cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON

Dallas Payne

TE · Florida International · Sr

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

293 REC YDS · 27 REC · 4 REC TD

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Florida International for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Florida International for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Tight end · Florida International

Returning around him

  • 42% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • Transfer portal: -5 net (16 in / 21 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Florida International · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #98 · 2026 recruiting class #90

TE · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL · CONFERENCE USA

Dallas Payne

  • 4
  • 6-4 | 250 lb
  • Bay Saint Louis, MS

CFB Zeitgeist Score

64

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by rec tds at the 80th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#2285

<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 TE AWARD

Mackey

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

Development Trajectory · receiving yards

2022–2025
20.02022
1902023
1922024
2932025

+1365%

Up 1365% from first season to most-recent.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#95 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.

PositionTE
Class4
Jersey--
Measurements6-4 | 250 lb
HometownBay Saint Louis, MS
Primary teamFlorida International

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 95 recruit
Composite rating 0.8304 JUCO
Signed with UAB 2022
Origin Northeast Mississippi C.C. Bay St. Louis, MS, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8304 No. 95 recruit | JUCO | UAB

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#2285Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#3175Where 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 UAB

Composite

0.8304

#95 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 Dallas Payne

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 Dallas Payne

No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.

2025 Signature · 2025 season

Receiving TDs

4

count

All FBS WRs, min 20 receptions

National rank #161 of 531
Percentile vs All FBS WRs, min 20 receptions 70th

Why it matters

#161 of 531 All FBS WRs in receiving TDs — 4 TDs on 27 receptions.

Vs cohort

This player 4 (70th)

MODERATE · n=27 cohort 531

  • Also strong
  • Yards per reception#367 / 531
  • Receiving yards (total)#397 / 531

Signature Moment

Week 1 at UTSA — 1 receiving_tds

Result L 20-57

The week the volume broke through — stacked 1 td at UTSA.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the receiving totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 11g
293Rec yards
27Receptions
4Rec TDs
Per game
26.6Rec yards
2Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
346.3Rec yards
32Receptions
5Rec TDs

To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 293): needs 203.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 293): needs 353.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 60-catch season (currently 27): needs 16.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 80-catch season (currently 27): needs 26.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 4): needs 2/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 4): needs 3/game over remaining 2.

What made this player interesting

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

Dallas Payne's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Florida International, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.

Current place #2285 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 4.2% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

TE season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Receptions 27 4 rec TD | #66/475 (86th pct)
Receiving yards 293 10.9 per catch | #75/475 (84th pct)
Scrimmage yards 293 Total offensive yardage | #75/475 (84th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Target magnet against FBS receiving peers.

Target magnet

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
27 86th
YDS
293 84th
YPR
10.9 63rd
TD
4 95th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppRECYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1W 42-9vs Bethune-Cookman177.007
Wk 2L 0-34@ Penn State2189.0010
Wk 3W 38-28vs Florida Atlantic177.007
Wk 4L 16-38vs Delaware3217.009
Wk 8W 25-6@ Western Kentucky3237.709
Wk 10L 21-28@ Missouri State284.016
Wk 11W 56-30@ Middle Tennessee23718.5130
Wk 12W 34-27vs Liberty4215.3014
Wk 13W 27-21vs Jacksonville State3248.0011
Wk 14W 56-16@ Sam Houston410025.0142Season-high 100 yds
BowlL 20-57@ UTSA22713.5122
Total2729310.2442
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

2022UAB7-6HC: Bryant Vincent · Run-heavy
2023UAB4-8HC: Trent Dilfer · Balanced
2024UAB3-9HC: Trent Dilfer · Balanced
2025Florida International7-6HC: Willie Simmons · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Florida International2729310.94--
2024UAB1719211.31--
2023UAB1819010.60--
2022UAB3206.70--
Career4 loaded seasons6569510.75--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Pass share

The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.

Role share

A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.

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.

