#24

K.J. Kirkland

Junior defensive back on Florida State's 2026 roster.

DB · Florida State · Jr. · #24

6′1″ · 209 lb · Jacksonville, FL · Raines

CFB Index 32 · #429 of 544 safetiesLow confidenceReturning to Florida State for 2026

via seminoles.com ↗

Next upSat Sep 19 · 3:30 pm ETat AlabamaBryant-Denny StadiumAlabama by 19.5

Recruiting

3★

S recruit

No. 514 nationally · Signed with Florida State

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

3 defensive back on Florida State's 2025 roster.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Florida State in 2023.

His career, year by year

How he projects

Plays like an extra linebacker near the line.

Grades highest in speed and tackling.

The full scouting read

K.J. Kirkland

DB · Florida State · Jr · #24

Plays like an extra linebacker near the line. This is his third year in the same secondary at Florida State. One game to point at: 8 tackles against Florida — Week 14, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
seasons on the roster
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

3 seasons under Mike Norvell — 20-18 over that span.

2023Florida State13-1HC: Mike Norvell · Balanced

2024Florida State2-10HC: Mike Norvell · Balanced, slow tempo

2025Florida State5-7HC: Mike Norvell · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

32Below cohort / limited sample #429 of 544?

Medium confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: forced fumbles (97th percentile). Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Forced fumbles#8 / 687 · 97th pct

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct

1.0

Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct

3.0

Tackles#1302 / 2975 · 55th pct

QB hurries#1007 / 2975 · 55th pct

Solo tackles#1996 / 2975 · 31st pct

Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct

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 & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	2.2	0.2	0.0	0.0
Road5g	3.6	0.3	0.2	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.5	0.2	0.0	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	3.2	0.4	0.2	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Mike Norvell

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

32 · #429 of 544 safeties

Three-star recruit. Now #429 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-ACC

Based on 2025: #59 of 75 ACC DBs

How the All-ACC estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Florida State	31	10	3.0	1.0	--	--	1
2024	Florida State	45	26	1.0	0.0	2	--	--
2023	Florida State	1	--	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		77	36	4.0	1.0	2	--	1

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2025

W 31–17

vs Alabama

1 SOLO · 2 TOT

With T. Castellanos — 152 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 83.6 · 78 rush yds (16 car) · 1 TD · J. Lucas — 22 rush yds (6 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 31-17vs Alabama	2	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 2	W 77-3vs East Texas A&M	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 4	W 66-10vs Kent State	2	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 5	L 38-46@ Virginia	3	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 6	L 22-28vs Miami	4	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 7	L 31-34vs Pittsburgh	3	2	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 8	L 13-20@ Stanford	2	1	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 10	W 42-7vs Wake Forest	1	0	0.5	0.0	—
Wk 11	L 10-24@ Clemson	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 13	L 11-21@ NC State	4	1	0.5	0.0	—
Wk 14	L 21-40@ Florida	8	3	0.0	0.0	—	Season-high 8 tackles
Total		31	10	3.0	1.0	—

How he plays

Play style

Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

11 games

31Tackles

10Solo

3TFL

1Sacks

0Pass def.

0INT

31 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 3 TFL.

Week 81 sack

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.

2026 Outlook

Florida State

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Florida State

Returning around him

1 Florida State player drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: -22 net (22 in / 44 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Florida State · Last season: 5-7 (AP #25) · Talent rank #21 · 2026 recruiting class #16

DNA match

Player DNA

Box Safety

Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Raider Damuni’s 2024 season.

Raider Damuni

81%match

BYU · 2024

Michael Boganowski

Oklahoma · 2025

81%

Zion Washington

Boise State · 2023

78%

John Torchio

Wisconsin · 2021

77%

Dejuan Lane

Penn State · 2025

77%

Matches Raider on

PD rate

TFL rate

Class year

Differs from Raider on

Weight (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Donovan Dyson's junior season at Massachusetts (2025).

Donovan Dyson

78%match

Massachusetts · 2025

Kieren Douglas

Purdue · 2022

78%

Dickson Agu

Tulane · 2025

77%

Moussa Kane

Duke · 2025

75%

Darrell Sweeting

Marshall · 2025

72%

Matches Donovan on

Class year

Height

TFL rate

Player DNA

Players who play like K.J. Kirkland

Ta'Shawn James

Iowa State · 2024

81%

Jayden Bradley

Texas State · 2026

81%

Michael Boganowski

Oklahoma · 2025

81%

Dejuan Lane

Penn State · 2025

77%

Quinton Hammonds

North Texas · 2024

76%

Background

ACCOLADES: 2025: Graduated from Florida State with recreation and tourism management degree in Spring 2026...ACC Academic Honor Roll 2024: FSU Team Honors - Devaughn Darling Award (Defensive Freshman of the Year)...ACC Academic Honor Roll 2025 (Redshirt Sophomore): Appeared in 12 games with four...

via seminoles.com ↗

The secondary · Florida State

#7Ashlynd BarkerDB · Sr.48 tackles · 2025
#6Ja'Bril RawlsDB · Jr.40 tackles · 2025
#14Ma'Khi JonesDB · So.34 tackles · 2025
#24K.J. KirklandDB · Jr.31 tackles · 2025
#12Nehemiah ChandlerDB · So.31 tackles · 2025

15 more on the roster · Florida State team page

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology