Najee Story is a defensive lineman at Northwestern who has not played in Northwestern's 8 games this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025.
Northwestern lists 27 defensive linemen this season.
Northwestern is 6-2. Next: vs Iowa, Sat Nov 7.
Story wins the gap play after play. Played for two head coaches at Northwestern: Pat Fitzgerald and David Braun. One game to point at: 4 tackles against Purdue — Week 8, 2025.
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
20 tackles. 1 pass defended. 1 interception. 1 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
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| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northwestern | 20 | 11 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | Northwestern | 24 | 12 | 3.5 | 1.5 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Northwestern | 20 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Northwestern | 24 | 11 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 88 | 42 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 3-23@ Tulane | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 14-34vs No. 4 Oregon | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | W 42-7vs UL Monroe | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 22-21@ Penn State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 19-0vs Purdue | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 4 tackles |
| Wk 9 | L 21-28@ Nebraska | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 17-38@ No. 20 USC | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 22-24vs No. 18 Michigan | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 38-35vs Minnesota | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 13-20@ Illinois | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 34-7vs Central Michigan | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 20 | 11 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
5%1 TFLSack rate
5%1 sackHurry rate
0%0 hurries20 tackles · 1 for loss · 1 sack · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road5g | 2.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
David Braun
Pass share
46.0%
378 pass / 444 run
Plays / game
63.2
13 games
Team sack rate
3.5%
376 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #74 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big Ten
Based on 2025: #17 of 69 Big Ten DLs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 22% of returning players who ranked #11–20 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 19–25%).
A stat line in 42 games over four seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2021–2026
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Pat Fitzgerald → David Braun. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
