CFB Zeitgeist Score
79
All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 90th percentile.
Nick Andersen
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
107 TACKLES · 1.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Wake Forest for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive back · Wake Forest
Returning around him
- 26% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- 2 Wake Forest players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: +1 net (24 in / 23 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Wake Forest · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #74 · 2026 recruiting class #63
DB · WAKE FOREST · ACC
Nick Andersen
- 4
- #45
- 5-11 | 197 lb
- Clifton, VA
Heisman Heat
#14113
<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 DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
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 · Season-by-season Standing
3 seasons on the ladder
2021
Wake Forest · DB
—
2023
Wake Forest · DB
—
★
2025
Wake Forest · DB
R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
Recognized
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Wake Forest
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No transfer portal moves on file for this player. | ||
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—
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 Nick Andersen
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 Nick Andersen
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 13g
107Tackles
7Tackles for loss
1.5Sacks
Per game
8Tackles
0.5Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Final
107Tackles
7Tackles for loss
1.5Sacks
✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 107.
✓ Hit 100-tackle season · finished with 107.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Nick Andersen is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Wake Forest's defense, with 1.5 sacks, 7.0 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.
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 | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
107 99th
SOLO
47 98th
TFL
7.0 94th
SACK
1.5 85th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
7 96th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 10-9vs Kennesaw State | 9 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | Season-high 12 tackles |
| Wk 2 | W 42-10vs Western Carolina | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 24-34vs NC State | 11 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 29-30vs Georgia Tech | 11 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 30-23@ Virginia Tech | 7 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 7 | W 39-14@ Oregon State | 9 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 13-12vs SMU | 8 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 7-42@ Florida State | 11 | 6 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 16-9@ Virginia | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 28-12vs North Carolina | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 13 | W 52-14vs Delaware | 7 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 14 | L 32-49@ Duke | 6 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 43-29@ Mississippi State | 12 | 6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 107 | 47 | 7.0 | 1.5 | — | 7 |
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
2021Wake Forest10-3HC: Dave Clawson · Balanced, fast tempo
2023Wake Forest4-8HC: Dave Clawson · Run-leaning
2025Wake Forest9-4HC: Jake Dickert · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Wake Forest | 107 | 47 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 7 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Wake Forest | 33 | 19 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 3 | 1 | -- |
| 2021 | Wake Forest | 44 | 31 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 3 loaded seasons | 184 | 97 | 8.5 | 2.0 | 13 | 2 | -- |
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 | 107 | #31/4942 | 99th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 7.0 | #277/4972 | 94th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 1.5 | #724/4972 | 85th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 7 | #85/2184 | 96th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 47 | #100/4584 | 98th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
Player Standing
Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.
ALL-CONF HM
On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex
ALL-CONF HM · Rung 9 of 16
Why he’s here
All-Conference honorable mention / 2nd team — the recognition has started.
What moves him up
A best-at-position run lifts to 1st team.
What moves him down
A back-end conference finish drops out of the honor list.
Accolade streams
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Thorpe 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 · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 7.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Road6g | 8.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 7.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
| Losses4g | 9.8 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 8.9 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 7.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort
79All-Conference
Elite: tackles (98th). Strength: solo tackles (96th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DB · 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
Nick AndersenWake ForestOwen LongColorado State· 95% simAhmaad MosesSMU· 91% simBrevin HamblinUtah State· 86% sim
Tackles
Solo tackles
Passes defended
Tackles for loss
Sacks
QB hurries
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Box Safety
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Ike Larsen’s 2023 season.
Ike Larsen
84%match
All-Mountain West
#2
Dalton Johnson
All-Big 12NFL Rd 5
81%
#3
Khoury Bethley
All-Mountain West
78%
#4
Antwon Kincade
78%
#5
Bryce Llewellyn
All-MAC
77%
Matches Ike on
Height
PD rate
Tackle volume
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Dalton Johnson's graduate season at Arizona (2025).
Dalton Johnson
84%match
All-Big 12NFL Rd 5
#2
Maxen Hook
All-MAC
78%
#3
Nick Jackson
64%
#4
Tahj Ra-El
61%
#5
Jadon Pearson
All-Mountain West
61%
Matches Dalton on
Class year
Height
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jake Dickert
Pass share
48.0%
405 pass / 439 run
Plays / game
64.9
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
5.1%
293 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
2 coaches2021
Dave Clawson
Wake Forest
2023
Dave Clawson
Wake Forest
2025era →
Jake Dickert
Wake Forest
Coaching transition mid-career: Dave Clawson → Jake Dickert. 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.
HometownClifton, VA
Height5'11"
Weight197 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey45
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamWake Forest
ConferenceACC
Joined2025
Career arc5 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🥈
ALL-CONFERENCE · 1ST TEAM
All-Conf 1st team (2025)
All-ACC
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
4 all-conference honors
Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.
Honors Timeline
Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.
| Season | Honor | Scope | Team / Selector | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | All-ACC | all_conference | Wake Forest | ACC | DB |
| 2025 | All-ACC | all_conference | Wake Forest | ACC | S |
| 2024 | All-ACC | all_conference | Wake Forest | ACC | DB |
| 2024 | All-ACC | all_conference | Wake Forest | ACC | S |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Wake Forest | DB4 | #14113 | #14202 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | ACC |
| 2023 | Wake Forest | DB4 | #12296 | #12578 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | ACC |
| 2022 | Wake Forest | DB4 | #11609 | #11423 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | ACC |
| 2021 | Wake Forest | DB4 | #8177 | #8034 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | ACC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Wake Forest | ACC | DB | 4 | No. 45 | 5-11 | 197 lb | Clifton, VA |
| 2024 | Wake Forest | ACC | DB | 4 | No. 45 | 5-11 | 197 lb | Clifton, VA |
| 2023 | Wake Forest | ACC | DB | 4 | No. 45 | 5-11 | 197 lb | Clifton, VA |
| 2022 | Wake Forest | ACC | DB | 4 | No. 45 | 5-11 | 197 lb | Clifton, VA |
| 2021 | Wake Forest | ACC | DB | 4 | No. 45 | 5-11 | 197 lb | Clifton, VA |