CFB Zeitgeist Score
29
Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by interceptions at the 99th percentile.
Jake Merklinger
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
173 PASS YDS · 2 PASS TD · 16 RUSH YDS
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to UConn
2025Tennessee
2026UConn
QB · TENNESSEE · SEC
Jake Merklinger
- 1
- #12
- 6-3 | 215 lb
- Savannah, GA
Heisman Heat
#215
<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 QB AWARD
Davey O'Brien
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Development Trajectory · passing yards
2024–2025+260%
Up 260% from first season to most-recent.
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★★
CFB
College
Tennessee
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4-star | 0.9306 | No. 160 recruit | HighSchool | Tennessee |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Tennessee -> UConn | 3-star | 0.8600 | Immediate |
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 16Heisman 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.
NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft
Market value, pedigree & pro outcome
Recruit stars
★★★★☆
to Tennessee
Composite
0.9306
#160 national
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
PENDINGThe 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 Jake Merklinger
Fan sentiment ·
Belief Meter
60
Mixed Sentiment
Top Take
“”
Trajectory
Per-cohort trajectory lands when historical bucket data is aggregated.
Cohort divergence map
- Own fans · n=10
- National · n=4
Rival Radar
How rival fanbases talk about Jake Merklinger
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the passing totals stand
Through 3g
173Pass yards
2Pass TDs
0INT
Per game
57.7Pass yards
1Pass TDs
0INT
Projected (13g)
749.7Pass yards
9Pass TDs
0INT
To hit 3,000-yard season (currently 173): needs 282.7/game over remaining 10.
To hit 4,000-yard season (currently 173): needs 382.7/game over remaining 10.
To hit 25 passing TDs (currently 2): needs 2.3/game over remaining 10.
To hit 30 passing TDs (currently 2): needs 2.8/game over remaining 10.
To hit 35 passing TDs (currently 2): needs 3.3/game over remaining 10.
What made this player interesting
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Jake Merklinger's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Tennessee, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.
2025 Season · Final
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
QB season snapshot
2025 season snapshot | final
2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
Pocket-leaning against FBS QB peers. The quickest read is whether the profile wins on volume, efficiency, explosiveness, or rushing value.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Passing Efficiency
CMP
13 36th
ATT
24 41st
CMP%
54.2% 25th
Y/A
7.2 59th
Passing Production
YDS
173 38th
TD
2 52nd
INT
0 100th
Rushing
CAR
4 24th
YDS
16 37th
YPC
4.0 65th
TD
0 44th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 72-17vs East Tennessee State | 9/14 | 118 | 2 | 0 | 8.4 | 89.8 | Season-high 118 yds |
| Wk 4 | W 56-24vs UAB | 3/8 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 | 3.4 | |
| Wk 12 | W 42-9vs New Mexico State | 1/2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | -1.0 | 0.8 | |
| Total | 13/24 | 173 | 2 | 0 | 4.8 | 31.3 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2024Tennessee10-3HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy, fast tempo
2025Tennessee8-5HC: Josh Heupel · Balanced
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
Opponent-adjusted passing value. Positive numbers mean the quarterback is adding more value through the air than a neutral peer would in the same environment.
How much of the offense runs through the quarterback once passing and rushing responsibility are blended together.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passing | Passing yards | 173 | #238/382 | 38th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Pass TD | 2 | #198/407 | 52nd pct | Scoringvs FBS QB |
| Passing | Completions | 13 | #245/383 | 36th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Completion % | 54.2% | #288/383 | 25th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS QB |
| Passing | Yards / attempt | 7.2 | #156/382 | 59th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Rushing yards | 16 | #260/408 | 37th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Usage | Role share | 11.7% | #259/428 | 40th pct | Share of team offensevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Attempts | 24 | #243/407 | 41st pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Interceptions | 0 | #1/407 | 100th pct | Turnoversvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Rushing LONG | 11 | #281/391 | 28th pct | Metricvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Carries | 4 | #312/408 | 24th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Yards / carry | 4.0 | #143/407 | 65th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Rush TD | 0 | #230/408 | 44th pct | Scoringvs FBS QB |
| Usage | Pass share | 23.1% | #241/428 | 44th pct | Air-game usagevs FBS QB |
| Usage | 3rd-down usage | 21.1% | #234/428 | 46th pct | Money-down loadvs FBS QB |
| Usage | Passing-down usage | 15.1% | #262/428 | 39th pct | Known-passing sharevs FBS QB |
| Usage | 1st-down usage | 10.8% | #252/428 | 41st pct | Early-down loadvs FBS QB |
| Usage | Standard-down usage | 10.8% | #255/428 | 41st pct | Base-situation sharevs FBS QB |
| Usage | 2nd-down usage | 9.0% | #281/428 | 35th pct | Middle-down loadvs FBS QB |
| Usage | Rush share | 2.3% | #360/428 | 16th pct | Ground-game usagevs FBS QB |
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
Status—Awaiting tracker
Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 57.7 | 0.7 | 4.8 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins3g | 57.7 | 0.7 | 4.8 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-72g | 87.5 | 1.0 | 7.8 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+1g | -2.0 | 0.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
29Below cohort
Elite: interceptions (99th). Concern: pass yards (0th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · QB · 2024
Percentile Card
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
P4G5All FBS
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
Jake MerklingerTennesseeNick VattiatoMiddle Tennessee· 56% simLogan FifeNew Mexico State· 53% simRyan BrownePurdue· 52% sim
Interceptions
Yards / att
Rush yards
Completion %
Rush TDs
Pass TDs
Pass yards
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Josh Heupel
Pass share
47.3%
437 pass / 486 run
Plays / game
71.0
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
5.4%
334 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025
1 coach2024
Josh Heupel
Tennessee
2025
Josh Heupel
Tennessee
Played his entire career under Josh Heupel.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownSavannah, GA
Height6'3"
Weight215 lb
Class1
PositionQB
Jersey12
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamTennessee
ConferenceSEC
Joined2025
Career arc2 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 | Tennessee | QB1 | #215 | #125 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | SEC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.