cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Lewis Carter /UCF

Lewis Carter

LB · UCF · Jr · #20

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

95 TACKLES · 2 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to UCF for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to UCF for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · UCF

Returning around him

  • 31% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 1 UCF player drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -4 net (31 in / 35 out)

2026 Award watch

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

UCF · Last season: 5-7 · Talent rank #43 · 2026 recruiting class #79

LB · UCF · BIG 12

Lewis Carter

  • 3
  • #20
  • 6-0 | 224 lb
  • Tampa, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

74

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 80th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#8137

<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 LB AWARD

Butkus

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

Identity & Role

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

PositionLB
Class3
Jersey20
Measurements6-0 | 224 lb
HometownTampa, FL
Primary teamUCF

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 4-star No. 164 recruit
Composite rating 0.9336 HighSchool
Signed with Oklahoma 2023
Origin Tampa Catholic Tampa, FL, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 4-star | 0.9336 No. 164 recruit | HighSchool | Oklahoma

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 UCF 2025
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 4, 2025
Season Move Context
2025 Oklahoma -> UCF 3-star | 0.8700 | 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#8137Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#8181Where 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 Oklahoma

Composite

0.9336

#164 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 Lewis Carter

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 Lewis Carter

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 11g
95Tackles
4Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
9Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
112Tackles
4.7Tackles for loss
2.4Sacks

✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 95.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 95): needs 2.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 2): needs 2/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 2): needs 4/game over remaining 2.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Lewis Carter is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on UCF's defense, with 2.0 sacks, 4.0 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 #8137 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 164 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 95 55 solo | #65/4942 (99th pct)
TFL 4.0 Backfield disruption | #738/4972 (85th pct)
Sacks 2.0 Pass-rush finish | #491/4972 (90th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
95 99th
SOLO
55 99th
TFL
4.0 85th
SACK
2.0 90th
QBH
1 44th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 17-10vs Jacksonville State940.00.00
Wk 4W 34-9vs North Carolina1062.01.00
Wk 5L 20-34@ Kansas State650.00.00
Wk 6L 20-27vs Kansas750.00.00
Wk 7L 11-20@ Cincinnati630.00.01
Wk 8W 45-13vs West Virginia640.00.00
Wk 10L 3-30@ Baylor620.00.00
Wk 11L 27-30vs Houston1561.00.00Season-high 15 tackles
Wk 12L 9-48@ Texas Tech1280.00.00
Wk 13W 17-14vs Oklahoma State640.00.00
Wk 14L 21-41@ BYU1281.01.00
Total95554.02.01
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

2023Oklahoma10-3HC: Brent Venables · Balanced
2024Oklahoma6-7HC: Brent Venables · Run-leaning
2025UCF5-7HC: Scott Frost · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025UCF95554.02.01----
2024Oklahoma23182.00.0------
2023Oklahoma720.50.0------
Career3 loaded seasons125756.52.01----
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 1 Quarterback hurries | #1051/1878 (44th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 95 #65/4942 99th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 4.0 #738/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 2.0 #491/4972 90th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 1 #1241/2184 43rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 1 #1051/1878 44th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 55 #41/4584 99th 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 Butkus 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 · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g8.80.50.20.0
Road5g8.40.20.20.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins4g7.80.50.20.0
Losses7g9.10.30.10.1

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-75g7.60.40.20.2
Weeks 8+6g9.50.30.20.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

74Solid starter
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: solo tackles (98th). Strength: tackles (97th).

Solo tackles#41 / 2975 · 99th pct
55defe
Tackles#65 / 2975 · 98th pct
95defe
Sacks#487 / 2975 · 80th pct
2.0defe
Tackles for loss#736 / 2975 · 73rd pct
4.0defe
QB hurries#1007 / 2975 · 55th pct
1defe
Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe

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

Advanced Savant · LB · 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
Lewis CarterUCFJohnny Chaney Jr.Florida International· 92% simTJ DotteryOle Miss· 91% simDaniel WingateMaryland· 90% sim
Solo tackles
99
Carter
100
Jr.
97
Dottery
99
Wingate
Tackles
98
Carter
99
Jr.
98
Dottery
98
Wingate
Sacks
80
Carter
89
Jr.
74
Dottery
74
Wingate
Tackles for loss
73
Carter
91
Jr.
83
Dottery
87
Wingate
QB hurries
55
Carter
55
Jr.
55
Dottery
72
Wingate
Passes defended
48
Carter
48
Jr.
67
Dottery
48
Wingate

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

Player DNA

The Every-Down Linebacker

Leads the team in tackles and rarely leaves the field.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Kobe Wilson’s 2024 season.

Kobe Wilson

88%match

SMU · 2024

All-ACC
#2

Kyle Jacob

Navy · 2024

86%
#3

Easton Mascarenas-Arnold

USC · 2024

86%
#4

Power Echols

North Carolina · 2022

85%
#5

Power Echols

North Carolina · 2023

85%

Matches Kobe on

TFL rate
Tackle volume
Height

Differs from Kobe on

Class year (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Aaron Alexander's junior season at Arkansas State (2025).

Aaron Alexander

85%match

Arkansas State · 2025

#2

Dillon Thieneman

Oregon · 2025

All-Big TenNFL Rd 1 · Pk 25
81%
#3

Leon Hart Jr.

Florida Atlantic · 2025

80%
#4

Malik Shorts

Southern Miss · 2022

All-Sun Belt
79%
#5

KP Price

Boston College · 2025

79%

Matches Aaron on

TFL rate
Tackle volume
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Scott Frost

Pass share

51.7%

403 pass / 377 run

Plays / game

65.0

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

6.5%

324 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

2 coaches
2023
Gus Malzahn
UCF
2024
Gus Malzahn
UCF
2025
Scott Frost
UCF
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Gus Malzahn → Scott Frost. 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.

HometownTampa, FL
Height6'0"
Weight224 lb
Class3
PositionLB
Jersey20

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 Oklahoma LB3 #8137 #8181 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | SEC
2023 Oklahoma LB3 #7209 #7028 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big 12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 UCF Big 12 LB 3 No. 20 | 6-0 | 224 lb | Tampa, FL
2024 Oklahoma SEC LB 3 No. 20 | 6-0 | 224 lb | Tampa, FL
2023 Oklahoma Big 12 LB 3 No. 20 | 6-0 | 224 lb | Tampa, FL