CFB Zeitgeist Score
68
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.
Ryheem Craig
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
40 TACKLES · 1 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to East Carolina for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Linebacker · East Carolina
Returning around him
- 51% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- 1 East Carolina player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -3 net (23 in / 26 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
East Carolina · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #78 · 2026 recruiting class #77
LB · EAST CAROLINA · AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Ryheem Craig
- 4
- #5
- 6-3 | 231 lb
- Taylorsville, NC
Heisman Heat
#12328
<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 LB AWARD
Butkus
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR05 · Part-time starter
Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
2 teams
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3-star | 0.8396 | No. 1482 recruit | HighSchool | Louisville |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| 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 16Heisman 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 Louisville
Composite
0.8396
#1482 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
PENDINGThe 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 Ryheem Craig
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 Ryheem Craig
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the defensive totals stand
Through 12g
40Tackles
3.5Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
43Tackles
3.8Tackles for loss
1.1Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 40): needs 40/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 40): needs 60/game over remaining 1.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 5/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 9/game over remaining 1.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Ryheem Craig is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on East Carolina's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.5 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
40 82nd
SOLO
17 73rd
TFL
3.5 83rd
SACK
1.0 82nd
QBH
2 66th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
3 76th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-24@ NC State | 5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | W 56-3vs Campbell | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 38-0@ Coastal Carolina | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 13-34vs BYU | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 28-6vs Army | 7 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 7 | L 19-26@ Tulane | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 41-27vs Tulsa | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 11 | W 48-22vs Charlotte | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 31-27vs Memphis | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 24-58@ UTSA | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 42-3@ Florida Atlantic | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 23-17vs Pittsburgh | 5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 40 | 17 | 3.5 | 1.0 | — | 3 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2021Louisville6-6HC: Scott Satterfield · Run-leaning, fast tempo
2022Louisville8-5HC: Scott Satterfield · Run-leaning
2023Louisville10-4HC: Jeff Brohm · Run-leaning
2025East Carolina9-4HC: Blake Harrell · Run-leaning, fast tempo
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | East Carolina | 40 | 17 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 3 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Louisville | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Louisville | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | Louisville | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 4 loaded seasons | 49 | 20 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 3 | -- | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 40 | #906/4942 | 82nd pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 3.5 | #869/4972 | 83rd pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 1.0 | #872/4972 | 82nd pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 3 | #521/2184 | 76th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 2 | #647/1878 | 66th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 17 | #1252/4584 | 73rd 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Butkus 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 · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 3.9 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Road5g | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins8g | 3.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Losses4g | 3.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 4.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 2.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
68Solid starter
Production sits in the middle of the position cohort across the board.
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · LB · 2024
Percentile Card
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
P4G5All FBS
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
Ryheem CraigEast CarolinaMarsel McDuffieUNLV· 77% simAndon ThomasArmy· 77% simTreylin PayneTexas State· 77% sim
Passes defended
QB hurries
Tackles
Tackles for loss
Sacks
Solo tackles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Coverage 'Backer
Carries tight ends and patrols the middle of the field in coverage.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Andre White Jr.’s 2022 season.
Andre White Jr.
82%match
#2
Nate Rutchena
81%
#3
Isaiah Moore
81%
#4
Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste
79%
#5
Michael Boudoin III
78%
Matches Andre on
PD rate
Weight
Tackle volume
Differs from Andre on
Class year (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Sirad Bryant's graduate season at UAB (2025).
Sirad Bryant
79%match
#2
Tyquan King
All-AAC
78%
#3
Lance Dixon
78%
#4
Nikhai Hill-Green
All-AAC
76%
#5
Lanell Carr
75%
Matches Sirad on
Tackle volume
PD rate
Sack rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Blake Harrell
Pass share
44.5%
440 pass / 548 run
Plays / game
76.0
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
4.7%
343 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, fast tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
2 coaches2021
Mike Houston
East Carolina
2022
Mike Houston
East Carolina
2023
Mike Houston
East Carolina
2025era →
Blake Harrell
East Carolina
Coaching transition mid-career: Mike Houston → Blake Harrell. 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.
HometownTaylorsville, NC
Height6'3"
Weight231 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey5
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamEast Carolina
ConferenceAmerican Athletic
Joined2025
Career arc5 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 | East Carolina | LB4 | #12328 | #12294 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | American Athletic |
| 2023 | Louisville | LB4 | #7719 | #7574 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | ACC |
| 2022 | Louisville | LB4 | #9507 | #9188 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | ACC |
| 2021 | Louisville | LB4 | #10954 | #10883 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | ACC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | East Carolina | American Athletic | LB | 4 | No. 5 | 6-3 | 231 lb | Taylorsville, NC |
| 2024 | East Carolina | American Athletic | LB | 4 | No. 5 | 6-3 | 231 lb | Taylorsville, NC |
| 2023 | Louisville | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 5 | 6-3 | 231 lb | Taylorsville, NC |
| 2022 | Louisville | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 5 | 6-3 | 231 lb | Taylorsville, NC |
| 2021 | Louisville | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 5 | 6-3 | 231 lb | Taylorsville, NC |