#21

Zelmar Vedder

Senior defensive back on Houston's 2025 roster.

DB · Houston · Sr. · #21

6′3″ · 195 lb · Manteca, CA

CFB Index 36 · #255 of 364 cornersLow confidenceReturning to Houston for 2026

The story

4 defensive back on Houston's 2025 roster.

Signed with Sacramento State in 2022.
Transferred from Sacramento State to Houston in 2025.

His career, year by year

Recruiting

CB recruit

Joined Sacramento State

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

How he projects

Erases the deep middle of the field.

The full scouting read

Zelmar Vedder

DB · Houston · Sr · #21

Erases the deep middle of the field. Sacramento State to Houston — the move that set up everything since. The receipt on tape: 4 tackles against Arizona State, Week 9, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
portal record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2025Houston10-3HC: Willie Fritz · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

36Below cohort / limited sample #255 of 364?

Low confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (96th percentile). Concern: tackles for loss (7th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Passes defended#85 / 2975 · 96th pct

Solo tackles#1520 / 2975 · 47th pct

Tackles#2072 / 2975 · 29th pct

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct

0.0

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct

0.0

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.7
Road4g	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.5

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	1.8	0.0	0.0	1.0
Weeks 8+5g	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Willie Fritz

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

36 · #255 of 364 corners

Unranked recruit. Now #255 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Big 12

Based on 2025: #33 of 42 Big 12 DBs

How the All-Big 12 estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Houston	19	14	0.0	0.0	7	--	--
Career		19	14	0.0	0.0	7	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2025

W 31–28

vs Arizona

1 TOT · 1 SOLO

Edged out Arizona at home in a shootout.

With C. Weigman — 164 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 94.5 · 98 rush yds (14 car) · 1 TD · D. Connors — 100 rush yds (20 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 27-0vs Stephen F. Austin	2	1	—	2
Wk 2	W 35-9@ Rice	1	0	—	0
Wk 3	W 36-20vs Colorado	2	1	—	0
Wk 5	W 27-24@ Oregon State	2	1	—	1
Wk 6	L 11-35vs Texas Tech	3	3	—	3
Wk 8	W 31-28vs Arizona	1	1	—	0
Wk 9	W 24-16@ Arizona State	4	3	—	1	Season-high 4 tackles
Wk 10	L 35-45vs West Virginia	1	1	—	0
Wk 11	W 30-27@ UCF	1	1	—	0
Wk 13	L 14-17vs TCU	1	1	—	0
Bowl	W 38-35vs LSU	1	1	—	0
Total		19	14	—	7

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Zelmar Vedder

2022

202511 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Centerfielder