Nathan Braster: DL · Western Michigan · #53.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Nathan Braster
Disrupts the pocket from the interior. One game to point at: 6 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss against Wisconsin — Bowl, 2016.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
31 tackles. 2 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 7 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.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Western Michigan | 31 | 16 | 7.0 | 2.5 | 2 |
| Career | 31 | 16 | 7.0 | 2.5 | 2 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2016 season · 10 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 4 | W 49-31vs Georgia Southern | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 49-10@ Central Michigan | 3 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 41-0@ Akron | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 45-31vs Eastern Michigan | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 52-20@ Ball State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 37-21@ Kent State | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 38-0vs Buffalo | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 55-35vs Toledo | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 29-23vs Ohio | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
 Bowl | L 16-24vs No. 8 Wisconsin | 6 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 31 | 16 | 7.0 | 2.5 | — | 2 |
Week 5 · 2016
W 49-10
1.5 sacks · 1.5 tackles for loss · 3 tackles
Dominant 39-point win on the road against Central Michigan.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
23%7 TFLSack rate
8%2 sacksHurry rate
16%5 hurries31 tackles · 7 for loss · 2.5 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2016 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 3.2 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road4g | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 3.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
P.J. Fleck
Pass share
37.9%
378 pass / 620 run
Plays / game
71.3
14 games
Team sack rate
4.2%
382 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2016
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive lineman who plays every week.
How it ended
One season at Western Michigan, 2 sacks — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2016
1 coachPlayed every college season under P.J. Fleck.
