cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Will Swanson /Kansas State

Will Swanson

TE · Kansas State · Sr · #83

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

82 REC YDS · 5 REC · 0 REC TD

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Kansas State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Kansas State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Tight end · Kansas State

Returning around him

  • 69% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • 2 Kansas State players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -7 net (26 in / 33 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Kansas State · Last season: 6-6 (AP #17) · Talent rank #47 · 2026 recruiting class #35

TE · KANSAS STATE · BIG 12

Will Swanson

  • 4
  • #83
  • 6-5 | 244 lb
  • Papillion, NE

CFB Zeitgeist Score

30

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by yards / catch at the 99th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#2232

<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 TE AWARD

Mackey

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career arc · Season-by-season Standing

3 seasons on the ladder

Peak: R09 All-Conference HM / 2nd team · 2025

2022

Kansas State · TE

2023

Kansas State · TE

2025

Kansas State · TE

R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team

Recognized

Development Trajectory · receiving yards

2022–2025
23.02022
66.02023
82.02025

+257%

Up 257% from first season to most-recent.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#855 national
CFB
College
Kansas State
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionTE
Class4
Jersey83
Measurements6-5 | 244 lb
HometownPapillion, NE
Primary teamKansas State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 855 recruit
Composite rating 0.8630 HighSchool
Signed with -- 2020
Origin Papillion-La Vista South Papillion, NE, USA
Class Profile Context
2020 3-star | 0.8630 No. 855 recruit | HighSchool

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#2232Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#1989Where 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

NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft

Market value, pedigree & pro outcome

Recruit stars

★★★☆☆

to —

Composite

0.8630

#855 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 Will Swanson

Fan sentiment ·

Belief Meter

100

Grounded Optimism

Sample 2 mentions
Confidence BELOW-FLOOR

Top Take

Trajectory

Cohort divergence mapbearishbullishheatedcalmOwn fans: 2 mentions · belief +100 · "Kansas State finally looked like the team Wildcat fans expected all offseason — "Own fans
  • Own fans · n=2

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Will Swanson

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 receiving totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 4g
82Rec yards
5Receptions
0Rec TDs
Per game
20.5Rec yards
1Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
266.5Rec yards
16Receptions
0Rec TDs

To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 82): needs 68.7/game over remaining 9.

To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 82): needs 102/game over remaining 9.

To hit 60-catch season (currently 5): needs 6.1/game over remaining 9.

To hit 80-catch season (currently 5): needs 8.3/game over remaining 9.

To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 0): needs 0.9/game over remaining 9.

To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 0): needs 1.1/game over remaining 9.

Why the honors trail matters

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

The useful clue on this card is not just the Heisman rank, but the broader honors spine. Will Swanson already has 1 loaded recognition item, which helps distinguish a player who is merely productive from one who is already earning selector-level validation.

Current place #2232 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 1.9% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Honors spine 1 honors loaded

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

TE season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Receptions 5 0 rec TD | #264/475 (45th pct)
Receiving yards 82 16.4 per catch | #213/475 (55th pct)
Scrimmage yards 82 Total offensive yardage | #213/475 (55th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Big-play receiver against FBS receiving peers.

Big-play receiver

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
5 45th
YDS
82 55th
YPR
16.4 93rd
TD
0 46th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 4 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppRECYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1W 38-35vs North Dakota24623.0038Season-high 46 yds
Wk 3L 17-23@ Arizona155.005
Wk 7W 41-28vs TCU11414.0014
Wk 14W 24-14vs Colorado11717.0017
Total58214.8038
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

2022Kansas State10-4HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning
2023Kansas State9-4HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning
2025Kansas State6-6HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Kansas State58216.40--
2023Kansas State56613.21--
2022Kansas State22311.50--
Career3 loaded seasons1217114.21--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Pass share

The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.

Role share

A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.

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.

