Zaylin Wood is a defensive lineman who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Vanderbilt.
Wood disrupts the pocket from the interior. The six seasons span two programs and two head coaches: Rick Stockstill and Clark Lea. First career honor, 2022: All-Conference USA. A game that shows it: 6 tackles and 1 sack against Alabama — Week 6, 2025.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
28 tackles. 1 pass defended. 1 interception. 4.5 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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Vanderbilt | 28 | 11 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | Vanderbilt | 7 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Middle Tennessee | 16 | 9 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 2 | -- |
| 2022 | Middle Tennessee | 31 | 19 | 9.0 | 5.5 | 3 | 1 |
| 2021 | Middle Tennessee | 27 | 12 | 5.0 | 0.5 | -- | 1 |
| 2020 | Middle Tennessee | 16 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 125 | 57 | 24.5 | 14.0 | 6 | 3 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-3vs Charleston Southern | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | W 44-20@ Virginia Tech | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-7@ No. 11 South Carolina | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | |
| Wk 4 | W 70-21vs Georgia State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 55-35vs Utah State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 14-30@ No. 10 Alabama | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 31-24vs No. 10 LSU | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 17-10vs No. 15 Missouri | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 31-34@ No. 20 Texas | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 45-38vs Auburn | 5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 45-17vs Kentucky | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 45-24@ No. 18 Tennessee | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 27-34vs Iowa | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 28 | 11 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 1 | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
16%4 TFLSack rate
14%4 sacksHurry rate
25%7 hurries28 tackles · 4.5 for loss · 4 sacks · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Road5g | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Clark Lea
Pass share
50.4%
400 pass / 394 run
Plays / game
61.1
13 games
Team sack rate
5.1%
395 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Unranked recruit. Now #58 at the position.
2026 outlook
In the mix for All-SEC
Based on 2025: #5 of 60 SEC DLs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).
A stat line in 54 games over six seasons.
The snaps went the other way.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA
All-Conference USA mention (2022)
Weekly recognition
1 weekly honor (2022)
Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week
Coaching lineage · 2019–2025
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Rick Stockstill and Clark Lea.
