#77

Nifae Lealao

Defensive lineman on Vanderbilt's 2017 roster.

DL · Vanderbilt · #77

6′5″ · 312 lb · Sacramento, CA

Vanderbilt 2017 alumnus

Recruiting

4★

SDE recruit

No. 100 nationally · Signed with Vanderbilt

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

2017 defensive lineman on Vanderbilt's roster.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Vanderbilt in 2014.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Two seasons at Vanderbilt, 2 sacks — his college career is complete.

His career

2014

Signed with Vanderbilt4-star out of Capital Christian

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#100 national

CFB

College

Vanderbilt

2016–2017

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

2017 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2 seasons under Derek Mason — 11-14 over that span.

2016Vanderbilt6-7HC: Derek Mason · Run-leaning

2017Vanderbilt5-7HC: Derek Mason · Balanced, slow tempo

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (96th percentile). Concern: solo tackles (16th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

QB hurries#72 / 2682 · 96th pct

Tackles for loss#773 / 2682 · 69th pct

4.0

Passes defended#746 / 2682 · 66th pct

Forced fumbles#69 / 715 · 45th pct

Tackles#1704 / 2682 · 36th pct

Sacks#1345 / 2682 · 25th pct

0.0

Solo tackles#2191 / 2682 · 16th 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

2017 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	2.4	0.6	0.0	0.0
Road5g	1.2	0.0	0.0	0.4

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	1.9	0.2	0.0	0.1
Weeks 8+5g	2.0	0.5	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Clark Lea

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

Awards

Player standing · 2017

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2017	Vanderbilt	23	8	4.0	0.0	2	--	--
2016	Vanderbilt	22	15	4.0	2.5	3	--	--
Career		45	23	8.0	2.5	5	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2017

W 14–7

vs Kansas State

1 TOT

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.

With S. Loy — 33 AVG · 41 LONG · 8 NO · K. Shurmur — 205 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 69.4

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week