Junior defensive lineman for West Virginia. 2023: 3 sacks, 5 tackles for loss, 14 tackles.
6′2″ · 278 lb · Cincinnati, OH
Recruiting
SDE recruit
No. 912 nationally · Signed with West Virginia
No college snaps yet.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
3 defensive lineman for West Virginia. 2023: 3 sacks, 5 tackles for loss, 14 tackles.
Jalen Thornton
Disrupts the pocket from the interior. He has spent four seasons in the West Virginia defensive front. One game to point at: 4 tackles, 1.5 TFL against North Carolina — Bowl, 2023.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Four seasons at West Virginia, 3 sacks — his college career is complete.
His career
Career arc
Coaching lineage · 2020–2023
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Neal Brown.
Season context · Team result + system
4 seasons under Neal Brown — 26-22 over that span.
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Elite: sacks (87th percentile). Concern: solo tackles (3rd percentile).
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits · Per-game
2023 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 1.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Rich Rodriguez
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2023
Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | West Virginia | 14 | 4 | 5.0 | 3.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | West Virginia | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | West Virginia | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2020 | West Virginia | 4 | -- | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 24 | 10 | 5.0 | 3.0 | -- | -- | -- |
Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 9 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 3 | W 17-6vs Pittsburgh | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 24-21@ TCU | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 34-48vs Oklahoma State | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 41-28@ UCF | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 10 | W 37-7vs BYU | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 20-59@ Oklahoma | 3 | 1 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 42-21vs Cincinnati | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 34-31@ Baylor | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 30-10vs North Carolina | 4 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 14 | 4 | 5.0 | 3.0 | — | 0 |
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
CFB Index positional classification
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
14 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 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.
Player DNA
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
His 2023 production profile sits closest to Mike Hall’s 2022 season.
Matches Mike on
Differs from Mike on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Santana Hopper's senior season at Tulane (2025).
Matches Santana on
Differs from Santana on
Player DNA