cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Bryce Hawthorne /Iowa

Bryce Hawthorne

DL · Iowa · So · #96

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

15 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Iowa for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Iowa for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · Iowa

Returning around him

  • 49% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 7 Iowa players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: +7 net (15 in / 8 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Iowa · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #42 · 2026 recruiting class #38

DL · IOWA · BIG TEN

Bryce Hawthorne

  • 2
  • #96
  • 6-3 | 296 lb
  • Osseo, MN

CFB Zeitgeist Score

30

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

Awaiting

Not on the live Heisman board this week.

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

TOP DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
Iowa
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDL
Class2
Jersey96
Measurements6-3 | 296 lb
HometownOsseo, MN
Primary teamIowa

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 1 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Iowa 2025
Transfer stars 4-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Dec 30, 2024
Season Move Context
2025 South Dakota State -> Iowa 4-star | 0.9000 | Immediate

Heisman Lens

Where the model places this player relative to the rest of the Heisman field.

Current nowcast--Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast--Where the full season sim points
Win probability--Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability--Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability--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 Bryce Hawthorne

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 Bryce Hawthorne

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 8g
15Tackles
3Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
24Tackles
4.9Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 15): needs 13/game over remaining 5.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 15): needs 17/game over remaining 5.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.2/game over remaining 5.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 2/game over remaining 5.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Bryce Hawthorne is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Iowa's defense, with 0.0 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 -- -- win | -- finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.0 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 15 8 solo | #2386/4942 (52nd pct)
TFL 3.0 Backfield disruption | #1006/4972 (80th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
15 52nd
SOLO
8 50th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 8 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 4W 38-28@ Rutgers100.00.00
Wk 5L 15-20vs Indiana111.00.00
Wk 7W 37-0@ Wisconsin320.00.010Season-high 3 tackles
Wk 8W 25-24vs Penn State200.00.00
Wk 9W 41-3vs Minnesota331.00.00
Wk 13W 20-17vs Michigan State100.00.00
Wk 14W 40-16@ Nebraska200.00.00
BowlW 34-27@ Vanderbilt221.00.00
Total1583.00.010
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

2025Iowa9-4HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-heavy, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Iowa1583.00.0--1--
Career1 loaded season1583.00.0--1--
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 0 Coverage disruption
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 15 #2386/4942 52nd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 3.0 #1006/4972 80th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Interceptions 1 #308/869 65th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 8 #2283/4584 50th 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 Lombardi 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 · 8 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home4g1.80.50.00.0
Road4g2.00.20.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g2.00.30.00.0
Losses1g1.01.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-74g1.80.50.00.0
Weeks 8+4g2.00.20.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

30Below cohort
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (17th).

Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct
1inte
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Solo tackles#2282 / 2975 · 21st pct
8defe
Tackles#2386 / 2975 · 18th pct
15defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

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

Advanced Savant · DL · 2025

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
Bryce HawthorneIowaTyler MartinMassachusetts· 57% simJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 50% simRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 48% sim
Tackles for loss
63
Hawthorne
63
Martin
85
Vaughns
85
Fitzgerald
Interceptions
31
Hawthorne
31
Martin
31
Fitzgerald
Sacks
24
Hawthorne
24
Martin
63
Vaughns
24
Fitzgerald
QB hurries
22
Hawthorne
22
Martin
22
Vaughns
55
Fitzgerald
Solo tackles
21
Hawthorne
87
Martin
96
Vaughns
100
Fitzgerald
Tackles
18
Hawthorne
98
Martin
99
Vaughns
99
Fitzgerald
Passes defended
18
Hawthorne
67
Martin
48
Vaughns
86
Fitzgerald

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

Player DNA

The Two-Gap Base

Stout at the point of attack; controls his gap and stacks blocks.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Ashton Coker’s 2025 season.

Ashton Coker

81%match

UTEP · 2025

#2

Rodney Lora

UCF · 2025

80%
#3

Decarius Hawthorne

Florida Atlantic · 2022

79%
#4

Aaron Faumui

Virginia · 2023

78%
#5

Jaylon Bass

Buffalo · 2022

78%

Matches Ashton on

Class year
Sack rate
Weight

Differs from Ashton on

Height (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Ashton Coker's sophomore season at UTEP (2025).

Ashton Coker

84%match

UTEP · 2025

#2

Rodney Lora

UCF · 2025

78%
#3

David Stone

Oklahoma · 2025

78%
#4

Mark Hensley

Northern Illinois · 2025

77%
#5

Preston Watson

Duke · 2025

76%

Matches Ashton on

Class year
Sack rate
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Kirk Ferentz

Pass share

36.6%

286 pass / 495 run

Plays / game

60.1

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.9%

228 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Kirk Ferentz
Iowa

Played his entire career under Kirk Ferentz.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownOsseo, MN
Height6'3"
Weight296 lb
Class2
PositionDL
Jersey96

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
This player hasn’t appeared on a Heisman ballot tracked by the model.

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Iowa Big Ten DL 2 No. 96 | 6-3 | 296 lb | Osseo, MN