CFB Zeitgeist Score
55
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 91st percentile.
Kaleb Cost
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
45 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to North Carolina for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive back · North Carolina
Returning around him
- 16% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- Transfer portal: -11 net (20 in / 31 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
North Carolina · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #31 · 2026 recruiting class #41
DB · NORTH CAROLINA · ACC
Kaleb Cost
- 3
- #21
- 5-11 | 195 lb
- Atlanta, GA
Heisman Heat
#11585
<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 DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
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
North Carolina
NFL
NFL Draft
—
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3-star | 0.8733 | No. 768 recruit | HighSchool | North Carolina |
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 North Carolina
Composite
0.8733
#768 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.
The Room on Kaleb Cost
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 Kaleb Cost
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 11g
45Tackles
2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
53Tackles
2.4Tackles for loss
0Sacks
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.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 3/game over remaining 2.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 5/game over remaining 2.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Kaleb Cost is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on North Carolina's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 2.0 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?
Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
45 85th
SOLO
33 91st
TFL
2.0 71st
SACK
0.0 65th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
5 90th
INT
1 65th
FF
1 84th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 14-48vs TCU | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 20-3@ Charlotte | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-6vs Richmond | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 9-34@ UCF | 7 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 6 | L 10-38vs Clemson | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | L 18-21@ California | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 16-17vs Virginia | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 10 | W 27-10@ Syracuse | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 11 | W 20-15vs Stanford | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 25-32vs Duke | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 19-42@ NC State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 45 | 33 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 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
2023North Carolina8-5HC: Mack Brown · Balanced
2025North Carolina4-8HC: Bill Belichick · Balanced, slow tempo
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | North Carolina | 45 | 33 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 2023 | North Carolina | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2 | -- | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 50 | 35 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 |
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 | 45 | #729/4942 | 85th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.0 | #1443/4972 | 71st pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th 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 | Solo tackles | 33 | #417/4584 | 91st pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Forced fumbles | 1 | #8/45 | 84th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Ball Security | Fumbles lost | 0 | #1/773 | 100th pct | Turnoversvs 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 Thorpe 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 · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 3.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road5g | 5.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Losses7g | 4.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 4.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 3.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort
55Solid starter
Elite: forced fumbles (96th). Strength: passes defended (90th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DB · 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
Kaleb CostNorth CarolinaTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 78% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 78% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 75% sim
Forced fumbles
Passes defended
Solo tackles
Tackles
Tackles for loss
Interceptions
Sacks
QB hurries
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Hybrid Nickel
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Morice Norris’s 2022 season.
Morice Norris
92%match
#2
Jordan Anderson
92%
#3
Derrick Canteen
91%
#4
Sage Ryan
89%
#5
Jayden Sweeney
85%
Matches Morice on
Tackle volume
Weight
Height
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Jayden Sweeney's junior season at Florida Atlantic (2025).
Jayden Sweeney
90%match
#2
Bo Mascoe
85%
#3
Malachi McLean
83%
#4
Jonas Duclona
84%
#5
Cameron Mitchell
81%
Matches Jayden on
Class year
Height
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bill Belichick
Pass share
51.1%
355 pass / 340 run
Plays / game
57.9
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
8.4%
262 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
2 coaches2023
Mack Brown
North Carolina
2025era →
Bill Belichick
North Carolina
Coaching transition mid-career: Mack Brown → Bill Belichick. 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.
HometownAtlanta, GA
Height5'11"
Weight195 lb
Class3
PositionDB
Jersey21
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamNorth Carolina
ConferenceACC
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.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | North Carolina | DB3 | #11585 | #11564 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | ACC |
| 2023 | North Carolina | DB3 | #11084 | #10944 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | ACC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | North Carolina | ACC | DB | 3 | No. 21 | 5-11 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA |
| 2024 | North Carolina | ACC | DB | 3 | No. 21 | 5-11 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA |
| 2023 | North Carolina | ACC | DB | 3 | No. 21 | 5-11 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA |