The discourse on Wisner runs in two directions at once. To the wider audience he's still a name — a third-team All-SEC back, one of FSU's most expensive and most heralded portal additions, the guy Mike Norvell brought in to anchor a run game that needs to carry the offense. Our own signal catches that gap cleanly: his perception sits in the 87th percentile while his 2025 production landed in the 49th — an aura-tax verdict, the sound of a reputation outrunning a stat line. The receipts behind the doubt are real. After 1,064 yards in 2024, an injury-riddled 2025 left him with 597 yards and three scores on 131 carries across nine games at Texas, a season Longhorns fans remember in plays like the one where he lost five yards on a key red-zone snap against Oklahoma.
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Florida State is the clean slate, but it isn't an empty one. The Seminoles see him as a difference-maker — career numbers of 1,734 rushing yards, nine touchdowns and 66 catches across 38 games and 21 starts give him a legitimate claim to lead the room rather than share it. Except the spring told a more complicated story: per beat coverage out of Tallahassee, the praise for Wisner came loud early in camp and then faded down the stretch, while sophomore Ousmane Kromah had the most consistent spring of the bunch and 'took the next step into becoming a difference-maker.' Norvell has signaled the carousel rotation of last year is over and these backs will get real volume — which makes the pecking order matter more, not less.
So the question the boards are asking heading into August isn't whether Wisner can play. It's whether the version that hit 1,000 yards still exists, and Resolves 2027-01-20.PENDING. FSU bet money that he is. The 2026 season is the receipt.
Update (Nov. 2, 2026): Mike Norvell, who brought him in, was fired on Nov. 1, and Rick Stockstill is the interim head coach. The pecking order the spring left open has settled with Ousmane Kromah ahead. Florida State is 3-5, and Kromah leads the team with 114 carries for 609 yards. Wisner has played in seven of the eight games and has 51 carries for 247 yards (4.8 a carry), no rushing touchdowns, and 17 catches for 201 yards and one receiving touchdown. His best game was Oct. 17 at Miami: 63 yards on nine carries and a touchdown catch, with a lost fumble.
The record
A falsifiable call from this player's outlook. Not yet gradeable.
What we said
reclaim his 2024 1,000-yard form and seize the FSU job outright
No play-by-play percentiles in the packet for Wisner, so this is a scouting read. He's a 6-foot, ~200-pound between-the-tackles back with patience and contact balance — his 2024 workload (226 carries, 1,064 yards) was the profile of a true bell-cow who could absorb a full SEC season, and a 4.6 yards-per-carry mark in an injury-compromised 2025 shows the per-touch efficiency held up even when the volume and health didn't. The added value is in the passing game: 22 catches for 146 yards as a junior, 66 receptions over his career, the kind of three-down reliability that lets a coordinator keep him on the field on obvious passing downs. He's a complete back rather than a home-run-hitter — the longest carry of his 2025 went 48 yards, but the identity is steadiness and chains-movement, not breakaway burst.
Similar players
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Gold: stories we tracked each season, drawn on a square-root scale so a quiet year still shows. Hatched: before we started tracking (2025). Earlier years had thinner coverage, so compare within a stop, not across decades.
Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Nov 4.
Against Clemson on Oct. 31: 13 carries for 43 yards. In the 7 games drawn here: 51 carries for 247 yards.
First quarterSecond quarterThird quarterFourth quarter
CLEL 24-36 vs Clemson13 carries, 43 yds
MIAL 35-43 at Miami9 carries, 63 yds
LOUL 20-44 at Louisville7 carries, 20 yds
VIRW 38-7 vs Virginia9 carries, 46 yds
CAW 34-7 vs Central Arkansas8 carries, 41 yds
ALAL 36-50 at Alabama1 carry, 0 yds
NMSW 34-17 vs New Mexico State4 carries, 34 yds
a carry, by its yardsa loss, below the linea catcha touchdown
Each game is split into its four quarters, so the columns line up from game to game; inside a quarter, plays keep their order. Third and fourth downs are marked under the line, bold when he moved the chains.
With A. Daniels — 298 yds · 4 TD · 1 INT · QBR 92.9 · 31 rush yds (9 car) · 1 TD · D. Hughes — 43.3 yards per punt · 4 punts · 2 inside the 20
Signature plays
The plays that mattered most
Week 7 · Miami · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA −5.19Q.Wisner rush middle for 24 yards gain fumbled by Q.Wisner at FSU49 forced by E.O'Connor recovered by UM X.Lucas at UM39, End Of Play
Week 5 · Virginia · 2nd and 11 · Q2 · EPA +3.60Daniels to Wisner: a 48-yard pass.
Week 7 · Miami · 2nd and 8 · Q3 · EPA +3.11Daniels to Wisner: a 28-yard touchdown pass.
Week 9 · Clemson · 2nd and 6 · Q3 · EPA −2.35Daniels to Wisner: a 6-yard pass.
