Caelen Carson: DB · Wake Forest · #1.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Caelen Carson
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Fourth year in the same secondary at Wake Forest. One game to point at: 10 tackles against Vanderbilt — Week 2, 2023.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
42 tackles. 6 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1 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.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Wake Forest | 42 | 29 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 6 | -- |
| 2022 | Wake Forest | 15 | 12 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 5 | -- |
| 2021 | Wake Forest | 31 | 26 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 7 | 2 |
| 2020 | Wake Forest | 25 | 19 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4 | 1 |
| Career | 113 | 86 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 22 | 3 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 11 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 37-17vs Elon | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 36-20vs Vanderbilt | 10 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 27-24@ Old Dominion | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 16-30vs Georgia Tech | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | L 12-17@ Clemson | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 13-30@ Virginia Tech | 6 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 21-17vs Pittsburgh | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 9 | L 16-41vs No. 4 Florida State | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 10 | L 21-24@ Duke | 5 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 6-26vs NC State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | L 7-45@ No. 20 Notre Dame | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 42 | 29 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 6 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
14%6 pass breakupsTackle volume
42tackles this seasonTFL rate
2%1 TFL42 tackles · 1 for loss · 6 pass breakups.
4 seasons under Dave Clawson — 27-21 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2023 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Road5g | 3.8 | 0.2 | 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 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 3.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Dave Clawson
Pass share
41.0%
321 pass / 461 run
Plays / game
65.2
12 games
Team sack rate
12.8%
367 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2023
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #262 at the position.
How it ended
Four seasons at Wake Forest, 113 tackles — drafted at #174 overall by the Dallas Cowboys.
A stat line in 34 games over four seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2020–2023
1 coachPlayed every college season under Dave Clawson.
Next stop · NFL
Dallas CowboysEntering 3rd NFL season
Dallas CowboysEntering 3rd NFL season
