cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / A'Khori Jones /Liberty

A'Khori Jones

S · Liberty · Sr · #29

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

39 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Liberty for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Liberty for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Safety · Liberty

Returning around him

  • 100% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +7 net (26 in / 19 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Liberty · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #84 · 2026 recruiting class #86

S · LIBERTY · CONFERENCE USA

A'Khori Jones

  • 4
  • #29
  • 5-10 | 205 lb
  • Macon, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

56

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

#10358

<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 DB AWARD

Jim Thorpe

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
Liberty
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionS
Class4
Jersey29
Measurements5-10 | 205 lb
HometownMacon, GA
Primary teamLiberty

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree Not on file No matched recruiting profile in the loaded archive
Composite rating -- Composite rating unavailable for this player
Signed with -- Commitment history unavailable
Origin -- Hometown and high school unavailable
Class Profile Context
No recruiting profile is on file for this player.

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#10358Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#10334Where 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

Selector recognition fills in once the major honors lists (AP, FWAA, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, SI) are scraped and ingested.

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 A'Khori Jones

Fan sentiment · Awaiting signal

The Room reads fan conversation around a player — who’s talking, what they believe, and how that shifts. It publishes once weekly volume rebuilds; for most players that’s in-season, when game-week chatter spikes.

Cohort divergence map

Cohort divergence reads how different fanbases talk about this player. Returns once weekly mentions clear the publish floor.

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about A'Khori Jones

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 defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 12g
39Tackles
3.5Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
42Tackles
3.8Tackles for loss
1.1Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 39): needs 41/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 39): needs 61/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 5/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 9/game over remaining 1.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

A'Khori Jones is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Liberty's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 1 interceptions through the current loaded season. For a defender, the question is never just production; it is whether elite disruption and team context can become nationally undeniable.

Current place #10358 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 48 return yds

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

DEF season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Total tackles 39 26 solo | #937/4942 (81st pct)
TFL 3.5 Backfield disruption | #869/4972 (83rd pct)
Sacks 1.0 Pass-rush finish | #872/4972 (82nd pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
39 81st
SOLO
26 85th
TFL
3.5 83rd
SACK
1.0 82nd

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 28-7vs Maine110.00.00
Wk 2L 24-34@ Jacksonville State550.00.00
Wk 3L 13-23@ Bowling Green110.00.00
Wk 4L 13-31vs James Madison430.00.00
Wk 5L 7-21@ Old Dominion600.00.010Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 7W 19-8@ UTEP431.51.00
Wk 8W 30-27vs New Mexico State110.00.00
Wk 10W 59-30vs Delaware210.00.00
Wk 11L 17-21vs Missouri State440.00.01
Wk 12L 27-34@ Florida International330.00.00
Wk 13L 28-34@ Louisiana Tech401.00.01
Wk 14L 42-48vs Kennesaw State441.00.00
Total39263.51.012
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

2022Liberty8-5HC: Hugh Freeze · Run-leaning
2023Liberty13-1HC: Jamey Chadwell · Run-heavy
2024Liberty8-4HC: Jamey Chadwell · Run-heavy
2025Liberty4-8HC: Jamey Chadwell · Run-heavy
SeasonTeam
2025Liberty39263.51.021--
2024Liberty53355.00.03----
2023Liberty1690.00.02----
2022Liberty16143.00.0------
Career4 loaded seasons1248411.51.071--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

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.

INT 1 0 pick-six TD | #308/869 (65th pct)
Pass breakups 2 Coverage disruption | #792/2184 (64th pct)
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 39 #937/4942 81st pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 3.5 #869/4972 83rd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Interceptions 1 #308/869 65th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 2 #792/2184 64th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense INT return avg 28.0 #113/578 81st pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense INT return yards 28 #232/578 60th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 26 #696/4584 85th pct Volumevs FBS DEF

Player Standing

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

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION · Rung None of 16

Why he’s here

Standing classification populates when honors, Heisman, and roster signals all align.

What moves him up

What moves him down

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Thorpe 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 · 12 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g2.70.20.00.2
Road6g3.80.40.20.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins4g2.00.40.20.0
Losses8g3.90.20.00.2

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g3.50.20.20.0
Weeks 8+6g3.00.30.00.3

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the S cohort

56Solid starter
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Solo tackles#696 / 2975 · 76th pct
26defe
Tackles for loss#866 / 2975 · 69th pct
3.5defe
Tackles#937 / 2975 · 68th pct
39defe
Passes defended#777 / 2975 · 67th pct
2defe
Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct
1inte
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe

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

Advanced Savant · S · 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 · 7 metrics
A'Khori JonesLibertyJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 82% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 81% simBrevin HamblinUtah State· 80% sim
Solo tackles
76
Jones
96
Vaughns
87
Martin
99
Hamblin
Tackles for loss
69
Jones
85
Vaughns
63
Martin
56
Hamblin
Tackles
68
Jones
99
Vaughns
98
Martin
99
Hamblin
Passes defended
67
Jones
48
Vaughns
67
Martin
98
Hamblin
Sacks
63
Jones
63
Vaughns
24
Martin
74
Hamblin
Interceptions
31
Jones
31
Martin
31
Hamblin
QB hurries
22
Jones
22
Vaughns
22
Martin
22
Hamblin

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Donovan Kaufman’s 2022 season.

Donovan Kaufman

86%match

Auburn · 2022

#2

D'Verick Daniel

Florida International · 2022

84%
#3

Jalen Catalon

Missouri · 2025

83%
#4

Donovan Kaufman

Auburn · 2021

83%
#5

Jalen Mergerson

Air Force · 2023

82%

Matches Donovan on

Tackle volume
PD rate
Height

Differs from Donovan on

Class year (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Syrus Dumas's senior season at UTSA (2024).

Syrus Dumas

86%match

UTSA · 2024

#2

Kevin Wood

North Texas · 2023

85%
#3

Alaka'i Gilman

Stanford · 2023

87%
#4

JaTravis Broughton

Utah · 2023

85%
#5

Hunter Washington

Mississippi State · 2025

86%

Matches Syrus on

Class year
Height
PD rate

Differs from Syrus on

Weight (higher)

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jamey Chadwell

Pass share

38.7%

314 pass / 498 run

Plays / game

67.7

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

8.4%

249 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

2 coaches
2022
Hugh Freeze
Liberty
2023
Jamey Chadwell
Liberty
era →
2024
Jamey Chadwell
Liberty
2025
Jamey Chadwell
Liberty

Coaching transition mid-career: Hugh Freeze → Jamey Chadwell. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownMacon, GA
Height5'10"
Weight205 lb
Class4
PositionS
Jersey29

Trophy Case · Detail

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

Honors

No formal honors on the ledger yet

All-America, all-conference, player-of-the-week, watch-list, and postseason awards land here when they're earned. The absence is the signal: most players never collect formal honors, and that's its own kind of context.

Honors Timeline

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

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
No formal honors on the ledger yet. All-America, all-conference, weekly awards, watch lists, and postseason trophies land here when they’re earned.

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Liberty S4 #10358 #10334 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Conference USA
2023 Liberty S4 #9215 #8898 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Conference USA
2022 Liberty S4 #10003 #9838 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | FBS Independents

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Liberty Conference USA S 4 No. 29 | 5-10 | 205 lb | Macon, GA
2024 Liberty Conference USA S 4 No. 29 | 5-10 | 205 lb | Macon, GA
2023 Liberty Conference USA S 4 No. 29 | 5-10 | 205 lb | Macon, GA
2022 Liberty FBS Independents S 4 No. 29 | 5-10 | 205 lb | Macon, GA