Kaiden Smith: DB · App State · #13.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Kaiden Smith
Plays like an extra linebacker near the line. Played for three head coaches at App State: Scott Satterfield, Eli Drinkwitz and Shawn Clark. That makes two straight seasons on the honors list: All-Sun Belt again in 2021. One game to point at: 12 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss against Louisiana — Week 14, 2021.
Play style
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
48 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 2.5 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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Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 9 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 5 | W 45-16@ Georgia State | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 13-41@ Louisiana | 10 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 30-27vs No. 14 Coastal Carolina | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 59-28vs UL Monroe | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 48-14@ Arkansas State | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 31-7vs South Alabama | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 45-7@ Troy | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 27-3vs Georgia Southern | 9 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 16-24@ No. 20 Louisiana | 12 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 12 tackles |
| Total | 48 | 27 | 2.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
2%1 pass breakupsTackle volume
58tackles this seasonTFL rate
6%4 TFL58 tackles · 3.5 for loss · 1 pass breakup.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 4.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 6.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-72g | 7.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 4.9 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Shawn Clark
Pass share
4.5%
23 pass / 490 run
Plays / game
39.5
13 games
Team sack rate
3.9%
431 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2021
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
How it ended
Five seasons at App State, 162 tackles — the college career is complete.
A stat line in 34 games over five seasons.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-SUN BELT · 2ND TEAM
All-Sun Belt 2nd team (2021)
Coaching lineage · 2017–2021
3 coachesPlayed under 3 different head coaches: Scott Satterfield, Eli Drinkwitz, and Shawn Clark. Multi-era developmental context.
