cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Kenyon Clay /Arkansas State

Kenyon Clay

RB · Arkansas State · Jr · #5

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

523 RUSH YDS · 3 RUSH TD · 139 CARRIES

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Arkansas State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Arkansas State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Running back · Arkansas State

Returning around him

  • 59% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • Transfer portal: -13 net (24 in / 37 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Arkansas State · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #88 · 2026 recruiting class #75

RB · ARKANSAS STATE · SUN BELT

Kenyon Clay

  • 3
  • #5
  • 6-1 | 220 lb
  • Union, MS

CFB Zeitgeist Score

47

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by rush yards at the 57th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#4208

<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 RB AWARD

Doak Walker

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Development Trajectory · rushing yards

2022–2025
45.02022
1792023
5232025

+1062%

Up 1062% from first season to most-recent.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1557 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionRB
Class3
Jersey5
Measurements6-1 | 220 lb
HometownUnion, MS
Primary teamArkansas State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1557 recruit
Composite rating 0.8374 HighSchool
Signed with Southern Miss 2022
Origin Union Union, MS, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8374 No. 1557 recruit | HighSchool | Southern Miss

Transfer Arc

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

Portal moves 1 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Arkansas State 2025
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 1, 2025
Season Move Context
2025 Southern Miss -> Arkansas State 3-star | 0.8300 | Immediate

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#4208Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#4594Where 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 Southern Miss

Composite

0.8374

#1557 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 Kenyon Clay

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 Kenyon Clay

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 rushing totals stand

final
Through 13g
523Rush yards
139Carries
3Rush TDs
Per game
40.2Rush yards
11Carries
0Rush TDs
Final
523Rush yards
139Carries
3Rush TDs

Why this is more than a rushing profile

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

Kenyon Clay is not a one-lane back. The profile is interesting because the workload spills beyond pure rushing volume: 523 rushing yards, 37 catches, and 0 return yards for Arkansas State. That kind of all-purpose footprint gives the card a much richer story than a basic carry total.

Current place #4208 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 17.3% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Transfer path 1 portal move

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

RB season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Scrimmage yards 728 523 rush | 205 rec | #150/735 (80th pct)
Rush TD 3 139 carries | #204/739 (73rd pct)
Yards/carry 3.8 Per-rush efficiency | #534/735 (27th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Passing-game back against FBS RB peers.

Passing-game back

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Rushing

CAR
139 89th
YDS
523 80th
YPC
3.8 27th
TD
3 73rd

Receiving

REC
37 99th
YDS
205 91st
YPR
5.5 33rd
TD
3 99th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppCARYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1W 42-24vs Southeast Missouri State15412.718
Wk 2L 14-56@ Arkansas12282.3013
Wk 3L 16-24vs Iowa State13513.9012
Wk 4L 21-28@ Kennesaw State5265.2014
Wk 5L 16-28@ UL Monroe6203.305
Wk 6W 31-30vs Texas State8283.506
Wk 8W 15-14@ South Alabama9283.109
Wk 9W 34-24vs Georgia Southern171247.3130Season-high 124 yds
Wk 10W 23-10@ Troy16402.5012
Wk 11L 21-27vs Southern Miss8192.404
Wk 13L 30-34vs Louisiana5132.607
Wk 14W 30-29@ App State14523.7111
BowlW 34-28vs Missouri State11534.8013
Total1395233.6330
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

2022Southern Miss7-6HC: Will Hall · Run-leaning
2023Southern Miss3-9HC: Will Hall · Run-leaning
2025Arkansas State7-6HC: Butch Jones · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Arkansas State1395233.83--
2023Southern Miss401794.51--
2022Southern Miss19452.42--
Career3 loaded seasons1987473.86--
SeasonTeam
2025Arkansas State372055.53--
2023Southern Miss155.00--
2022Southern Miss294.50--
Career3 loaded seasons402195.53--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Rushing WEPA

Opponent-adjusted rushing value. It helps separate empty volume from carries that actually move the scoreboard.

Role share

How much of the team's offense flows through this back once rushing work and receiving work are combined.

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.

Receiving work 37 205 rec yds | #9/552 (99th pct)
Usage 17.3% 31.3% rush share | #125/738 (83rd pct)
Rushing WEPA -0.01 Opponent-adjusted rush value | #352/362 (3rd pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Rushing Rushing yards 523 #150/735 80th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Rushing Rush TD 3 #204/739 73rd pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Rushing Yards / carry 3.8 #534/735 27th pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receptions 37 #9/552 99th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving yards 205 #53/548 91st pct Volumevs FBS RB
Value Rushing WEPA -0.01 #352/362 3rd pct Opponent-adjusted rushing value | 122 weighted playsvs FBS RB
Usage Role share 17.3% #125/738 83rd pct Share of team offensevs FBS RB
Rushing Carries 139 #84/739 89th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Rushing Rushing LONG 30 #297/733 60th pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving LONG 27 #142/540 74th pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Yards / catch 5.5 #370/548 33rd pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving TD 3 #5/552 99th pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Usage Rush share 31.3% #112/738 85th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS RB
Usage 1st-down usage 21.9% #108/738 86th pct Early-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Standard-down usage 20.4% #121/738 84th pct Base-situation sharevs FBS RB
Usage 2nd-down usage 13.4% #228/738 69th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage 3rd-down usage 12.4% #132/738 82nd pct Money-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Passing-down usage 10.4% #188/738 75th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS RB
Usage Pass share 7.2% #77/738 90th pct Air-game usagevs FBS RB
Ball Security Fumbles lost 2 #205/256 20th pct Turnoversvs FBS RB

