CFB Zeitgeist Score
65
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by interceptions at the 75th percentile.
Parker Hughes
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
89 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · NFL
Jacksonville2026 NFL rookie season
#240Rd 7 · Pick 24
Jacksonville2026 NFL rookie season
LB · MIDDLE TENNESSEE · CONFERENCE USA
Parker Hughes
- 4
- #9
- 6-1 | 225 lb
- Elizabethton, TN
Heisman Heat
#15396
<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 LB AWARD
Butkus
—
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
2 seasons on the ladder
2023
Middle Tennessee · LB
—
★
2025
Middle Tennessee · LB
R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
Recognized
NFL Draft 2026 · Rd 7, Pick 24 · #240 overall · Jacksonville
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Middle Tennessee
NFL
NFL Draft
R7 · #240
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—
NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft
Market value, pedigree & pro outcome
NFL Draft
2026 · Rd 7, Pick 24
#240 overall · Jacksonville
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 Parker Hughes
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 Parker Hughes
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 11g
89Tackles
2.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
8Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
105Tackles
3.0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 89.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 89): needs 5.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 3/game over remaining 2.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 5/game over remaining 2.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Parker Hughes is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Middle Tennessee's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 2 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?
Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
89 98th
SOLO
48 98th
TFL
2.5 75th
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
2 66th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
2 64th
INT
2 87th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 14-34vs Austin Peay | 9 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | L 10-42@ Wisconsin | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 14-13@ Nevada | 7 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 28-42vs Marshall | 14 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 14 tackles |
| Wk 5 | L 16-24@ Kennesaw State | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 7 | L 20-22vs Missouri State | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 28-31@ Delaware | 8 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 30-56vs Florida International | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 26-42@ Western Kentucky | 11 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 31-17vs Sam Houston | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 31-24@ New Mexico State | 12 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 89 | 48 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 |
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
2023Middle Tennessee4-8HC: Rick Stockstill · Balanced
2025Middle Tennessee3-9HC: Derek Mason · Pass-leaning
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Middle Tennessee | 89 | 48 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 | -- |
| 2023 | Middle Tennessee | 53 | 31 | 7.0 | 2.5 | 1 | -- | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 142 | 79 | 9.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 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 | 89 | #91/4942 | 98th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.5 | #1236/4972 | 75th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 2 | #114/869 | 87th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 2 | #792/2184 | 64th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 2 | #647/1878 | 66th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 68 | #62/578 | 89th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 48 | #90/4584 | 98th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 34.0 | #71/578 | 88th pct | Takeawaysvs 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 Butkus 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 · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 7.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road6g | 8.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins3g | 8.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Losses8g | 7.9 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 7.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 8.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
65Solid starter
Elite: tackles (96th). Strength: solo tackles (96th). Concern: sacks (23rd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · LB · 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
Parker HughesMiddle TennesseeBryce LlewellynEastern Michigan· 88% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 86% simTy BenefieldBoise State· 84% sim
Tackles
Solo tackles
Interceptions
QB hurries
Passes defended
Tackles for loss
Sacks
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Every-Down Linebacker
Leads the team in tackles and rarely leaves the field.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Gaethan Bernadel’s 2023 season.
Gaethan Bernadel
87%match
#2
Kyle Taylor
86%
#3
Ozzie Nicholas
83%
#4
Anthony Pandy
83%
#5
Owen Pappoe
All-SECNFL Rd 5
83%
Matches Gaethan on
TFL rate
Sack rate
Tackle volume
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to TJ Quinn's junior season at Louisville (2023).
TJ Quinn
92%match
#2
Troy Brown
All-MAC
90%
#3
Larry Nixon III
89%
#4
Owen Pappoe
All-SECNFL Rd 5
88%
#5
Rich Miller
87%
Matches TJ on
PD rate
TFL rate
Tackle volume
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Derek Mason
Pass share
61.3%
495 pass / 313 run
Plays / game
67.3
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
8.6%
373 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
2 coaches2023
Rick Stockstill
Middle Tennessee
2025era →
Derek Mason
Middle Tennessee
Coaching transition mid-career: Rick Stockstill → Derek Mason. 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.
HometownElizabethton, TN
Height6'1"
Weight225 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey9
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamMiddle Tennessee
ConferenceConference USA
Joined2025
Career arc3 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🎖
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Conference USA
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
1 all-conference honor
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-Conference USA | all_conference | Conference USA | LB |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Middle Tennessee | LB4 | #15396 | #15562 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Conference USA |
| 2023 | Middle Tennessee | LB4 | #9507 | #10175 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Conference USA |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Middle Tennessee | Conference USA | LB | 4 | No. 9 | 6-1 | 225 lb | Elizabethton, TN |
| 2024 | Middle Tennessee | Conference USA | LB | 4 | No. 9 | 6-1 | 225 lb | Elizabethton, TN |
| 2023 | Middle Tennessee | Conference USA | LB | 4 | No. 9 | 6-1 | 225 lb | Elizabethton, TN |