Usage 4.2% 8.8% pass-game share | #120/468 (75th pct)
Return yards 0 0 return TD
Touchdowns 4 Across offense and returns | #27/475 (95th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 27 #66/475 86th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving yards 293 #75/475 84th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving TD 4 #27/475 95th pct Scoringvs FBS TE
Receiving Yards / catch 10.9 #177/475 63rd pct Efficiencyvs FBS TE
Usage Pass share 8.8% #120/468 75th pct Air-game usagevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving LONG 42 #63/475 87th pct Metricvs FBS TE
Usage 3rd-down usage 5.6% #125/468 74th pct Money-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Passing-down usage 5.2% #138/468 71st pct Known-passing sharevs FBS TE
Usage Role share 4.2% #120/468 75th pct Share of team offensevs FBS TE
Usage Standard-down usage 3.7% #148/468 69th pct Base-situation sharevs FBS TE
Usage 1st-down usage 3.6% #159/468 66th pct Early-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage 2nd-down usage 2.9% #268/468 43rd pct Middle-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Rush share 0.0% #58/468 88th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS TE

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 Mackey 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

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Home5g2.416.06.90.0
Road6g2.535.513.00.7

Win vs Loss

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Wins7g2.631.311.20.3
Losses4g2.218.58.40.5

First half vs Second half

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Weeks 1-75g1.816.08.70.2
Weeks 8+6g3.035.511.40.5

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

64Solid starter
5 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: rec tds (80th).

Rec TDs#27 / 175 · 80th pct
4rece
Long catch#56 / 175 · 67th pct
42rece
Receptions#66 / 175 · 61st pct
27rece
Rec yards#75 / 175 · 57th pct
293rece
Yards / catch#77 / 175 · 55th pct
10.9rece

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

Advanced Savant · TE · 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 · 5 metrics
Dallas PayneFlorida InternationalMason MiniCalifornia· 86% simJack EndriesTexas· 86% simSeydou TraoreMississippi State· 85% sim
Rec TDs
80
Payne
80
Mini
66
Endries
89
Traore
Long catch
67
Payne
83
Mini
87
Endries
87
Traore
Receptions
61
Payne
80
Mini
77
Endries
80
Traore
Rec yards
57
Payne
77
Mini
68
Endries
73
Traore
Yards / catch
55
Payne
59
Mini
47
Endries
49
Traore

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

Player DNA

The Complete TE

Dual-threat: blocks when needed, catches when needed. Coveted on both sides.

TE

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Neal Johnson’s 2023 season.

Neal Johnson

90%match

Louisiana · 2023

#2

Nate Boerkircher

Texas A&M · 2025

NFL Rd 2 · Pk 24
89%
#3

Jake Roberts

North Texas · 2022

77%
#4

Zach Horton

James Madison · 2023

All-Sun Belt
75%
#5

Rivaldo Fairweather

Auburn · 2023

75%

Matches Neal on

Height
EPA / play (adj)
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Elijah Mojarro's senior season at Rice (2024).

Elijah Mojarro

87%match

Rice · 2024

#2

Neal Johnson

Louisiana · 2023

84%
#3

Lance Mason

Wisconsin · 2025

All-Big Ten
80%
#4

Seydou Traore

Mississippi State · 2025

All-Sun BeltNFL Rd 5
82%
#5

Justin Joly

NC State · 2025

All-ACCNFL Rd 5
79%

Matches Elijah on

TD rate
Weight
Yards / reception

Differs from Elijah on

EPA / play (adj) (lower)

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Willie Simmons

Pass share

47.3%

428 pass / 476 run

Plays / game

69.5

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

6.9%

290 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

2 coaches
2022
Mike MacIntyre
Florida International
2023
Mike MacIntyre
Florida International
2024
Mike MacIntyre
Florida International
2025
Willie Simmons
Florida International
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Mike MacIntyre → Willie Simmons. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownBay Saint Louis, MS
Height6'4"
Weight250 lb
Class4
PositionTE

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 UAB TE4 #2285 #3175 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | American Athletic
2023 UAB TE4 #3407 #3883 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | American Athletic
2022 UAB TE4 #3657 #3584 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Conference USA

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Florida International Conference USA TE 4 6-4 | 250 lb | Bay Saint Louis, MS
2024 UAB American Athletic TE 4 6-4 | 250 lb | Bay Saint Louis, MS
2023 UAB American Athletic TE 4 6-4 | 250 lb | Bay Saint Louis, MS
2022 UAB Conference USA TE 4 6-4 | 250 lb | Bay Saint Louis, MS