Zach Cunningham: ILB · Vanderbilt · #41.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Zach Cunningham
Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. That makes two straight seasons on the honors list: All-SEC again in 2016. A game that shows it: 19 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss against Georgia — Week 7, 2016.
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
125 tackles. 3 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 16.5 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.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
On3 Oct 25
PennLive Oct 17Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Vanderbilt | 125 | 71 | 16.5 | 0.0 | 3 |
| Career | 125 | 71 | 16.5 | 0.0 | 3 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2016 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 10-13vs South Carolina | 12 | 6 | 3.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | 3.0 TFL |
| Wk 2 | W 47-24vs Middle Tennessee | 10 | 5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 7-38@ Georgia Tech | 7 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 31-30@ Western Kentucky | 9 | 4 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 6-13vs No. 23 Florida | 14 | 5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 13-20@ Kentucky | 10 | 7 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 17-16@ Georgia | 19 | 6 | 2.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 19 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 35-17vs Tennessee State | 4 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 16-23@ No. 11 Auburn | 9 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 17-26@ Missouri | 10 | 9 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 38-17vs Ole Miss | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 45-34vs No. 24 Tennessee | 10 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
 Bowl | L 17-41vs NC State | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 125 | 71 | 16.5 | 0.0 | — | 3 |
Week 7 · 2016
W 17-16
at Georgia
2.5 tackles for loss · 19 tackles · 1 pass breakup
A close one, won by 1 on the road.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
125tackles this seasonTFL rate
13%16 TFLSack rate
0%0 sacksPD rate
2%3 pass breakups125 tackles · 16.5 for loss.
Splits · Per-game
2016 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 9.2 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road6g | 10.7 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-78g | 10.9 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 7.6 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Derek Mason
Pass share
44.2%
390 pass / 493 run
Plays / game
67.9
13 games
Team sack rate
7.5%
439 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2016
First team in his league at the position.
How it ended
One season at Vanderbilt, 125 tackles, a first-team All-Conference season (2015) — drafted at #57 overall by the Houston Texans.
Honored in a first season.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-SEC · 1ST TEAM
All-SEC 1st team (2016)
Coaching lineage · 2013–2016
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: James Franklin → Derek Mason. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Next stop · NFL
Houston TexansEntering 10th NFL season
Houston TexansEntering 10th NFL season
