cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Deone Walker /Kentucky

Deone Walker

DT · Kentucky · Jr

Limited signal — not enough coverage for a story yet.

NOW IN NFLBuffalo — drafted 2025, Rd 4, Pick 7, #109 overall

Where He Ended Up · NFL

BuffaloEntering 2nd NFL season

#109Rd 4 · Pick 7
BuffaloEntering 2nd NFL season

DT · KENTUCKY · SEC

Deone Walker

  • 3
  • 6-6 | 345 lb
  • Detroit, MI

CFB Zeitgeist DT Score

Awaiting

Heisman Heat

#8427

<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 DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 0 · Not on team

R01 · Scout team / redshirt

Scout team / redshirt. Developing behind the depth chart.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career arc · Season-by-season Standing

3 seasons on the ladder

Peak: R09 All-Conference HM / 2nd team · 2023

2022

Kentucky · DT

2023

Kentucky · DT

R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team

Recognized

2024

Kentucky · DT

NFL Draft 2025 · Rd 4, Pick 7 · #109 overall · Buffalo

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★★
#290 national
CFB
College
Kentucky
2022–2024
NFL
NFL Draft
R4 &middot; #109
Buffalo &middot; 2025

Identity & Role

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

PositionDT
Class3
Jersey--
Measurements6-6 | 345 lb
HometownDetroit, MI
Primary teamKentucky

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 4-star No. 290 recruit
Composite rating 0.9023 HighSchool
Signed with Kentucky 2022
Origin Cass Technical Detroit, MI, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 4-star | 0.9023 No. 290 recruit | HighSchool | Kentucky

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#8427Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#8819Where 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 Kentucky

Composite

0.9023

#290 national

NFL Draft

2025 · Rd 4, Pick 7

#109 overall · Buffalo

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 Deone Walker

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 Deone Walker

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.

Scenario Explorer

Available for players with a qualifying signature metric (passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, sacks, etc.). The slider projects how a season finishes if the current pace holds.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Deone Walker is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Kentucky's defense, with 1.5 sacks, 5.0 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 #8427 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 290 recruit

2024 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

DEF season snapshot

2024 season snapshot | final

2024 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Total tackles 37 13 solo | #1007/4942 (80th pct)
TFL 5.0 Backfield disruption | #553/4972 (89th pct)
Sacks 1.5 Pass-rush finish | #724/4972 (85th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderHigh-volume tackler

2024 Season · Final

2024 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
37 80th
SOLO
13 65th
TFL
5.0 89th
SACK
1.5 85th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
2 64th

Game Log

Week-by-week box

No per-game rows for this season yet — the table fills in as box scores arrive.

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

2022Kentucky7-6HC: Mark Stoops · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2023Kentucky7-6HC: Mark Stoops · Balanced, slow tempo
2024Kentucky4-8HC: Mark Stoops · Run-leaning, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2024Kentucky37135.01.52----
2023Kentucky552812.57.52----
2022Kentucky39113.51.02----
Career3 loaded seasons1315221.010.06----
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 2 Coverage disruption | #792/2184 (64th pct)
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 37 #1007/4942 80th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 5.0 #553/4972 89th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.5 #724/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 2 #792/2184 64th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 13 #1622/4584 65th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense Fumbles recovered 1 #103/736 86th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Ball Security Fumbles lost 0 #1/773 100th pct Turnoversvs 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 splits

Splits fill in once box scores from at least three games land for this season.

Box-score Savant card waits for a season-stat snapshot above the cohort floor. Returns once enough box-score volume lands.

Advanced Savant · DT · 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 returns once this player clears the Savant metric floor (4+ scored bars).
DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Mark Stoops

Pass share

46.2%

366 pass / 427 run

Plays / game

66.1

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

10.0%

280 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2024

1 coach
2022
Mark Stoops
Kentucky
2023
Mark Stoops
Kentucky
2024
Mark Stoops
Kentucky

Played his entire career under Mark Stoops.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownDetroit, MI
Height6'6"
Weight345 lb
Class3
PositionDT

Trophy Case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

1 entries
🎖

ALL-CONFERENCE

All-Conf mention (2023)

All-SEC

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

All-Conference

1 all-conference honor

Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
2023 All-SEC all_conference Kentucky | SEC DB

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Kentucky DT3 #8427 #8819 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | SEC
2023 Kentucky DT3 #6429 #7339 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | SEC
2022 Kentucky DT3 #7218 #7664 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | SEC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2024 Kentucky SEC DT 3 6-6 | 345 lb | Detroit, MI
2023 Kentucky SEC DT 3 6-6 | 345 lb | Detroit, MI
2022 Kentucky SEC DT 3 6-6 | 345 lb | Detroit, MI