cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Ashton Hampton /Clemson

Ashton Hampton

CB · Clemson · So · #23

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

45 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Clemson for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Clemson for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Cornerback · Clemson

Returning around him

  • 83% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • 9 Clemson players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -4 net (11 in / 15 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Clemson · Last season: 7-6 (AP #12) · Talent rank #7 · 2026 recruiting class #26

CB · CLEMSON · ACC

Ashton Hampton

  • 2
  • #23
  • 6-2 | 200 lb
  • Tallahassee, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

61

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 98th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#4130

<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

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#626 national
CFB
College
Clemson
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionCB
Class2
Jersey23
Measurements6-2 | 200 lb
HometownTallahassee, FL
Primary teamClemson

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 626 recruit
Composite rating 0.8817 HighSchool
Signed with Clemson 2024
Origin Florida State University School Tallahassee, FL, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8817 No. 626 recruit | HighSchool | Clemson

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#4130Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#4753Where 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.

NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft

Market value, pedigree & pro outcome

Recruit stars

★★★☆☆

to Clemson

Composite

0.8817

#626 national

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 Ashton Hampton

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 Ashton Hampton

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 11g
45Tackles
3Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
53Tackles
3.5Tackles for loss
1.2Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 45): needs 17.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 45): needs 27.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 2.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 4.5/game over remaining 2.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Ashton Hampton is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Clemson's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.0 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 #4130 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 1.0 sacks | 3.0 TFL

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 45 35 solo | #729/4942 (85th pct)
TFL 3.0 Backfield disruption | #1006/4972 (80th 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?

Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

Coverage splashHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
45 85th
SOLO
35 92nd
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
1.0 82nd

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
8 98th
INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 10-17vs LSU110.00.01
Wk 2W 27-16vs Troy320.00.011
Wk 3L 21-24@ Georgia Tech310.00.00
Wk 4L 21-34vs Syracuse540.00.00
Wk 6W 38-10@ North Carolina441.00.00
Wk 7W 41-10@ Boston College220.00.00
Wk 8L 24-35vs SMU661.00.02
Wk 10L 45-46vs Duke110.00.01
Wk 11W 24-10vs Florida State1070.00.02Season-high 10 tackles
Wk 14W 28-14@ South Carolina530.00.00
BowlL 10-22vs Penn State541.01.01
Total45353.01.018
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

2024Clemson10-4HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced, fast tempo
2025Clemson7-6HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Clemson45353.01.081--
2024Clemson26190.00.042--
Career2 loaded seasons71543.01.0123--
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 8 Coverage disruption | #45/2184 (98th 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 45 #729/4942 85th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 3.0 #1006/4972 80th 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 8 #45/2184 98th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 35 #353/4584 92nd 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 · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home7g4.40.30.11.1
Road4g3.50.20.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins5g4.80.20.00.6
Losses6g3.50.30.20.8

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-77g3.30.30.10.4
Weeks 8+4g5.50.20.01.2

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the CB cohort

61Solid starter
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (97th). Strength: solo tackles (87th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Passes defended#45 / 2975 · 98th pct
8defe
Solo tackles#353 / 2975 · 88th pct
35defe
Tackles#729 / 2975 · 75th pct
45defe
Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
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 · CB · 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
Ashton HamptonClemsonBrevin HamblinUtah State· 89% simOwen LongColorado State· 85% simNick AndersenWake Forest· 84% sim
Passes defended
98
Hampton
98
Hamblin
91
Long
96
Andersen
Solo tackles
88
Hampton
99
Hamblin
99
Long
96
Andersen
Tackles
75
Hampton
99
Hamblin
100
Long
99
Andersen
Sacks
63
Hampton
74
Hamblin
80
Long
74
Andersen
Tackles for loss
63
Hampton
56
Hamblin
80
Long
90
Andersen
Interceptions
31
Hampton
31
Hamblin
QB hurries
22
Hampton
22
Hamblin
22
Long
22
Andersen

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

Player DNA

The Press Corner

Long and physical; jams receivers off their route at the line.

CB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Nick Grant’s 2021 season.

Nick Grant

78%match

Virginia · 2021

#2

Christian Holmes

Oklahoma State · 2021

NFL Rd 7
79%
#3

Jaylen Clark

Boise State · 2023

78%
#4

Roman Parodie

Ohio · 2024

76%
#5

Al Blades Jr.

Duke · 2023

73%

Matches Nick on

PD rate
Tackle volume
Weight

Differs from Nick on

Class year (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Xavier Lucas's sophomore season at Miami (2025).

Xavier Lucas

99%match

Miami · 2025

#2

Kaiir Elam

Florida · 2021

All-SECNFL Rd 1 · Pk 23
90%
#3

Zashon Rich

Kansas State · 2025

85%
#4

Ty Goodwill

South Alabama · 2025

85%
#5

Therrian Alexander

BYU · 2025

82%

Matches Xavier on

Class year
Height
Interceptions

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Dabo Swinney

Pass share

53.8%

474 pass / 407 run

Plays / game

67.8

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.5%

337 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

1 coach
2024
Dabo Swinney
Clemson
2025
Dabo Swinney
Clemson

Played his entire career under Dabo Swinney.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownTallahassee, FL
Height6'2"
Weight200 lb
Class2
PositionCB
Jersey23

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 Clemson CB2 #4130 #4753 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Clemson ACC CB 2 No. 23 | 6-2 | 200 lb | Tallahassee, FL
2024 Clemson ACC CB 2 No. 23 | 6-2 | 200 lb | Tallahassee, FL