Dion Novil: DL · North Texas · #97.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Dion Novil
Wins the gap play after play. A two-star recruit with five seasons on the field at North Texas since. All-Conference USA in 2021 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. A game that shows it: 10 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss against Rice — Week 9, 2021.
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
46 tackles. 2 passes defended. 1 interception. 8 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.
University of North Texas Athletics Oct 20
CBS News Oct 16Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | North Texas | 51 | 25 | 10.0 | 5.0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | North Texas | 37 | 22 | 8.0 | 2.5 | -- | -- |
| 2019 | North Texas | 61 | 28 | 13.0 | 3.5 | 1 | -- |
| 2018 | North Texas | 33 | 13 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 2 | -- |
| 2017 | North Texas | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 185 | 90 | 38.0 | 11.5 | 5 | 1 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 12 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 44-14vs Northwestern State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 12-35@ SMU | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 6-40vs UAB | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 17-24@ Louisiana Tech | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 35-48@ Missouri | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 21-49vs Marshall | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 26-35vs Liberty | 5 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 30-24@ Rice | 10 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 1 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 10 | W 38-14@ Southern Miss | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 20-17vs UTEP | 7 | 4 | 2.5 | 1.0 | — | 1 | 2.5 TFL |
| Wk 12 | W 49-7@ Florida International | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 45-23vs No. 15 UTSA | 5 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 46 | 23 | 8.0 | 3.5 | 1 | 2 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
20%10 TFLSack rate
10%5 sacksHurry rate
6%3 hurries51 tackles · 10 for loss · 5 sacks · 1 interception.
5 seasons under Seth Littrell — 32-30 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Road6g | 3.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 2.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.0 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Seth Littrell
Pass share
38.4%
393 pass / 631 run
Plays / game
85.3
12 games
Team sack rate
4.3%
399 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2021
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Two-star recruit. Now #37 at the position.
How it ended
Five seasons at North Texas, 12 sacks, a first-team All-Conference season (2020) — the college career is complete.
Recruited as a two-star, and honored since.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 2ND TEAM
All-Conference USA 2nd team (2021)
Weekly recognition
1 weekly honor (2020)
Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week
Coaching lineage · 2017–2021
1 coachPlayed every college season under Seth Littrell.
