cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Lavon Johnson /Texas

Lavon Johnson

DL · Texas · Jr · #96

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

5 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 TRANSFERTransferred Texas → Maryland for 2026

Where He Ended Up · Transfer

Transferred to Maryland

2025Texas
2026Maryland

DL · TEXAS · SEC

Lavon Johnson

  • 3
  • #96
  • 6-2 | 311 lb
  • Allentown, PA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

18

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 28th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#11212

<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

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1324 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds

#29 in market ▼ from #23 · 5 books

+35002.8% implied▲ tightened from +6600

Identity & Role

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

PositionDL
Class3
Jersey96
Measurements6-2 | 311 lb
HometownAllentown, PA
Primary teamTexas

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1324 recruit
Composite rating 0.8525 HighSchool
Signed with Maryland 2023
Origin Cheshire Academy Cheshire, CT, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8525 No. 1324 recruit | HighSchool | Maryland

Transfer Arc

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

Portal moves 2 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Maryland 2026
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 11, 2026
Season Move Context
2026 Texas -> Maryland 3-star | 0.8800 | Immediate
2025 Maryland -> Texas 3-star | 0.8900 | 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#11212Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#11234Where 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 Maryland

Composite

0.8525

#1324 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 Lavon Johnson

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 Lavon Johnson

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 3g
5Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
22Tackles
4.3Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 5): needs 7.5/game over remaining 10.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 5): needs 9.5/game over remaining 10.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.6/game over remaining 10.

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

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Lavon Johnson is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Texas's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 1.0 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 #11212 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 2 portal moves

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 5 3 solo | #3512/4942 (29th pct)
TFL 1.0 Backfield disruption | #2051/4972 (59th 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?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
5 29th
SOLO
3 28th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.0 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 3 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 4W 55-0vs Sam Houston211.00.00Season-high 2 tackles
Wk 8W 16-13@ Kentucky210.00.00
BowlW 41-27vs Michigan110.00.00
Total531.00.00
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

2023Maryland8-5HC: Mike Locksley · Pass-leaning
2024Maryland4-8HC: Mike Locksley · Pass-leaning
2025Texas10-3HC: Steve Sarkisian · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Texas531.00.0------
2024Maryland14100.50.0------
2023Maryland541.01.0------
Career3 loaded seasons24172.51.0------
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 0 Coverage disruption
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 5 #3512/4942 29th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 1.0 #2051/4972 59th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 3 #3280/4584 28th 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 · 3 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home2g1.50.50.00.0
Road1g2.00.00.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g1.70.30.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-72g1.50.50.00.0
Weeks 8+1g2.00.00.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

18Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles (0th).

Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct
1.0defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe
Solo tackles#2892 / 2975 · 2nd pct
3defe
Tackles#2976 / 2975 · 0th pct
5defe

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
Lavon JohnsonTexasTyler MartinMassachusetts· 42% simJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 36% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 35% sim
Tackles for loss
28
Johnson
63
Martin
85
Vaughns
28
Fletcher
Sacks
24
Johnson
24
Martin
63
Vaughns
24
Fletcher
QB hurries
22
Johnson
22
Martin
22
Vaughns
92
Fletcher
Passes defended
18
Johnson
67
Martin
48
Vaughns
67
Fletcher
Solo tackles
2
Johnson
87
Martin
96
Vaughns
91
Fletcher
Tackles
0
Johnson
98
Martin
99
Vaughns
99
Fletcher

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

DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Steve Sarkisian

Pass share

50.2%

419 pass / 415 run

Plays / game

64.2

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.6%

288 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Steve Sarkisian
Texas
2024
Steve Sarkisian
Texas
2025
Steve Sarkisian
Texas

Played his entire career under Steve Sarkisian.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownAllentown, PA
Height6'2"
Weight311 lb
Class3
PositionDL
Jersey96

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 Maryland DL3 #11212 #11234 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten
2023 Maryland DL3 #10788 #10673 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big Ten

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Texas SEC DL 3 No. 96 | 6-2 | 311 lb | Allentown, PA
2024 Maryland Big Ten DL 3 No. 96 | 6-2 | 311 lb | Allentown, PA
2023 Maryland Big Ten DL 3 No. 96 | 6-2 | 311 lb | Allentown, PA