cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Keanu Williams /UCLA

Keanu Williams

DL · UCLA · Sr · #99

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

39 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to UCLA for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to UCLA for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · UCLA

Returning around him

  • 22% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: +12 net (41 in / 29 out)

2026 Award watch

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

UCLA · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #26 · 2026 recruiting class #46

DL · UCLA · BIG TEN

Keanu Williams

  • 4
  • #99
  • 6-5 | 320 lb
  • Clovis, CA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

34

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by tackles at the 68th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#11330

<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 DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★★
#14 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2021–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds

#21 in market ▼ from #18 · 6 books

+35002.8% implied▼ lengthened from +3000

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionDL
Class4
Jersey99
Measurements6-5 | 320 lb
HometownClovis, CA
Primary teamUCLA

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 4-star No. 14 recruit
Composite rating 0.8933 JUCO
Signed with Oregon 2020
Origin College of San Mateo MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
Class Profile Context
2020 4-star | 0.8933 No. 14 recruit | JUCO | Oregon

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
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 16
Current nowcast#11330Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#11666Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman 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 Oregon

Composite

0.8933

#14 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

PENDING

The 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 Keanu Williams

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 Keanu Williams

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.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 12g
39Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
42Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 39): needs 41/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 39): needs 61/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 6/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 10/game over remaining 1.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Keanu Williams is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on UCLA's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 tackles for loss, and -- 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.

Current place #11330 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 14 recruit

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
Total tackles 39 17 solo | #937/4942 (81st pct)
TFL 0.0 Backfield disruption | #3020/4972 (39th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
39 81st
SOLO
17 73rd
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 10-43vs Utah220.00.00
Wk 2L 23-30@ UNLV400.00.00
Wk 3L 10-35vs New Mexico630.00.00Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 5L 14-17@ Northwestern210.00.00
Wk 6W 42-37vs Penn State220.00.00
Wk 7W 38-13@ Michigan State320.00.00
Wk 8W 20-17vs Maryland110.00.00
Wk 9L 6-56@ Indiana410.00.01
Wk 11L 21-28vs Nebraska510.00.00
Wk 12L 10-48@ Ohio State210.00.00
Wk 13L 14-48vs Washington430.00.00
Wk 14L 10-29@ USC400.00.00
Total39170.00.01
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2021Oregon10-3HC: Bryan McClendon · Run-leaning
2022Oregon10-3HC: Dan Lanning · Run-leaning
2023UCLA8-5HC: Chip Kelly · Run-leaning
2024UCLA5-7HC: Deshaun Foster · Balanced, slow tempo
2025UCLA3-9HC: Deshaun Foster · Balanced, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025UCLA39170.00.01----
2024UCLA111.01.0------
2023UCLA1470.50.5------
2022Oregon2--0.00.01----
2021Oregon310.00.0------
Career5 loaded seasons59261.51.52----
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

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.

Traditional first

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.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 1 Coverage disruption | #1241/2184 (43rd pct)
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 39 #937/4942 81st pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 0.0 #3020/4972 39th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 1 #1241/2184 43rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 17 #1252/4584 73rd 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

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Lombardi 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 · 12 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g3.30.00.00.0
Road6g3.20.00.00.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g2.00.00.00.0
Losses9g3.70.00.00.1

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g3.20.00.00.0
Weeks 8+6g3.30.00.00.2

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

34Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles for loss (7th).

Tackles#937 / 2975 · 68th pct
39defe
Solo tackles#1252 / 2975 · 56th pct
17defe
Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct
0.0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · DL · 2024

Percentile Card

Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.

P4G5All FBS
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

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

3 peers · 6 metrics
Keanu WilliamsUCLATyler MartinMassachusetts· 70% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 66% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 64% sim
Tackles
68
Williams
98
Martin
99
Ra-El
99
Fletcher
Solo tackles
56
Williams
87
Martin
100
Ra-El
91
Fletcher
Passes defended
48
Williams
67
Martin
91
Ra-El
67
Fletcher
Sacks
24
Williams
24
Martin
24
Ra-El
24
Fletcher
QB hurries
22
Williams
22
Martin
22
Ra-El
92
Fletcher
Tackles for loss
7
Williams
63
Martin
56
Ra-El
28
Fletcher

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Nose Anchor

Two-gap space-eater who occupies blockers and frees the linebackers.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Gabriel Rubio’s 2023 season.

Gabriel Rubio

93%match

Notre Dame · 2023

NFL Rd 6
#2

Mosai Newsom

Nebraska · 2021

91%
#3

Ben Barten

Wisconsin · 2024

90%
#4

Yahya Black

Iowa · 2021

NFL Rd 5
90%
#5

Isaiah Gibson Sr.

Marshall · 2022

87%

Matches Gabriel on

Weight
TFL rate
Height

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Tywone Malone's graduate season at Ohio State (2025).

Tywone Malone

85%match

Ohio State · 2025

#2

Dion Wilson Jr.

Syracuse · 2024

78%
#3

Aaron Beckwith

Massachusetts · 2024

78%
#4

Darrell Jackson

Florida State · 2025

77%
#5

Jacob Bandes

Washington · 2024

77%

Matches Tywone on

Class year
Sack rate
TFL rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Deshaun Foster

Pass share

48.9%

358 pass / 374 run

Plays / game

61.0

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.3%

280 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025

2 coaches
2021
Chip Kelly
UCLA
2022
Chip Kelly
UCLA
2023
Chip Kelly
UCLA
2024
Deshaun Foster
UCLA
era →
2025
Deshaun Foster
UCLA

Coaching transition mid-career: Chip Kelly → Deshaun Foster. 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.

HometownClovis, CA
Height6'5"
Weight320 lb
Class4
PositionDL
Jersey99

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

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 UCLA DL4 #11330 #11666 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten
2023 UCLA DL4 #9136 #8845 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Pac-12
2022 Oregon DL4 #9799 #9238 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Pac-12
2021 Oregon DL4 #7430 #7157 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Pac-12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 UCLA Big Ten DL 4 No. 99 | 6-5 | 320 lb | Clovis, CA
2024 UCLA Big Ten DL 4 No. 99 | 6-5 | 320 lb | Clovis, CA
2023 UCLA Pac-12 DL 4 No. 99 | 6-5 | 320 lb | Clovis, CA
2022 Oregon Pac-12 DL 4 No. 99 | 6-5 | 320 lb | Clovis, CA
2021 Oregon Pac-12 DL 4 No. 99 | 6-5 | 320 lb | Clovis, CA