cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Rushuan Tongue /Wake Forest

Rushuan Tongue

DB · Wake Forest · So · #6

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

4 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Wake Forest for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Wake Forest for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Wake Forest

Returning around him

  • 26% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • 2 Wake Forest players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: +1 net (24 in / 23 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Wake Forest · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #74 · 2026 recruiting class #63

DB · WAKE FOREST · ACC

Rushuan Tongue

  • 2
  • #6
  • 6-1 | 193 lb
  • Pasadena, MD

CFB Zeitgeist Score

18

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 48th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#14427

<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 1 · 2-deep

R04 · Rotational

Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#851 national
CFB
College
Wake Forest
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class2
Jersey6
Measurements6-1 | 193 lb
HometownPasadena, MD
Primary teamWake Forest

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 851 recruit
Composite rating 0.8697 HighSchool
Signed with Wake Forest 2023
Origin Chesapeake Sr. Pasadena, MD, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8697 No. 851 recruit | HighSchool | Wake Forest

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#14427Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#14485Where 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 Wake Forest

Composite

0.8697

#851 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 Rushuan Tongue

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 Rushuan Tongue

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 2g
4Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
26Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 4): needs 6.9/game over remaining 11.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 4): needs 8.7/game over remaining 11.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.5/game over remaining 11.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.9/game over remaining 11.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Rushuan Tongue is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Wake Forest's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 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 #14427 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.0 sacks | 0.0 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 4 2 solo | #3693/4942 (25th pct)
TFL 0.0 Backfield disruption | #3020/4972 (39th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th 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
4 25th
SOLO
2 22nd
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 2 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 10-9vs Kennesaw State320.00.01Season-high 3 tackles
Wk 2W 42-10vs Western Carolina100.00.00
Total420.00.01
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

2023Wake Forest4-8HC: Dave Clawson · Run-leaning
2025Wake Forest9-4HC: Jake Dickert · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Wake Forest420.00.01----
2023Wake Forest110.00.0------
Career2 loaded seasons530.00.01----
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 1 Coverage disruption | #1241/2184 (43rd 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 4 #3693/4942 25th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 0.0 #3020/4972 39th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 1 #1241/2184 43rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 2 #3597/4584 22nd 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 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 · 2 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home2g2.00.00.00.5

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins2g2.00.00.00.5

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-72g2.00.00.00.5

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

18Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles (0th).

Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct
0.0defe
Solo tackles#2951 / 2975 · 1st pct
2defe
Tackles#2976 / 2975 · 0th pct
4defe

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 · 6 metrics
Rushuan TongueWake ForestTyler MartinMassachusetts· 42% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 37% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 37% sim
Passes defended
48
Tongue
67
Martin
67
Fletcher
91
Ra-El
Sacks
24
Tongue
24
Martin
24
Fletcher
24
Ra-El
QB hurries
22
Tongue
22
Martin
92
Fletcher
22
Ra-El
Tackles for loss
7
Tongue
63
Martin
28
Fletcher
56
Ra-El
Solo tackles
1
Tongue
87
Martin
91
Fletcher
100
Ra-El
Tackles
0
Tongue
98
Martin
99
Fletcher
99
Ra-El

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

DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jake Dickert

Pass share

48.0%

405 pass / 439 run

Plays / game

64.9

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

5.1%

293 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

2 coaches
2023
Dave Clawson
Wake Forest
2025
Jake Dickert
Wake Forest
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Dave Clawson → Jake Dickert. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownPasadena, MD
Height6'1"
Weight193 lb
Class2
PositionDB
Jersey6

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 Wake Forest DB2 #14427 #14485 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC
2023 Wake Forest DB2 #14394 #14408 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Wake Forest ACC DB 2 No. 6 | 6-1 | 193 lb | Pasadena, MD
2024 Wake Forest ACC DB 2 No. 6 | 6-1 | 193 lb | Pasadena, MD
2023 Wake Forest ACC DB 2 No. 6 | 6-1 | 193 lb | Pasadena, MD