cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Caleb Wooden /Arkansas

Caleb Wooden

DB · Arkansas · Sr · #22

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

59 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Arkansas for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Arkansas for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Arkansas

Returning around him

  • 36% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 4 Arkansas players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -2 net (41 in / 43 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Arkansas · Last season: 2-10 · Talent rank #23 · 2026 recruiting class #32

DB · ARKANSAS · SEC

Caleb Wooden

  • 4
  • #22
  • 6-1 | 195 lb
  • Lawrenceville, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

62

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 78th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#10052

<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

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#852 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class4
Jersey22
Measurements6-1 | 195 lb
HometownLawrenceville, GA
Primary teamArkansas

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 852 recruit
Composite rating 0.8663 HighSchool
Signed with Auburn 2022
Origin Archer Lawrenceville, GA, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8663 No. 852 recruit | HighSchool | Auburn

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#10052Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#10399Where 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 Auburn

Composite

0.8663

#852 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 Caleb Wooden

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 Caleb Wooden

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 12g
59Tackles
3Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
5Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
64Tackles
3.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 59): needs 21/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 59): needs 41/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 6/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 10/game over remaining 1.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Caleb Wooden is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Arkansas's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss, and -- 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 #10052 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

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 59 39 solo | #413/4942 (92nd 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?

High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
59 92nd
SOLO
39 95th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
1 44th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
3 76th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 52-7vs Alabama A&M320.50.00
Wk 2W 56-14vs Arkansas State520.00.00
Wk 3L 35-41@ Ole Miss631.00.00
Wk 4L 31-32@ Memphis210.00.00
Wk 5L 13-56vs Notre Dame320.00.00
Wk 7L 31-34@ Tennessee640.50.00
Wk 8L 42-45vs Texas A&M530.00.00
Wk 9L 24-33vs Auburn1061.00.00Season-high 10 tackles
Wk 10L 35-38vs Mississippi State440.00.03
Wk 12L 22-23@ LSU750.00.00
Wk 13L 37-52@ Texas440.00.00
Wk 14L 17-31vs Missouri430.00.00
Total59393.00.03
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

2022Auburn5-7HC: Cadillac Williams · Run-heavy
2023Auburn6-7HC: Hugh Freeze · Run-heavy
2024Auburn5-7HC: Hugh Freeze · Balanced
2025Arkansas2-10HC: Sam Pittman · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Arkansas59393.00.03----
2024Auburn17121.00.011--
2023Auburn15134.51.011--
2022Auburn940.00.0------
Career4 loaded seasons100688.51.052--
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 -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 3 Coverage disruption | #521/2184 (76th pct)
QB pressures 1 Quarterback hurries | #1051/1878 (44th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 59 #413/4942 92nd 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 Pass breakups 3 #521/2184 76th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 1 #1051/1878 44th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 39 #237/4584 95th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense Defensive TD 1 #23/200 89th pct Scoringvs 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 · 12 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home7g4.90.20.00.4
Road5g5.00.30.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins2g4.00.20.00.0
Losses10g5.10.20.00.3

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g4.20.30.00.0
Weeks 8+6g5.70.20.00.5

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

62Solid starter
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: solo tackles (91st). Strength: tackles (85th). Concern: sacks (23rd).

Solo tackles#237 / 2975 · 91st pct
39defe
Tackles#413 / 2975 · 86th pct
59defe
Passes defended#517 / 2975 · 78th pct
3defe
Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
QB hurries#1007 / 2975 · 55th pct
1defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe

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

Advanced Savant · DB · 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 · 6 metrics
Caleb WoodenArkansasRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 88% simBryce LlewellynEastern Michigan· 88% simTy BenefieldBoise State· 86% sim
Solo tackles
91
Wooden
100
Fitzgerald
95
Llewellyn
100
Benefield
Tackles
86
Wooden
99
Fitzgerald
99
Llewellyn
99
Benefield
Passes defended
78
Wooden
86
Fitzgerald
86
Llewellyn
78
Benefield
Tackles for loss
63
Wooden
85
Fitzgerald
80
Llewellyn
94
Benefield
QB hurries
55
Wooden
55
Fitzgerald
72
Llewellyn
55
Benefield
Sacks
24
Wooden
24
Fitzgerald
24
Llewellyn
24
Benefield

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

Player DNA

The Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Tavin Ward’s 2025 season.

Tavin Ward

90%match

South Florida · 2025

#2

CJ Taylor

Vanderbilt · 2023

87%
#3

Key Lawrence

Oklahoma · 2022

87%
#4

Rante Jones

UConn · 2024

86%
#5

Phillip Dunnam

UCF · 2025

86%

Matches Tavin on

Class year
Height
Tackle volume

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Dan Jackson's senior season at Georgia (2024).

Dan Jackson

91%match

Georgia · 2024

NFL Rd 7
#2

CJ Taylor

Vanderbilt · 2024

90%
#3

Chigozie Anusiem

Colorado State · 2023

90%
#4

Mehki Miller

New Mexico State · 2023

90%
#5

Isaac White

Wyoming · 2024

90%

Matches Dan on

Class year
Height
PD rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Sam Pittman

Pass share

48.8%

381 pass / 400 run

Plays / game

65.1

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

8.3%

324 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

1 coach
2022
Sam Pittman
Arkansas
2023
Sam Pittman
Arkansas
2024
Sam Pittman
Arkansas
2025
Sam Pittman
Arkansas

Played his entire career under Sam Pittman.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownLawrenceville, GA
Height6'1"
Weight195 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey22

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 Auburn DB4 #10052 #10399 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | SEC
2023 Auburn DB4 #9923 #9987 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | SEC
2022 Auburn DB4 #11544 #11519 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | SEC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Arkansas SEC DB 4 No. 22 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Lawrenceville, GA
2024 Auburn SEC DB 4 No. 22 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Lawrenceville, GA
2023 Auburn SEC DB 4 No. 22 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Lawrenceville, GA
2022 Auburn SEC DB 4 No. 22 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Lawrenceville, GA