#15

Aaron Sterling

LB · South Carolina · Sr. · #15

CFB Index 16 · #541 of 578 LBsHigh confidenceSouth Carolina 2021 alumnus

The record

3 tackles · vs Clemson

Week 13, 2021

1 tackles · vs Auburn

Week 12, 2021

1 tackles · vs Missouri

Week 11, 2021

1 TFL, 1 tackles · vs Florida

Week 10, 2021

5 tackles · vs Texas A&M

Week 8, 2021

3 tackles, 0.5 TFL · vs Vanderbilt

Week 7, 2021

How it ended

Two seasons at South Carolina, 50 tackles — his college career is complete.

Career Arc

Recruit

★★★

#437 national

CFB

College

South Carolina

2017–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching Lineage · 2017–2021

2 coaches

2017

Will Muschamp

South Carolina

2021

Shane Beamer

South Carolina

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Will Muschamp → Shane Beamer. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2017South Carolina9-4HC: Will Muschamp · Balanced, slow tempo

2021South Carolina7-6HC: Shane Beamer · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

16Below cohort / limited sample #541 of 578?

High confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (95th). Strength: sacks (82nd).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#97 / 2743 · 96th pct

Sacks#443 / 2743 · 82nd pct

2.5

Tackles for loss#794 / 2743 · 69th pct

4.0

Passes defended#1085 / 2743 · 49th pct

Solo tackles#1505 / 2743 · 44th pct

Tackles#1530 / 2743 · 43rd pct

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

2021 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	2.1	0.3	0.1	0.0
Road4g	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.3	0.5	0.4	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	2.2	0.2	0.0	0.0

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Shane Beamer

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

16 · #541 of 578 LBs

Three-star recruit. Now #541 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	South Carolina	27	15	4.0	2.5	1	--	--
2017	South Carolina	23	12	3.0	2.0	--	--	--
Career		50	27	7.0	4.5	1	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 10 · 2021

W 40–17

vs Florida

1 QB HUR · 1 TFL · 1 SOLO

Dominant 23-point win at home against Florida.

With J. Brown — 175 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 47.2 · -7 rush yds (3 car) · K. Harris — 128 rush yds (16 car)

Game log

Game Log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 46-0vs Eastern Illinois	3	1	0.5	0.5	—
Wk 2	W 20-17@ East Carolina	3	1	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 4	L 10-16vs Kentucky	4	3	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 5	W 23-14vs Troy	0	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 6	L 20-45@ Tennessee	1	1	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 7	W 21-20vs Vanderbilt	3	1	0.5	0.0	—
Wk 8	L 14-44@ Texas A&M	5	4	0.0	0.0	—	Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 10	W 40-17vs Florida	1	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 11	L 28-31@ Missouri	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 12	W 21-17vs Auburn	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 13	L 0-30vs Clemson	3	1	0.0	0.0	—
Total		25	15	4.0	2.5	—

How he plays

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

16Below cohort / limited sample #541 of 578?

High confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (95th). Strength: sacks (82nd).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#97 / 2743 · 96th pct

Sacks#443 / 2743 · 82nd pct

2.5

Tackles for loss#794 / 2743 · 69th pct

4.0

Passes defended#1085 / 2743 · 49th pct

Solo tackles#1505 / 2743 · 44th pct

Tackles#1530 / 2743 · 43rd pct

Play style

Downhill striker who fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

11 games

25Tackles

15Solo

4TFL

2.5Sacks

0Pass def.

0INT

25 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 4 TFL.

Week 10.5 sacks
Week 21 sack
Week 61 sack

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.

DNA match

Player DNA

Thumper

Downhill striker who fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge.

His 2021 production profile sits closest to Jared Bartlett’s 2021 season.

Jared Bartlett

55%match

West Virginia · 2021

Andrzej Hughes-Murray

Oregon State · 2021

52%

T.D. Moultry

Auburn · 2021

52%

Noah Burks

Wisconsin · 2021

51%

Jeremy Lewis

East Carolina · 2021

49%

Differs from Jared on

Hurry rate (higher)

PD rate (higher)

Weight (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Joe Moore's senior season at Arizona State (2022).

Joe Moore

82%match

Arizona State · 2022

NFL Rd 1 · Pk 11

Will Evans

Ohio · 2021

75%

Andrew Chatfield Jr.

Oregon State · 2022

75%

Jared Bartlett

West Virginia · 2021

All-Big 12

71%

Ty Wise

Miami (OH) · 2022

All-MAC

69%

Matches Joe on

Sack rate

Tackle volume

TFL rate

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