Keli Lawson is a linebacker who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at UCF.
Lawson ranges from hash to hash and finishes the tackle. Played for three head coaches across five seasons and two programs. The first career honor came in 2023: ACC Linebacker Player of the Week. One game to point at: 5 tackles against Texas Tech — Week 12, 2025.
Play style
Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
33 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 2 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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | UCF | 33 | 25 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2024 | Virginia Tech | 40 | 20 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 4 | 1 |
| 2023 | Virginia Tech | 76 | 37 | 7.0 | 2.5 | 6 | 1 |
| 2022 | Virginia Tech | 23 | 11 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2021 | Virginia Tech | 1 | -- | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 173 | 93 | 13.5 | 5.5 | 12 | 3 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 17-10vs Jacksonville State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 34-9vs North Carolina | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | L 20-34@ Kansas State | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 20-27vs Kansas | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 11-20@ Cincinnati | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 45-13vs West Virginia | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 3-30@ Baylor | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 27-30vs Houston | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 9-48@ No. 8 Texas Tech | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 13 | W 17-14vs Oklahoma State | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 21-41@ No. 11 BYU | 3 | 2 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Total | 33 | 25 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
33tackles this seasonTFL rate
6%2 TFLSack rate
6%2 sacksPD rate
3%1 pass breakups33 tackles · 2 for loss · 2 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road5g | 3.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 3.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Scott Frost
Pass share
51.7%
403 pass / 377 run
Plays / game
65.0
12 games
Team sack rate
4.9%
429 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #363 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big 12
Based on 2025: #44 of 73 Big 12 LBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2021–2025
4 coachesPlayed for 4 head coaches at 2 schools: Justin Fuente, J.C. Price, Brent Pry and Scott Frost.
