Robert Spillane: LB · Western Michigan · #10.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Robert Spillane
Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. Played for two head coaches in two seasons at Western Michigan. On tape: 12 tackles and 1 tackle for loss against Eastern Michigan, Week 8, 2017.
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
88 tackles. 1 pass defended. 1 interception. 11 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.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Western Michigan | 88 | 43 | 11.0 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 |
| 2016 | Western Michigan | 111 | 60 | 10.5 | 3.0 | 2 | 3 |
| Career | 199 | 103 | 21.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 4 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 31-49@ No. 4 USC | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-28@ Michigan State | 10 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 37-28vs Idaho | 10 | 8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | W 49-14vs Wagner | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 55-3vs Ball State | 4 | 3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 71-68@ Buffalo | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 13-14vs Akron | 8 | 6 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 20-17@ Eastern Michigan | 12 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 12 tackles |
| Wk 10 | L 28-35vs Central Michigan | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 48-20vs Kent State | 6 | 5 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.5 TFL |
| Wk 12 | L 31-35@ Northern Illinois | 9 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 10-37@ Toledo | 10 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 88 | 43 | 11.0 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 |
Week 3 · 2017
W 37-28
vs Idaho
1.5 sacks · 1.5 tackles for loss · 10 tackles
Edged out Idaho at home in a shootout.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
88tackles this seasonTFL rate
12%11 TFLSack rate
2%2 sacksPD rate
1%1 pass breakups88 tackles · 11 for loss · 1.5 sacks · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 5.8 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Road6g | 8.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 6.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 8.4 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Tim Lester
Pass share
34.4%
294 pass / 561 run
Plays / game
71.2
12 games
Team sack rate
7.7%
324 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2017
88 tackles in 12 games, more tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at Western Michigan, 199 tackles — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2017
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: P.J. Fleck → Tim Lester. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
