#88

Nick James

Defensive lineman for Mississippi State. 2016: 1.5 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, 19 tackles.

DL · Mississippi State · #88

6′5″ · Long Beach, MS

Mississippi State 2016 alumnus

Recruiting

4★

DT recruit

No. 180 nationally · Signed with Mississippi State

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

2016 defensive lineman for Mississippi State. 2016: 1.5 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, 19 tackles.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Mississippi State in 2012.

His career, year by year

How it ended

One season at Mississippi State, 2 sacks — his college career is complete.

His career

2012

Signed with Mississippi State4-star out of Long Beach

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#180 national

CFB

College

Mississippi State

2016

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

2016 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2016Mississippi State6-7HC: Dan Mullen · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (88th percentile). Concern: solo tackles (5th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#245 / 2668 · 88th pct

Sacks#661 / 2668 · 73rd pct

1.5

Tackles for loss#989 / 2668 · 60th pct

3.0

Passes defended#1097 / 2668 · 48th pct

Tackles#1963 / 2668 · 25th pct

Solo tackles#2516 / 2668 · 5th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2016 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	1.8	0.6	0.3	0.0
Road5g	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.2	0.4	0.2	0.0
Weeks 8+4g	1.5	0.1	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jeff Lebby

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2016

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2016	Mississippi State	19	5	3.0	1.5	1	--	--
Career		19	5	3.0	1.5	1	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2016

W 56–41

vs Samford

4 TOT · 0 TFL · 2 QB HUR

Edged out Samford at home in a shootout.

With N. Fitzgerald — 417 yds · 5 TD · 2 INT · QBR 87.1 · 119 rush yds (19 car) · 2 TD · D. Gray — 4 rec · 207 yds · 3 TD

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week