CFB Zeitgeist Score
49
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 77th percentile.
Naejuan Barber
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
35 TACKLES · 0.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Florida Atlantic for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Defensive line · Florida Atlantic
Returning around him
- 21% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- Transfer portal: -8 net (22 in / 30 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Florida Atlantic · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #82 · 2026 recruiting class #85
DL · FLORIDA ATLANTIC · AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Naejuan Barber
- 4
- #9
- 6-3 | 310 lb
- Hopkins, SC
Heisman Heat
#13327
<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 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Florida Atlantic
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| 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.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Coastal Carolina -> Florida Atlantic | Immediate |
| 2024 | South Carolina State -> Coastal Carolina | 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 16Heisman 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
PENDINGThe 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 Naejuan Barber
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 Naejuan Barber
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the defensive totals stand
Through 12g
35Tackles
4.5Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
38Tackles
4.9Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 35): needs 45/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 35): needs 65/game over remaining 1.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 5.5/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 9.5/game over remaining 1.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Naejuan Barber is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Florida Atlantic's defense, with 0.5 sacks, 4.5 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
35 78th
SOLO
19 76th
TFL
4.5 87th
SACK
0.5 70th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 7-39@ Maryland | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 56-14vs Florida A&M | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 28-38@ Florida International | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 26-55vs Memphis | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 27-21@ Rice | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 53-33vs UAB | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 13-48@ South Florida | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 32-42@ Navy | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 40-21vs Tulsa | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 24-35@ Tulane | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 13 | L 45-48vs UConn | 5 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 3-42vs East Carolina | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 35 | 19 | 4.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2025Florida Atlantic4-8HC: Zach Kittley · Pass-heavy, fast tempo
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Florida Atlantic | 35 | 19 | 4.5 | 0.5 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 35 | 19 | 4.5 | 0.5 | -- | -- | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 35 | #1098/4942 | 78th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 4.5 | #648/4972 | 87th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.5 | #1501/4972 | 70th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 19 | #1095/4584 | 76th 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
Status—Awaiting 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 · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 2.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Road6g | 3.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 2.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Losses8g | 3.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 3.2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort
49Mid-pack
Concern: passes defended (17th).
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
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
Naejuan BarberFlorida AtlanticJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 75% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 70% simMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 69% sim
Tackles for loss
Tackles
Solo tackles
Sacks
QB hurries
Passes defended
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Nose Anchor
Two-gap space-eater who occupies blockers and frees the linebackers.
IDL
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jonathan Jefferson’s 2024 season.
Jonathan Jefferson
91%match
#2
Bryson Eason
88%
#3
Immanuel Hickman Sr.
88%
#4
Lawrence Johnson
87%
#5
Junior Tafuna
87%
Matches Jonathan on
Height
Weight
TFL rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to C.J. Clark's graduate season at Miami (2024).
C.J. Clark
88%match
#2
Tiaoalil Savea
85%
#3
Jalen Logan-Redding
80%
#4
Grady Kelly
78%
#5
Tim Smith
All-SECNFL Rd 6
76%
Matches C.J. on
Class year
Height
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Zach Kittley
Pass share
62.3%
580 pass / 351 run
Plays / game
77.6
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
5.2%
423 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-heavy, fast tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Zach Kittley
Florida Atlantic
Played his entire career under Zach Kittley.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownHopkins, SC
Height6'3"
Weight310 lb
Class4
PositionDL
Jersey9
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamFlorida Atlantic
ConferenceAmerican Athletic
Joined2025
Career arc2 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 | Coastal Carolina | DL4 | #13327 | #13194 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Sun Belt |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Florida Atlantic | American Athletic | DL | 4 | No. 9 | 6-3 | 310 lb | Hopkins, SC |
| 2024 | Coastal Carolina | Sun Belt | DL | 4 | No. 9 | 6-3 | 310 lb | Hopkins, SC |