CFB Zeitgeist Score
79
All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 89th percentile.
Justin Jefferson
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
79 TACKLES · 3 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · NFL
Cleveland2026 NFL rookie season
#149Rd 5 · Pick 9
Cleveland2026 NFL rookie season
LB · ALABAMA · SEC
Justin Jefferson
- 4
- #10
- 6-1 | 227 lb
- Memphis, TN
Heisman Heat
#3214
<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 LB AWARD
Butkus
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★
CFB
College
Alabama
NFL
NFL Draft
R5 · #149
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2-star | 0.7633 | No. 3724 recruit | HighSchool |
Transfer Arc
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. | ||
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 —
Composite
0.7633
#3724 national
NFL Draft
2026 · Rd 5, Pick 9
#149 overall · Cleveland
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 Justin Jefferson
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 map
Cohort divergence reads how different fanbases talk about this player. Returns once weekly mentions clear the publish floor.
Rival Radar
How rival fanbases talk about Justin Jefferson
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 defensive totals stand
Through 13g
79Tackles
6.5Tackles for loss
3Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
0.5Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Final
79Tackles
6.5Tackles for loss
3Sacks
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Justin Jefferson is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Alabama's defense, with 3.0 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 1 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.
2025 Season · Final
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
DEF 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?
High-disruption defender | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
79 97th
SOLO
48 98th
TFL
6.5 93rd
SACK
3.0 94th
QBH
2 66th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
5 90th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-31@ Florida State | 6 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 73-0vs UL Monroe | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | W 24-21@ Georgia | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 30-14vs Vanderbilt | 14 | 9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 14 tackles |
| Wk 7 | W 27-24@ Missouri | 6 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 37-20vs Tennessee | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 29-22@ South Carolina | 7 | 5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 20-9vs LSU | 7 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 21-23vs Oklahoma | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 14 | W 27-20@ Auburn | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 15 | L 7-28vs Georgia | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 34-24@ Oklahoma | 9 | 7 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | L 3-38@ Indiana | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 79 | 48 | 6.5 | 3.0 | 1 | 5 |
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
2023Alabama12-2HC: Nick Saban · Run-heavy
2024Alabama9-4HC: Kalen DeBoer · Run-leaning
2025Alabama11-4HC: Kalen DeBoer · Balanced
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 79 | #157/4942 | 97th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 6.5 | #340/4972 | 93rd pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 3.0 | #292/4972 | 94th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 1 | #308/869 | 65th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 5 | #218/2184 | 90th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 2 | #647/1878 | 66th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 48 | #90/4584 | 98th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
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
The Butkus award tracker integrates per-week probability once a dedicated scraper for this award lands. Confirmed past winners and finalists for this player will surface here.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 5.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Road7g | 6.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 6.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Losses4g | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 6.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
79All-Conference
Elite: solo tackles (96th). Strength: tackles (94th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · LB · 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
Justin JeffersonAlabamaGavin MoulDelaware· 93% simMatt RoseStanford· 93% simJordan PollardSan José State· 92% sim
Solo tackles
Tackles
Passes defended
Sacks
Tackles for loss
QB hurries
Interceptions
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Coverage 'Backer
Carries tight ends and patrols the middle of the field in coverage.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to JD Bertrand’s 2023 season.
JD Bertrand
89%match
NFL Rd 5
#2
Tarique Barnes
87%
#3
Deontae Lawson
82%
#4
Trey Lathan
81%
#5
Kanye Young
79%
Matches JD on
Tackle volume
PD rate
Sack rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Deontae Lawson's junior season at Alabama (2024).
Deontae Lawson
88%match
All-SEC
#2
Michael Dowell
87%
#3
DaShaun White
86%
#4
Dax Hollifield
86%
#5
Austin Moore
85%
Matches Deontae on
TFL rate
Tackle volume
PD rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Kalen DeBoer
Pass share
53.4%
523 pass / 456 run
Plays / game
65.3
15 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.8%
384 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
2 coaches2023
Nick Saban
Alabama
2024era →
Kalen DeBoer
Alabama
2025
Kalen DeBoer
Alabama
Coaching transition mid-career: Nick Saban → Kalen DeBoer. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownMemphis, TN
Height6'1"
Weight227 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey10
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamAlabama
ConferenceSEC
Joined2025
Career arc3 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.
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.