Rod Heard II: S · Notre Dame · #2.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Rod Heard II
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Played for three head coaches across six seasons and two programs. On tape: 5 tackles against Georgia Tech, Week 8, 2024.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
37 tackles. 4 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 2 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.
Yahoo Sports Oct 27Yahoo Sports Oct 18Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 37 | 25 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 4 | -- |
| 2023 | Northwestern | 82 | 53 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 4 | 1 |
| 2022 | Northwestern | 67 | 47 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2021 | Northwestern | 31 | 24 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2020 | Northwestern | 10 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2019 | Northwestern | 1 | -- | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 228 | 156 | 13.0 | 3.0 | 12 | 2 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 16 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-13@ No. 20 Texas A&M | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-16vs Northern Illinois | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 66-7@ Purdue | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 28-3vs Miami (OH) | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 31-24vs No. 15 Louisville | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 7 | W 49-7vs Stanford | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 31-13vs Georgia Tech | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 9 | W 51-14vs No. 24 Navy | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 52-3vs Florida State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 35-14vs Virginia | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 49-14vs No. 18 Army | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-35@ USC | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Bowl | W 27-17vs No. 9 Indiana | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 23-10vs No. 2 Georgia | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 27-24vs No. 5 Penn State | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 23-34vs No. 6 Ohio State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 37 | 25 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 4 |
Bowl · 2024
W 27-24
vs Penn State · neutral site
1 sack · 1 tackle for loss · 3 tackles
A close one, won by 3 at a neutral site.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
11%4 pass breakupsTackle volume
37tackles this seasonTFL rate
5%2 TFL37 tackles · 2 for loss · 1 sack · 4 pass breakups.
Splits · Per-game
2024 season · 16 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Road3g | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-710g | 2.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
44.3%
442 pass / 555 run
Plays / game
62.3
16 games
Team sack rate
4.7%
469 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2024
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive backs who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #410 at the position.
How it ended
Six seasons, at Northwestern and Notre Dame, 228 tackles — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2019–2024
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: Pat Fitzgerald, David Braun and Marcus Freeman.
