Tamatoa McDonough is a defensive lineman who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Iowa State.
McDonough disrupts the pocket from the interior. Came to Iowa State by way of Yale. The first one came in 2025: Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. One game to point at: 5 tackles and 2 tackles for loss against Iowa — Week 2, 2025.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
26 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 4 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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Iowa State | 26 | 14 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Career | 26 | 14 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 24-21vs No. 17 Kansas State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 1 | W 55-7vs South Dakota | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 16-13vs Iowa | 5 | 4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 24-16@ Arkansas State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 39-14vs Arizona | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 30-38@ Cincinnati | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 17-24@ Colorado | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 27-41vs No. 11 BYU | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 19-24vs Arizona State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 20-17@ TCU | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 20-13@ Oklahoma State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 26 | 14 | 4.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
15%4 TFLSack rate
8%2 sacksHurry rate
15%4 hurries26 tackles · 4 for loss · 2 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Matt Campbell
Pass share
42.4%
345 pass / 469 run
Plays / game
67.8
12 games
Team sack rate
5.3%
378 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big 12
Based on 2025: #22 of 35 Big 12 DLs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
Honored in a first season.
