John Ward: DL · San José State · #98.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
John Ward
Wins the gap play after play. Played for two head coaches at two programs in three seasons: Blake Anderson and Ken Niumatalolo. First career honor, 2024: All-Mountain West. On tape: 9 tackles and 3 tackles for loss against Colorado State, Week 7, 2024.
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
46 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 6.5 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.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | San José State | 46 | 24 | 6.5 | 2.5 | 1 |
| 2023 | Utah State | 13 | 5 | 2.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| 2022 | Utah State | 10 | 3 | 3.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| Career | 69 | 32 | 11.5 | 2.5 | 1 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 17-7@ Air Force | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-10vs Kennesaw State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 35-31vs Nevada | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 24-31@ Colorado State | 9 | 4 | 3.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 9 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 24-14vs Wyoming | 8 | 1 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 10-33@ Fresno State | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 24-13@ Oregon State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 21-42vs No. 13 Boise State | 7 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 16-27vs No. 23 UNLV | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 34-31vs Stanford | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 39-41vs South Florida | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 46 | 24 | 6.5 | 2.5 | — | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
14%6 TFLSack rate
5%2 sacksHurry rate
9%4 hurries46 tackles · 6.5 for loss · 2.5 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2024 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 4.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Ken Niumatalolo
Pass share
64.4%
550 pass / 304 run
Plays / game
65.7
13 games
Team sack rate
1.5%
549 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-heavy.
Player standing · 2024
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
How it ended
Three seasons, at Utah State and San José State, 2 sacks — the college career is complete.
A stat line in 25 games over three seasons.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST
All-Mountain West mention (2024)
Coaching lineage · 2019–2024
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 3 schools: Chip Kelly, Blake Anderson and Ken Niumatalolo.
