EPA / target#259 / 639 · 60th pct

0.83

Catch rate#370 / 639 · 41st pct

80.0%

TD rate#532 / 639 · 8th pct

0.0%

Box-score rates (7)

Rec yards#4 / 160 · 98th pct

682

Receptions#10 / 160 · 93rd pct

Yards / catch#17 / 160 · 89th pct

15.2

Long catch#28 / 160 · 81st pct

Rush yards#12 / 32 · 64th pct

Rec TDs#75 / 160 · 43rd pct

Rush TDs#13 / 32 · 31st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

56th → 60th percentile

Explosive rate

52nd → 70th percentile

Catch rate

46th → 41st percentile

TD rate

60th → 8th percentile

Yards / catch

43rd → 85th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2023. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home5g	2.4	31.4	13.4	0.2
Road5g	3.6	66.4	17.4	0.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	3.3	61.0	17.1	0.2
Weeks 8+7g	3.6	45.1	12.9	0.1

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2023 season

Head Coach

Steve Sarkisian

Pass share

47.8%

474 pass / 518 run

Plays / game

70.9

14 games

Team sack rate

5.3%

488 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

The All-Conference 1st team honor is earned — and the box score backs it up emphatically: #5 of 137 FBS tight ends by CFB Zeitgeist Score.2023 profile

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

81 · #5 of 137 TEs · 2023

Former five-star. Now #5 at the position.

Ja'Tavion Sanders

Similar players

Style of play

Fans

Texas in the news

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

All-Conference 1st team

Three seasons at Texas, drafted

2021

2022 13 games

2023 13 games

2024