cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Miller Malone /Western Kentucky

Miller Malone

LB · Western Kentucky · So · #8

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

37 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 TRANSFERTransferred Western Kentucky → Houston for 2026

Where He Ended Up · Transfer

Transferred to Houston

2025Western Kentucky
2026Houston

LB · WESTERN KENTUCKY · CONFERENCE USA

Miller Malone

  • 2
  • #8
  • 6-2 | 216 lb
  • Mont Belvieu, TX

CFB Zeitgeist Score

43

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 80th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#13852

<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

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
Western Kentucky
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionLB
Class2
Jersey8
Measurements6-2 | 216 lb
HometownMont Belvieu, TX
Primary teamWestern Kentucky

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree Not on file No matched recruiting profile in the loaded archive
Composite rating -- Composite rating unavailable for this player
Signed with -- Commitment history unavailable
Origin -- Hometown and high school unavailable
Class Profile Context
No recruiting profile is on file for this player.

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 Houston 2026
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 9, 2026
Season Move Context
2026 Western Kentucky -> Houston 3-star | 0.8500 | 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#13852Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#13654Where 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.

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 Miller Malone

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 Miller Malone

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 9g
37Tackles
5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.6Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
53Tackles
7.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 37): needs 10.8/game over remaining 4.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 37): needs 15.8/game over remaining 4.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.5/game over remaining 4.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 2.5/game over remaining 4.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Miller Malone is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Western Kentucky's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 5.0 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 #13852 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.0 sacks | 5.0 TFL

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 37 17 solo | #1007/4942 (80th pct)
TFL 5.0 Backfield disruption | #553/4972 (89th 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-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
37 80th
SOLO
17 73rd
TFL
5.0 89th
SACK
0.0 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 41-24vs Sam Houston111.00.00
Wk 1W 55-6vs North Alabama200.50.00
Wk 2L 21-45@ Toledo310.00.00
Wk 4W 31-16vs Nevada221.00.00
Wk 6W 27-24@ Delaware920.50.00
Wk 8L 6-25vs Florida International740.00.00
Wk 9W 28-27@ Louisiana Tech1052.00.00Season-high 10 tackles
Wk 10W 35-16vs New Mexico State110.00.00
Wk 13L 10-13@ LSU210.00.00
Total37175.00.00
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

2025Western Kentucky9-4HC: Tyson Helton · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Western Kentucky37175.00.0------
Career1 loaded season37175.00.0------
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 37 #1007/4942 80th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 5.0 #553/4972 89th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs 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 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 · 9 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home5g2.60.50.00.0
Road4g6.00.60.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins6g4.20.80.00.0
Losses3g4.00.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-75g3.40.60.00.0
Weeks 8+4g5.00.50.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

43Mid-pack
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (17th).

Tackles for loss#553 / 2975 · 80th pct
5.0defe
Tackles#1007 / 2975 · 65th pct
37defe
Solo tackles#1252 / 2975 · 56th pct
17defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

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
Miller MaloneWestern KentuckyTyler MartinMassachusetts· 72% simJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 71% simTy BenefieldBoise State· 64% sim
Tackles for loss
80
Malone
63
Martin
85
Vaughns
94
Benefield
Tackles
65
Malone
98
Martin
99
Vaughns
99
Benefield
Solo tackles
56
Malone
87
Martin
96
Vaughns
100
Benefield
Sacks
24
Malone
24
Martin
63
Vaughns
24
Benefield
QB hurries
22
Malone
22
Martin
22
Vaughns
55
Benefield
Passes defended
18
Malone
67
Martin
48
Vaughns
78
Benefield

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

Player DNA

The Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Tyren Dupree’s 2021 season.

Tyren Dupree

79%match

Liberty · 2021

#2

Justin Williams

Georgia · 2025

75%
#3

Antonio Watts

Louisville · 2023

74%
#4

Prince Bemah

Charlotte · 2024

73%
#5

Jonathan Thompson

Cincinnati · 2023

72%

Matches Tyren on

Height
PD rate
Weight

Differs from Tyren on

Class year (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Justin Williams's sophomore season at Georgia (2025).

Justin Williams

88%match

Georgia · 2025

#2

Maki Carabin

Louisiana Tech · 2021

86%
#3

Semisi Fakasiieiki

Purdue · 2022

79%
#4

Samuel Omosigho

Oklahoma · 2024

74%
#5

Cole Sullivan

Michigan · 2025

74%

Matches Justin on

Class year
Tackle volume
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Tyson Helton

Pass share

54.9%

492 pass / 404 run

Plays / game

68.9

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

5.5%

366 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Tyson Helton
Western Kentucky

Played his entire career under Tyson Helton.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownMont Belvieu, TX
Height6'2"
Weight216 lb
Class2
PositionLB
Jersey8

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 Western Kentucky LB2 #13852 #13654 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Conference USA

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Western Kentucky Conference USA LB 2 No. 8 | 6-2 | 216 lb | Mont Belvieu, TX
2024 Western Kentucky Conference USA LB 2 No. 8 | 6-2 | 216 lb | Mont Belvieu, TX