Brandon Joseph: S · Notre Dame · #16.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Brandon Joseph
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Played for two head coaches at two programs in four seasons: Pat Fitzgerald and Marcus Freeman. All-Big Ten in 2021 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. On tape: 8 tackles against Marshall, Week 2, 2022.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
30 tackles. 1 pass defended. 1 interception. 0 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.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Yahoo Sports Oct 27Yahoo Sports Oct 18Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 30 | 15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2021 | Northwestern | 79 | 54 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 4 | 3 |
| 2020 | Northwestern | 52 | 28 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2 | 6 |
| 2019 | Northwestern | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 165 | 101 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 7 | 10 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2022 season · 10 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 10-21@ No. 2 Ohio State | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 21-26vs Marshall | 8 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 24-17vs California | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | W 45-32@ North Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 28-20vs No. 16 BYU | 6 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 14-16vs Stanford | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 44-21vs UNLV | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 9 | W 41-24@ No. 16 Syracuse | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 35-14vs No. 5 Clemson | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 13 | L 27-38@ No. 5 USC | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 30 | 15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
3%1 pass breakupsInterceptions
1interceptionsTackle volume
30tackles this seasonTFL rate
0%0 TFL30 tackles · 1 pass breakup · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2022 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road4g | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
39.4%
338 pass / 519 run
Plays / game
65.9
13 games
Team sack rate
5.8%
365 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2022
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive backs who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #353 at the position.
How it ended
Four seasons, at Northwestern and Notre Dame, 165 tackles, a Consensus All-American season (2020) — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA · CONSENSUS
Consensus AA (2020)
6 first-team selectors
ALL-BIG TEN · 2ND TEAM
All-Big Ten 2nd team (2021)
Weekly recognition
1 weekly honor (2020)
Big Ten Freshman Player of the Week
Coaching lineage · 2019–2022
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Pat Fitzgerald and Marcus Freeman.
