Tayven Jackson

#2 · QB · 5th-year · North Texas6′4″ · 209 lb · Greenwood, IN · Center Grove

ZPR844th of 119 QBsLast gameW 48–41vs Florida Atlantic · Oct 29
Nextvs RiceSat Nov 7 · 4 pm ET
via meangreensports.com ↗

Graded Solid or better in each of the last two games.

Last game: W 48-41 vs Florida Atlantic, Oct 29 · 33 of 46 for 404 yards, 4 touchdowns · 5 carries for 41 yards. Started all eight of North Texas’s games.

North Texas’s next game: vs Rice, Sat Nov 7, 4:00 p.m. ET · ESPNU

North Texas has won five straight in the games played, 6-2 in all. A precision passer.

Strongest: sacked on 2% of dropbacks, 7th lowest of 158 starters.

Passing yards

2,568

194 of 268, 72%

TD–INT

22–5

9.6 per throw

NCAA rating

176.2

5th of 119

ZPR

84

4th of 119

How ZPR works

Steady: solid or better in every start.

  • 300 or more passing yards in the last four games.

Best by our grade: at Navy. Lowest: Florida Atlantic. Biggest game: at Indiana, No. 6.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Dashed outlines on the Season row are last season’s average. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Precision passer

Also: big-play arm

Why this word
Runs3.1 a gameRarelyA lot
Throws8.7 yards past the lineShortDeep
Completes73% by play-by-playFewerMore
Takes sacks2% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws at a middling depth and runs some. 3.1 carries a game. Closest matches: Jennings, Mestemaker ’25, Sayin ’25, Carr ’25.

Where the throws go

Behind the line19%typical 17%
Short42%typical 47%
Middle25%typical 22%
Deep14%typical 14%

Runs 3.1 times a game; 66% of starters run more.

Closest in style

JenningsMestemaker ’25Sayin ’25Carr ’25This QB

Nearer the middle means more alike.

  • Jennings SMU · Precision passer
    2,433 yards, 21 TD, 5 INT so far. Both score a lot and complete a lot.
  • Mestemaker ’25 North Texas 2025 · Rhythm passer
    4,369 yards, 34 TD, 9 INT. Both are efficient and protect the ball.
  • Sayin ’25 Ohio State 2025 · Precision passer
    3,610 yards, 32 TD, 8 INT. Both protect the ball and score a lot.
  • Carr ’25 Notre Dame 2025 · Chain-mover
    2,741 yards, 24 TD, 6 INT. Both hit big plays and rarely run.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

What’s being said

8 stories in the last 30 days, from 9 outlets.

Oct 10: 2Oct 11: 1Oct 13: 1Oct 21: 1Oct 26: 1Oct 30: 1Nov 2: 1W 50-10 vs CharlotteWW 49-39 at NavyWW 48-41 vs Florida AtlanticWOct 6Nov 4Most in a day: 2
Oct 10: 2Oct 11: 1Oct 13: 1Oct 21: 1Oct 26: 1Oct 30: 1Nov 2: 1W 50-10 vs CharlotteWW 49-39 at NavyWW 48-41 vs Florida AtlanticWOct 6Nov 4Most in a day: 2
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

Tayven Jackson shines as UNT blows out Charlotte to bolster status as American contender - Denton Record-Chronicle

Denton Record-Chronicle +1 Oct 10

All 35 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Tayven Jackson played at Tennessee, Indiana and UCF before joining North Texas.
  • Tayven Jackson has been sacked on 1.5% of dropbacks, the 4th-fewest among FBS quarterbacks.

His most important play this season

  1. Q1, 10:05 · North Texas tiedTayven Jackson finds Justin Stevenson for a 45-yard touchdownNorth Texas at Navy, week 8Q1, 10:05 · North Texas 7, Navy 0North Texas opened the scoringNorth Texas opened the scoringT.Jackson pass complete deep middle to J.Stevenson caught at Navy02, for 45 yards to the Navy00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this play CBS Sports College Football

All 11 of his plays on video

Tayven Jackson

QB · North Texas · #2

Filling the Shoesas of Nov 4

Tayven Jackson takes over from Drew Mestemaker at North Texas.

2,568passing yards22passing TD76rushing yards

PRODUCES ABOVE PERCEPTION · PCTL GAP

+58

perception vs production percentile · 2026

The production (94th) is outrunning the reputation (36th). The recognition is the thing lagging behind.

Read the story so far

Tayven Jackson arrived as a 4-star prospect, the No.198 recruit nationally. Tayven Jackson lines up at QB for North Texas.

On the field, the headline is 2,568 pass yds, with 22 pass td.

Tayven Jackson inherited the QB job from Drew Mestemaker.

The number to watch: +58 — produces above perception · pctl gap.

QB successionleap of faith
  • Inherited fromDrew Mestemaker

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-04