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

Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Home7g47.03.90.3
Road6g32.33.40.2

Win vs Loss

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Wins7g52.33.90.4
Losses6g26.23.30.0

First half vs Second half

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Weeks 1-77g35.33.70.1
Weeks 8+6g46.03.60.3

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

47Mid-pack
8 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: receptions (96th). Strength: rec yards (85th). Concern: yards / carry (8th).

Receptions#9 / 338 · 97th pct
37rece
Rec yards#50 / 338 · 85th pct
205rece
Carries#84 / 349 · 76th pct
139rush
Rush yards#150 / 349 · 57th pct
523rush
Rush TDs#200 / 349 · 38th pct
3rush
Long run#247 / 349 · 29th pct
30rush
Fumbles lost#154 / 201 · 14th pct
2fumb
Yards / carry#315 / 349 · 9th pct
3.8rush

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

Advanced Savant · RB · 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.

wepa_rushing-0.01Below (<p25) (n=178)

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 8 metrics
Kenyon ClayArkansas StateAl-Jay HendersonBuffalo· 83% simRashod DubinionApp State· 80% simKendrick RaphaelCalifornia· 75% sim
Receptions
97
Clay
85
Henderson
86
Dubinion
94
Raphael
Rec yards
85
Clay
79
Henderson
77
Dubinion
91
Raphael
Carries
76
Clay
90
Henderson
87
Dubinion
97
Raphael
Rush yards
57
Clay
79
Henderson
84
Dubinion
88
Raphael
Rush TDs
38
Clay
72
Henderson
50
Dubinion
95
Raphael
Long run
29
Clay
43
Henderson
39
Dubinion
32
Raphael
Fumbles lost
14
Clay
14
Henderson
14
Dubinion
14
Raphael
Yards / carry
9
Clay
18
Henderson
53
Dubinion
18
Raphael

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

Player DNA

The Workhorse

Built to take 20+ carries per game. Volume is the value.

RB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Kadarius Calloway’s 2025 season.

Kadarius Calloway

80%match

New Mexico State · 2025

#2

Dylan Downing

Purdue · 2021

75%
#3

Jaison Patterson

Bowling Green · 2021

71%
#4

Landon Sims

Hawai'i · 2023

70%
#5

Cyrus Habibi-Likio

Boise State · 2021

69%

Matches Kadarius on

Yards / carry
Yards / reception
Receiving share

Differs from Kadarius on

Class year (lower)
Height (higher)

Through 4 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Bryant Barr’s path through Campbell.

Bryant Barr

95%match

Campbell · 2020

#2

Clint Ratkovich

Northern Illinois · 2021

All-MAC
95%
#3

Justin Henderson

Louisiana Tech · 2020

All-Conference USA
92%
#4

Rickey Spruill

Wagner · 2024

92%
#5

Ryan Ingram

Chattanooga · 2025

91%

Matches Bryant on

Yards per carry

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Tony Mathis Jr.'s senior season at Houston (2023).

Tony Mathis Jr.

64%match

Houston · 2023

#2

Edward Saydee

Temple · 2023

62%
#3

Gavin Wimsatt

Kentucky · 2024

56%
#4

Sevaughn Clark

Toledo · 2024

59%
#5

Al-Jay Henderson

Buffalo · 2025

All-MAC
60%

Matches Tony on

Weight
Yards / carry

Differs from Tony on

Class year (lower)
EPA / carry (adj) (higher)
Rush TD rate (higher)

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Butch Jones

Pass share

53.7%

506 pass / 437 run

Plays / game

72.5

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.6%

367 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

1 coach
2022
Butch Jones
Arkansas State
2023
Butch Jones
Arkansas State
2025
Butch Jones
Arkansas State

Played his entire career under Butch Jones.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownUnion, MS
Height6'1"
Weight220 lb
Class3
PositionRB
Jersey5

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 Southern Miss RB3 #4208 #4594 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Sun Belt
2023 Southern Miss RB3 #3055 #3696 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Sun Belt
2022 Southern Miss RB3 #2497 #2694 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Sun Belt

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Arkansas State Sun Belt RB 3 No. 5 | 6-1 | 220 lb | Union, MS
2024 Southern Miss Sun Belt RB 3 No. 5 | 6-1 | 220 lb | Union, MS
2023 Southern Miss Sun Belt RB 3 No. 5 | 6-1 | 220 lb | Union, MS
2022 Southern Miss Sun Belt RB 3 No. 5 | 6-1 | 220 lb | Union, MS