James Blackman

Senior quarterback for Arkansas State. 2022: 2,473 passing yards, 14 TD, 3 INT.

QB · Arkansas State · Sr. · #1

6′5″ · 190 lb · South Bay, FL

CFB Index 40 · #88 of 140 QBsHigh confidenceArkansas State 2022 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

PRO recruit

No. 384 nationally · Signed with Florida State

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 quarterback for Arkansas State. 2022: 2,473 passing yards, 14 TD, 3 INT.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Florida State in 2017.
Transferred from Florida State to Arkansas State in 2021.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Six seasons at Arkansas State, 9,257 passing yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He was on the field for 6 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

The week the volume broke through — put up 278 yds vs NC State.NC State · L 21-272017

201712 games

Signed with Florida State3-star out of Glades Central

20216 games

The snaps went the other way.

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#384 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2017–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2017–2022

2 coaches

2017–2020

Blake Anderson

Arkansas State

2021–2022

Butch Jones

Arkansas State

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Blake Anderson → Butch Jones. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2017Florida State7-6HC: Odell Haggins · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2018Florida State5-7HC: Willie Taggart · Balanced

2019Florida State6-7HC: Willie Taggart · Balanced

2020Florida State3-6HC: Mike Norvell · Run-leaning

2021Arkansas State2-10HC: Butch Jones · Pass-heavy

2022Arkansas State3-9HC: Butch Jones · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

40Below cohort / limited sample #88 of 140?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: interception rate (97th percentile). Strength: interceptions (85th percentile). Concern: sack rate (18th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Interception rate#5 / 169 · 97th pct

0.3%

Success rate#82 / 169 · 52nd pct

45.7%

EPA / dropback#93 / 169 · 45th pct

0.22

Explosive rate#125 / 169 · 26th pct

8.2%

Sack rate#139 / 169 · 18th pct

8.5%

Box-score rates (8)

Interceptions#20 / 177 · 85th pct

Completion %#52 / 177 · 70th pct

64.3%

Pass yards#68 / 177 · 62nd pct

2473

Rush TDs#67 / 177 · 58th pct

Pass TDs#78 / 177 · 55th pct

Yards / att#97 / 177 · 44th pct

7.1

Fumbles lost#83 / 169 · 38th pct

Rush yards#171 / 177 · 4th pct

-120

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

21st → 45th percentile

Success rate

26th → 52nd percentile

Explosive rate

54th → 26th percentile

Sack rate

18th → 18th percentile

Interception rate

82nd → 97th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. 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).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

217/339 (64.0%) · 14 TD · 3 INT

339 of 347 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

6.32103 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

8.2%162 of 206 QBs

Sacked on 8.2% of dropbacks (162 of 206) — and still 103 of 206 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

57%of completions

124 comp4.6 yds avg3 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

30%of completions

65 comp14.1 yds avg4 TD

Deep

20+ yds

13%of completions

28 comp29.4 yds avg2 TD

Overall 64.0% completion on 339 attempts · 28 deep completions averaging 29.4 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home6g	208	1.3	7.8	0.3
Road5g	245	1.2	6.9	0.2

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	242	1.6	8.1	0.1
Weeks 8+4g	194	0.8	6.2	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Butch Jones

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Impact starter

Producing measurably more than a replacement-level starter.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

40 · #88 of 140 QBs

Three-star recruit. Now #88 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Arkansas State	223	347	64.3%	2,473	7.1	14	3	135.7	41	--	--
2021	Arkansas State	109	184	59.2%	1,334	7.2	8	4	130.1	39	--	--
2020	Florida State	43	76	56.6%	365	4.8	2	3	97.7	30	--	--
2019	Florida State	184	292	63.0%	2,339	8.0	17	11	142.0	--	--	--
2018	Florida State	33	51	64.7%	516	10.1	5	1	178.1	--	--	--
2017	Florida State	173	297	58.2%	2,230	7.5	19	11	135.0	--	--	--
Career		765	1,247	61.3%	9,257	7.4	65	33	135.6	39	--	--

Season	Team
2022	Arkansas State	61	-120	-2.0	3	--
2021	Arkansas State	32	-39	-1.2	0	--
2020	Florida State	17	-23	-1.4	0	--
2019	Florida State	68	41	0.6	1	--
2018	Florida State	11	-26	-2.4	0	--
2017	Florida State	65	-42	-0.6	0	--
Career		254	-209	-0.8	4	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2022

W 58–3

vs Grambling

210 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 97.8 · 11 rush yds (2 car) · 2 TD

Dominant 55-point win at home against Grambling.

With J. Lang — 124 rush yds (13 car) · 1 TD · C. Flemings — 7 rec · 122 yds · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 3 · Memphis · 3&6 · Q1 · EPA +5.60James Blackman pass complete to Seydou Traore for 51 yds for a TD, (Dominic Zvada KICK)
Week 6 · James Madison · 3&14 · Q1 · EPA +4.45James Blackman pass complete to Seydou Traore for 47 yds to the JMads 29 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · James Madison · 3&9 · Q4 · EPA +4.02James Blackman pass complete to Champ Flemings for 37 yds to the JMads 37 for a 1ST down
Week 13 · Troy · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +3.82James Blackman run for 30 yds for a TD, (Dominic Zvada KICK)
Week 5 · UL Monroe · 3&14 · Q2 · EPA +3.64James Blackman pass complete to Johnnie Lang for 18 yds for a TD, (Dominic Zvada KICK), (Dominic Zvada KICK)
Week 12 · Texas State · 4&9 · Q4 · EPA +3.51James Blackman pass complete to Daverrick Jenkins for 31 yds to the TexSt 9 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · Old Dominion · 2&2 · Q3 · EPA +3.49Jeff Foreman 49 Yd pass from James Blackman (Dominic Zvada Kick)
Week 2 · Ohio State · 2&19 · Q2 · EPA +3.38James Blackman pass complete to Adam Jones for 25 yds to the OhSt 49 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Grambling · 3&13 · Q3 · EPA +3.33James Blackman pass complete to Adam Jones for 14 yds to the Gramb 39 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Grambling · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.32Champ Flemings 29 Yd pass from James Blackman (Dominic Zvada Kick)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 58-3vs Grambling	15/20	210	2	0	10.5	97.8
Wk 2	L 12-45@ Ohio State	20/34	188	0	0	5.5	59.4
Wk 3	L 32-44@ Memphis	25/34	275	2	0	8.1	81.0	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 4	L 26-29@ Old Dominion	23/35	287	1	1	8.2	26.3	Season-high 287 yds
Wk 5	W 45-28vs UL Monroe	25/32	254	2	0	7.9	77.0	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 6	L 20-42vs James Madison	16/26	247	2	0	9.5	53.4
Wk 7	L 19-20@ Southern Miss	25/34	236	2	0	6.9	66.8
Wk 9	L 3-31vs South Alabama	22/39	177	0	0	4.5	14.5
Wk 11	W 35-33vs Massachusetts	10/18	142	2	1	7.9	16.3
Wk 12	L 13-16@ Texas State	22/40	237	1	0	5.9	33.8
Wk 13	L 19-48vs Troy	20/35	220	0	1	6.3	33.5
Total		223/347	2473	14	3	7.4	50.9

How he plays

Play style

High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

57.4%Completion %

15.9%Conversion/dropback

67.7%Land short of sticks

0INTs

57.4% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 15.9% conversion-per-dropback — 67.7% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design