Senior defensive lineman on Northwestern's 2023 roster.
6′2″ · 290 lb · Prairie Village, KS
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The story
4 defensive lineman on Northwestern's roster.
The record fills in as he plays.
His career, year by yearPJ Spencer
Wins his gap play after play. PJ Spencer has been at Northwestern through two head coaches in four seasons. One game to point at: 5 tackles against Penn State — Week 5, 2023.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Four seasons at Northwestern — his college career is complete.
Career arc
Coaching lineage · 2019–2023
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Pat Fitzgerald → David Braun. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Concern: solo tackles (3rd percentile).
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 · Per-game
2023 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 2.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 2.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 3.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
David Braun
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 1 game in so far.
Player standing · 2023
Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
Recognition
Production · CFB Index Score
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Northwestern | 21 | 4 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Northwestern | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2020 | Northwestern | 1 | -- | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2019 | Northwestern | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 24 | 6 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2023
W 33–27
vs Maryland
1 TOT
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 6 at home.
With B. Sullivan — 265 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 82.5 · 56 rush yds (14 car) · H. Renner — 38 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 51 LONG
Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 8 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 7-24@ Rutgers | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 14-38@ Duke | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 13-41vs Penn State | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 9 | W 33-27vs Maryland | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 24-10@ Wisconsin | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 23-15vs Purdue | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 45-43@ Illinois | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 14-7vs Utah | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 21 | 4 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
CFB Index positional classification
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
21 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1.5 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.
Player DNA
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
His 2023 production profile sits closest to Jacob Merrifield’s 2023 season.
Matches Jacob on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Jacob Merrifield's senior season at Florida Atlantic (2023).
Matches Jacob on
Player DNA