Week 9 · Clemson · 2nd and 5 · Q3 · EPA +2.20Daniels to Wisner: a 21-yard pass.
Week 4 · Central Arkansas · 2nd and 9 · Q2 · EPA +2.07Daniels to Wisner: a 12-yard pass.
4 more plays
Week 5 · Virginia · 2nd and 7 · Q4 · EPA +1.72Q.Wisner rush left for 11 yards gain (J.Hayes; M.Williams)
Week 7 · Miami · 2nd and 8 · Q4 · EPA +1.58Daniels to Wisner: a 15-yard pass.
Week 1 · New Mexico State · 3rd and 5 · Q4 · EPA +1.50Daniels to Wisner: a 9-yard pass.
Week 9 · Clemson · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA −1.50Q.Wisner rush left for 2 yards loss (J.Lawson)
Where he ranks
Rush yards247228thAmong 278 backs with 40 or more carries
Yards / carry4.8tied for 147thAmong 278 backs with 40 or more carries
Long run24tied for 223rdAmong 278 backs with 40 or more carries
Carries51tied for 228thAmong 278 backs with 40 or more carries
Rec yards20111thAmong 273 backs with 40 or more carries
Receptions17tied for 26thAmong 273 backs with 40 or more carries
Fumbles lost1tied for 43rdAmong 141 backs with 40 or more carries
283rd in rushing yards, among all 1,551 FBS players with a rushing row this season, any position
Rushing yards24738th among current FBS players over the whole career (1,981).
Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.
Opponents faced, by strength
Ratings of the games shown run from -13 to +25 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Rushing profile
Rush profile · Shape, efficiency, and ball security
Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth
How often he's targeted, and how well it works
17 rec · 201 yds · 1 TD
17 of 17 receptions matched to play-by-play
20 of 20 targets charted for true throw depth
Targets
2011% of team targets
Catch rate
85%17 of 20 targets
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
75% of targets (15)
93%catch rate
Air -3.5 · YAC 15.4 avg
Short · 0–9 air yds
25% of targets (5)
60%catch rate
Air 4.4 · YAC 7.3 avg
85% catch rate on 20 targets · 11% of the team's targets.
Teams and coaches
2023Texas12-2HC: Steve Sarkisian · Balanced
2024Texas13-3HC: Steve Sarkisian · Balanced
2025Texas10-3HC: Steve Sarkisian · Balanced
2026Florida State3-5HC: Mike Norvell · Run-leaning
Our ratings
CFB Zeitgeist Score 48 (#145 of 330). Show the ratings
Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
48Rotational starter #145 of 330· through 7 games?
13 metrics · season cumulative
through 7 games score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: rec yards (96th percentile). Strength: receptions (90th percentile). Concern: td rate (3rd percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Explosive rate#111 / 346 · 68th pct
7.8%
Yards / carry#205 / 346 · 41st pct
4.8
Success rate#239 / 346 · 31st pct
41.2%
EPA / carry#327 / 346 · 6th pct
-0.10
TD rate#325 / 346 · 3rd pct
0.0%
Box-score rates (8)
Rec yards#11 / 273 · 96th pct
201
Receptions#26 / 273 · 90th pct
17
Yards / carry#147 / 278 · 44th pct
4.8
Fumbles lost#43 / 141 · 40th pct
1
Long run#223 / 278 · 19th pct
24
Rush yards#228 / 278 · 18th pct
247
Carries#228 / 278 · 18th pct
51
Rush TDs#261 / 278 · 3rd pct
0
Season trend
Last seasonThis season
EPA / carry
28th → 6th percentile
Success rate
37th → 31st percentile
Explosive rate
30th → 68th percentile
Yards / carry
33rd → 41st percentile
TD rate
24th → 3rd percentile
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Splits
Home and road splits, scheme and staff
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 7 games
Home/Road · Season halves
Home vs Road
YDS/g
YPC
TD/g
Home4g
41.0
5.5
0.0
Road3g
27.7
3.3
0.0
First half vs Second half
YDS/g
YPC
TD/g
Weeks 1-76g
34.0
4.8
0.0
Weeks 8+1g
43.0
3.3
0.0
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
2026 season
Head Coach
Mike Norvell
Pass share
43.1%
219 pass / 289 run
Plays / game
63.5
8 games
Team sack rate
8.2%
257 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Awards
Player standing · 2026
51 carries and 17 catches in 7 games
About as many touches a game as a typical FBS running back who plays every week.
Recognition
Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
48 · #145 of 330 RBs · through 7 games
Three-star recruit. Now #145 at the position.
Four seasons, two schools
2026 is in progress.
2026 Florida State Norvell
Year 4 · 7 games
2025 Texas Sarkisian
Year 3 · 9 games
2024 Texas Sarkisian
Year 2 · 15 games
2023 Texas Sarkisian
Year 1 · 6 games
High school DeSoto
DeSoto, TX · Class of 2023
Three-star, No. 495 in the 2023 class. Signed with Texas.