Usage 1.9% 4.2% pass-game share | #336/468 (28th pct)
Return yards 0 0 return TD
Touchdowns 0 Across offense and returns | #257/475 (46th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 5 #264/475 45th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving yards 82 #213/475 55th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving TD 0 #257/475 46th pct Scoringvs FBS TE
Receiving Yards / catch 16.4 #34/475 93rd pct Efficiencyvs FBS TE
Usage Pass share 4.2% #336/468 28th pct Air-game usagevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving LONG 38 #81/475 83rd pct Metricvs FBS TE
Usage Standard-down usage 2.9% #228/468 51st pct Base-situation sharevs FBS TE
Usage 2nd-down usage 2.2% #324/468 31st pct Middle-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage 3rd-down usage 1.9% #304/468 35th pct Money-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Role share 1.9% #351/468 25th pct Share of team offensevs FBS TE
Usage 1st-down usage 1.0% #381/468 19th pct Early-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Passing-down usage 0.0% #382/468 19th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS TE
Usage Rush share 0.0% #58/468 88th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS TE

Player Standing

Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.

ALL-CONF HM

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

ALL-CONF HM · Rung 9 of 16

Why he’s here

All-Conference honorable mention / 2nd team — the recognition has started.

What moves him up

A best-at-position run lifts to 1st team.

What moves him down

A back-end conference finish drops out of the honor list.

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Mackey 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 · 4 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Home3g1.325.718.00.0
Road1g1.05.05.00.0

Win vs Loss

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Wins3g1.325.718.00.0
Losses1g1.05.05.00.0

First half vs Second half

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Weeks 1-73g1.321.714.00.0
Weeks 8+1g1.017.017.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

30Below cohort
5 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (98th). Concern: receptions (0th).

Yards / catch#3 / 175 · 99th pct
16.4rece
Long catch#71 / 175 · 59th pct
38rece
Rec TDs#152 / 175 · 7th pct
0rece
Rec yards#173 / 175 · 2nd pct
82rece
Receptions#176 / 175 · 0th pct
5rece

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · TE · 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 · 5 metrics
Will SwansonKansas StateLuke LindenmeyerNebraska· 49% simRiley NowakowskiIndiana· 48% simDecker DeGraafWashington· 48% sim
Yards / catch
99
Swanson
53
Lindenmeyer
71
Nowakowski
62
DeGraaf
Long catch
59
Swanson
23
Lindenmeyer
69
Nowakowski
39
DeGraaf
Rec TDs
7
Swanson
43
Lindenmeyer
43
Nowakowski
43
DeGraaf
Rec yards
2
Swanson
63
Lindenmeyer
77
Nowakowski
72
DeGraaf
Receptions
0
Swanson
66
Lindenmeyer
75
Nowakowski
75
DeGraaf

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

Chris Klieman

Pass share

46.4%

342 pass / 395 run

Plays / game

61.4

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.5%

288 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

1 coach
2022
Chris Klieman
Kansas State
2023
Chris Klieman
Kansas State
2025
Chris Klieman
Kansas State

Played his entire career under Chris Klieman.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownPapillion, NE
Height6'5"
Weight244 lb
Class4
PositionTE
Jersey83

Trophy Case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

1 entries
🎖

ALL-CONFERENCE

All-Conf mention (2025)

All-Big 12

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

All-Conference

1 all-conference honor

Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
2025 All-Big 12 all_conference Kansas State | Big 12 FB

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Kansas State TE4 #2232 #1989 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big 12
2023 Kansas State TE4 #1374 #1232 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big 12
2022 Kansas State TE4 #1667 #1292 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big 12
2021 Kansas State TE4 #3180 #2994 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big 12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Kansas State Big 12 TE 4 No. 83 | 6-5 | 244 lb | Papillion, NE
2024 Kansas State Big 12 TE 4 No. 83 | 6-5 | 244 lb | Papillion, NE
2023 Kansas State Big 12 TE 4 No. 83 | 6-5 | 244 lb | Papillion, NE
2022 Kansas State Big 12 TE 4 No. 83 | 6-5 | 244 lb | Papillion, NE
2021 Kansas State Big 12 TE 4 No. 83 | 6-5 | 244 lb | Papillion, NE