Kavian Gaither: LB · Sam Houston · #14.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Kavian Gaither
Ranges from hash to hash and finishes the tackle. Two seasons in the Sam Houston linebacker corps to date. All-Conference USA in 2024 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. One game to point at: 17 tackles and 3 tackles for loss against Jacksonville State — Week 13, 2024.
Play style
Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
91 tackles. 2 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 8.5 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.
The New York Times Oct 28Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Sam Houston | 91 | 62 | 8.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | Sam Houston | 62 | 39 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 |
| Career | 153 | 101 | 13.5 | 1.0 | 3 | 3 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 34-14@ Rice | 5 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-45@ UCF | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-13vs Hawai'i | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 31-11vs New Mexico State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 40-39vs Texas State | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 41-21@ UTEP | 11 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 14-31vs Western Kentucky | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 10-7vs Florida International | 7 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 10 | W 9-3vs Louisiana Tech | 7 | 6 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 23-17@ Kennesaw State | 9 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 11-21@ Jacksonville State | 17 | 12 | 3.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 17 tackles |
| Wk 14 | W 20-18vs Liberty | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 31-26vs Georgia Southern | 7 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 91 | 62 | 8.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
91tackles this seasonTFL rate
9%8 TFLSack rate
0%0 sacksPD rate
2%2 pass breakups91 tackles · 8.5 for loss · 2 interceptions.
2 seasons under K.C. Keeler — 13-12 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2024 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 4.4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 10.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 5.9 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 8.3 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
K.C. Keeler
Pass share
39.2%
349 pass / 541 run
Plays / game
68.5
13 games
Team sack rate
7.4%
364 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2024
First team in his league at the position.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
How it ended
Two seasons at Sam Houston, 153 tackles, a first-team All-Conference season (2024) — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 1ST TEAM
All-Conference USA 1st team (2024)
Weekly recognition
1 weekly honor (2023)
Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week
