cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Rushawn Lawrence /Minnesota

Rushawn Lawrence

DL · Minnesota · Sr · #16

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

20 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Minnesota for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Minnesota for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · Minnesota

Returning around him

  • 44% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 1 Minnesota player drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -1 net (19 in / 20 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Minnesota · Last season: 8-5 · Talent rank #41 · 2026 recruiting class #49

DL · MINNESOTA · BIG TEN

Rushawn Lawrence

  • 4
  • #16
  • 6-2 | 270 lb
  • Philadelphia, PA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

42

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

Awaiting

Not on the live Heisman board this week.

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

TOP DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 1 · 2-deep

R04 · Rotational

Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
Minnesota
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDL
Class4
Jersey16
Measurements6-2 | 270 lb
HometownPhiladelphia, PA
Primary teamMinnesota

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree Not on file No matched recruiting profile in the loaded archive
Composite rating -- Composite rating unavailable for this player
Signed with -- Commitment history unavailable
Origin -- Hometown and high school unavailable
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.

Portal moves 1 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Minnesota 2025
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Dec 16, 2024
Season Move Context
2025 Stony Brook -> Minnesota 3-star | 0.8600 | Immediate

Heisman Lens

Where the model places this player relative to the rest of the Heisman field.

Current nowcast--Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast--Where the full season sim points
Win probability--Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability--Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability--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.

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 Rushawn Lawrence

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 Rushawn Lawrence

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 10g
20Tackles
3Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
26Tackles
3.9Tackles for loss
1.3Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 20): needs 20/game over remaining 3.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 20): needs 26.7/game over remaining 3.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 1.7/game over remaining 3.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 3/game over remaining 3.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Rushawn Lawrence is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Minnesota's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.0 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 -- -- win | -- finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 1.0 sacks | 3.0 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 20 11 solo | #1998/4942 (60th pct)
TFL 3.0 Backfield disruption | #1006/4972 (80th 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?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
20 60th
SOLO
11 60th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
1.0 82nd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 23-10vs Buffalo210.00.00
Wk 2W 66-0vs Northwestern State100.00.00
Wk 3L 14-27@ California432.00.00Season-high 4 tackles
Wk 5W 31-28vs Rutgers111.01.00
Wk 6L 3-42@ Ohio State110.00.00
Wk 7W 27-20vs Purdue210.00.00
Wk 8W 24-6vs Nebraska420.00.00
Wk 9L 3-41@ Iowa220.00.00
Wk 10W 23-20vs Michigan State200.00.00
Wk 14W 17-7vs Wisconsin100.00.00
Total20113.01.00
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

2025Minnesota8-5HC: P.J. Fleck · Balanced, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Minnesota20113.01.0------
Career1 loaded season20113.01.0------
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 0 Coverage disruption
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 20 #1998/4942 60th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 3.0 #1006/4972 80th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 11 #1855/4584 60th pct Volumevs 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 Lombardi 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 · 10 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home7g1.90.10.10.0
Road3g2.30.70.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g1.90.10.10.0
Losses3g2.30.70.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g1.80.50.20.0
Weeks 8+4g2.20.00.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

42Mid-pack
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (17th).

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
Solo tackles#1855 / 2975 · 35th pct
11defe
Tackles#1998 / 2975 · 32nd pct
20defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · DL · 2025

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 · 6 metrics
Rushawn LawrenceMinnesotaJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 60% simMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 59% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 57% sim
Sacks
63
Lawrence
63
Vaughns
89
Montgomery
24
Martin
Tackles for loss
63
Lawrence
85
Vaughns
85
Montgomery
63
Martin
Solo tackles
35
Lawrence
96
Vaughns
82
Montgomery
87
Martin
Tackles
32
Lawrence
99
Vaughns
99
Montgomery
98
Martin
QB hurries
22
Lawrence
22
Vaughns
22
Montgomery
22
Martin
Passes defended
18
Lawrence
48
Vaughns
67
Montgomery
67
Martin

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

Player DNA

The Two-Gap Base

Stout at the point of attack; controls his gap and stacks blocks.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jaden Phillips’s 2022 season.

Jaden Phillips

88%match

New Mexico · 2022

#2

Malachi Bailey

Arizona · 2025

88%
#3

TyQaze Leggs

Marshall · 2024

88%
#4

Stanley Ta'ufo'ou

Arizona · 2024

88%
#5

Jordan Thompson

Rutgers · 2025

87%

Matches Jaden on

Sack rate
TFL rate
Height

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Malachi Bailey's senior season at Arizona (2025).

Malachi Bailey

87%match

Arizona · 2025

#2

Louce Julien

Toledo · 2025

87%
#3

Deontae Craig

Iowa · 2024

87%
#4

Jordan Thompson

Rutgers · 2025

87%
#5

Sione Lolohea

Oregon State · 2023

86%

Matches Malachi on

Class year
Height
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

P.J. Fleck

Pass share

51.7%

397 pass / 371 run

Plays / game

59.1

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.3%

302 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
P.J. Fleck
Minnesota

Played his entire career under P.J. Fleck.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownPhiladelphia, PA
Height6'2"
Weight270 lb
Class4
PositionDL
Jersey16

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
This player hasn’t appeared on a Heisman ballot tracked by the model.

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Minnesota Big Ten DL 4 No. 16 | 6-2 | 270 lb | Philadelphia, PA