cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Rashad Battle /Pittsburgh

Rashad Battle

DB · Pittsburgh · Sr · #15

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

42 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Pittsburgh for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Pittsburgh for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Pittsburgh

Returning around him

  • 75% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • 1 Pittsburgh player drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -5 net (16 in / 21 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Pittsburgh · Last season: 8-5 (AP #24) · Talent rank #56 · 2026 recruiting class #51

DB · PITTSBURGH · ACC

Rashad Battle

  • 4
  • #15
  • 6-3 | 195 lb
  • Atlanta, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

58

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 91st percentile.

Heisman Heat

#8573

<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 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#478 national
CFB
College
Pittsburgh
2021–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionDB
Class4
Jersey15
Measurements6-3 | 195 lb
HometownAtlanta, GA
Primary teamPittsburgh

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 3-star No. 478 recruit
Composite rating 0.8833 HighSchool
Signed with Pittsburgh 2020
Origin Creekside Fairburn, GA, USA
Class Profile Context
2020 3-star | 0.8833 No. 478 recruit | HighSchool | Pittsburgh

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
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 16
Current nowcast#8573Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#8619Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman Futures

Not yet listed on major futures markets.

No achievements unlocked yet this season.

Selector Grid · 2025

AP
FWAA
AFCA
WCFF
SN
SI

Selector recognition fills in once the major honors lists (AP, FWAA, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, SI) are scraped and ingested.

NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft

Market value, pedigree & pro outcome

Recruit stars

★★★☆☆

to Pittsburgh

Composite

0.8833

#478 national

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

PENDING

The 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 Rashad Battle

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 Rashad Battle

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.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 11g
42Tackles
1.5Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
50Tackles
1.8Tackles for loss
1.2Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 42): needs 19/game over remaining 2.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 42): needs 29/game over remaining 2.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 2.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 4.5/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.

Rashad Battle is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Pittsburgh's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 1.5 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.

Current place #8573 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 1.0 sacks | 1.5 TFL

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
Total tackles 42 28 solo | #834/4942 (83rd pct)
TFL 1.5 Backfield disruption | #1771/4972 (64th pct)
Sacks 1.0 Pass-rush finish | #872/4972 (82nd pct)
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.

Coverage splashHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
42 83rd
SOLO
28 87th
TFL
1.5 64th
SACK
1.0 82nd

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
5 90th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 61-9vs Duquesne200.00.01
Wk 5L 27-34vs Louisville980.00.00Season-high 9 tackles
Wk 6W 48-7vs Boston College220.00.00
Wk 7W 34-31@ Florida State640.00.00
Wk 8W 30-13@ Syracuse220.00.00
Wk 9W 53-34vs NC State310.00.01
Wk 10W 35-20@ Stanford330.00.00
Wk 12L 15-37vs Notre Dame640.00.01
Wk 13W 42-28@ Georgia Tech420.00.02
Wk 14L 7-38vs Miami321.51.00
BowlL 17-23@ East Carolina200.00.00
Total42281.51.05
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2021Pittsburgh11-2HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced, fast tempo
2022Pittsburgh9-4HC: Pat Narduzzi · Run-leaning
2024Pittsburgh7-6HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced, fast tempo
2025Pittsburgh8-5HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Pittsburgh42281.51.05----
2024Pittsburgh35271.00.08----
2022Pittsburgh660.00.0------
2021Pittsburgh880.00.0------
Career4 loaded seasons91692.51.013----
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

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.

Traditional first

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.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 5 Coverage disruption | #218/2184 (90th pct)
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 42 #834/4942 83rd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 1.5 #1771/4972 64th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 5 #218/2184 90th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 28 #608/4584 87th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense Fumbles recovered 1 #103/736 86th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Ball Security Fumbles lost 0 #1/773 100th pct Turnoversvs FBS DEF

Player Standing

Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION · Rung None of 16

Why he’s here

Standing classification populates when honors, Heisman, and roster signals all align.

What moves him up

What moves him down

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting 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 · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g4.20.20.20.5
Road5g3.40.00.00.4

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g3.10.00.00.6
Losses4g5.00.40.20.2

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-75g4.20.00.00.2
Weeks 8+6g3.50.20.20.7

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

58Solid starter
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (90th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Passes defended#218 / 2975 · 91st pct
5defe
Solo tackles#608 / 2975 · 79th pct
28defe
Tackles#834 / 2975 · 71st pct
42defe
Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct
0fumb
Tackles for loss#1711 / 2975 · 39th pct
1.5defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe

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
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

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

3 peers · 7 metrics
Rashad BattlePittsburghDalton JohnsonArizona· 87% simBrevin HamblinUtah State· 85% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 85% sim
Passes defended
91
Battle
96
Johnson
98
Hamblin
91
Lafayette
Solo tackles
79
Battle
97
Johnson
99
Hamblin
98
Lafayette
Tackles
71
Battle
98
Johnson
99
Hamblin
99
Lafayette
Sacks
63
Battle
63
Johnson
74
Hamblin
63
Lafayette
Forced fumbles
47
Battle
47
Johnson
47
Hamblin
Tackles for loss
39
Battle
47
Johnson
56
Hamblin
56
Lafayette
QB hurries
22
Battle
22
Johnson
22
Hamblin
22
Lafayette

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Kerry Martin Jr.’s 2023 season.

Kerry Martin Jr.

82%match

Akron · 2023

#2

Treydan Stukes

Arizona · 2022

NFL Rd 2 · Pk 6
80%
#3

Glendon Miller

Maryland · 2023

79%
#4

Deane Leonard

Ole Miss · 2021

NFL Rd 7
79%
#5

Tamarion McDonald

Tennessee · 2023

78%

Matches Kerry on

PD rate
Tackle volume
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Zemaiah Vaughn's graduate season at Utah (2024).

Zemaiah Vaughn

85%match

Utah · 2024

#2

Malcolm Bell

Michigan State · 2025

83%
#3

Hudson Clark

Arkansas · 2024

82%
#4

Tyrin Taylor

Jacksonville State · 2025

77%
#5

Antonio Stevens

Kennesaw State · 2025

77%

Matches Zemaiah on

Class year
Tackle volume
PD rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Pat Narduzzi

Pass share

52.3%

464 pass / 424 run

Plays / game

68.3

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.3%

365 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025

1 coach
2021
Pat Narduzzi
Pittsburgh
2022
Pat Narduzzi
Pittsburgh
2024
Pat Narduzzi
Pittsburgh
2025
Pat Narduzzi
Pittsburgh

Played his entire career under Pat Narduzzi.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownAtlanta, GA
Height6'3"
Weight195 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey15

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

No formal honors on the ledger yet

All-America, all-conference, player-of-the-week, watch-list, and postseason awards land here when they're earned. The absence is the signal: most players never collect formal honors, and that's its own kind of context.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
No formal honors on the ledger yet. All-America, all-conference, weekly awards, watch lists, and postseason trophies land here when they’re earned.

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Pittsburgh DB4 #8573 #8619 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC
2023 Pittsburgh DB4 #12395 #12362 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | ACC
2022 Pittsburgh DB4 #9393 #8998 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | ACC
2021 Pittsburgh DB4 #7819 #7601 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Pittsburgh ACC DB 4 No. 15 | 6-3 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA
2024 Pittsburgh ACC DB 4 No. 15 | 6-3 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA
2023 Pittsburgh ACC DB 4 No. 15 | 6-3 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA
2022 Pittsburgh ACC DB 4 No. 15 | 6-3 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA
2021 Pittsburgh ACC DB 4 No. 15 | 6-3 | 195 lb | Atlanta, GA