CFB Zeitgeist Score
72
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 100th percentile.
John Henry Daley
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
45 TACKLES · 11.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Utah for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive end · Utah
Returning around him
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Utah · Last season: 11-2 (AP #15) · Talent rank #44 · 2026 recruiting class #40
DE · UTAH · BIG 12
CFB Zeitgeist Score
72
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 100th percentile.
Heisman Heat
#9131
<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 · StarterImpact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Career arc · Season-by-season Standing
3 seasons on the ladder
2023
BYU · DE
—
2024
Utah · DE
—
2025
Utah · DE
R12 · All-American
Elite
Career Arc
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3-star | 0.8737 | No. 613 recruit | HighSchool |
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| No transfer portal moves on file for this player. | ||
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.
Achievements
Selector Grid · 2025
NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft
Market value, pedigree & pro outcome
NIL Valuation · On3
$792K
On3 ranking · Jun 2026
Whisper Rate
$2.00M
per-deal market estimate
Recruit stars
★★★☆☆
to —
Composite
0.8737
#613 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.
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 reads how different fanbases talk about this player. Returns once weekly mentions clear the publish floor.
Rival Radar
No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.
Signature Story
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 defensive totals stand
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 45): needs 17.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 45): needs 27.5/game over remaining 2.
✓ Hit 6-sack season · finished with 11.5.
✓ Hit 10-sack season · finished with 11.5.
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
John Henry Daley is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Utah's defense, with 11.5 sacks, 17.5 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.
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
2025 season snapshot | final
30-second read
High-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
Coverage & Takeaways
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 43-10@ UCLA | 3 | 2 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 2 | W 63-9vs Cal Poly | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | 2.5 TFL |
| Wk 3 | W 31-6@ Wyoming | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 1 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 4 | L 10-34vs Texas Tech | 5 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 48-14@ West Virginia | 7 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 7 | W 42-10vs Arizona State | 5 | 3 | 2.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | 2.5 TFL |
| Wk 8 | L 21-24@ BYU | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 53-7vs Colorado | 4 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 45-14vs Cincinnati | 4 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 55-28@ Baylor | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 51-47vs Kansas State | 4 | 3 | 3.5 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Total | 45 | 23 | 17.5 | 11.5 | — | 1 |
Traditional history
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
Advanced metrics second
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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.
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 45 | #729/4942 | 85th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 17.5 | #5/4972 | 100th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 11.5 | #7/4972 | 100th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 1 | #1241/2184 | 43rd pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 23 | #839/4584 | 82nd pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.
ALL-AMERICAN
ALL-AMERICAN · Rung 12 of 16
Why he’s here
All-American — named 1st team by at least one NCAA-recognized selector.
What moves him up
Add selectors to reach Consensus (3 of 5).
What moves him down
Lose the selector and this slips to national-watch territory.
Accolade streams
First-team selections from 1 selectors.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.3 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 3.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 4.2 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 |
| Losses2g | 3.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 4.5 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DE cohort
Elite: tackles for loss (99th). Strength: sacks (99th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DE · 2024
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
Bends the edge and wins with first-step quickness. Lighter frame, relentless motor.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Ryan Davis’s 2025 season.
Ryan Davis
Malachi Lawrence
Andrew Edson
Jaylen Harrell
Jahfari Harvey
Matches Ryan on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Caleb Herring's junior season at Tennessee (2025).
Caleb Herring
Mykel Williams
Reggie Grimes
Isaac Terrell
Jimmy Scott
Matches Caleb on
Differs from Caleb on
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Kyle Whittingham
Pass share
39.8%
371 pass / 562 run
Plays / game
71.8
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
4.2%
289 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Kyle Whittingham.
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA
Named All-American (2025)
1 selectors honored him
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Big 12
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
National selector recognition is one of the strongest non-Heisman signals on a player card and should sit near the top of the showcase.
Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.
Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.
| Season | Honor | Scope | Team / Selector | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | All-Big 12 | all_conference | Utah | Big 12 | DE |
| 2025 | All-America (WCFF) | all_america | WCFF | DL |
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
Team, conference, and class by season.