CFB Zeitgeist Score
27
Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by interceptions at the 99th percentile.
Jalen Macon
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
105 PASS YDS · 1 PASS TD · 216 RUSH YDS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Northern Illinois for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Quarterback · Northern Illinois
Returning around him
- 53% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- Transfer portal: -17 net (5 in / 22 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Northern Illinois · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #125 · 2026 recruiting class #84
QB · NORTHERN ILLINOIS · MID-AMERICAN
Jalen Macon
- 3
- #14
- 6-5 | 230 lb
- Nashville, TN
Heisman Heat
#1525
<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 QB AWARD
Davey O'Brien
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR05 · Part-time starter
Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Northern Illinois
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| No recruiting profile is on file for this player. | ||
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Arkansas-Pine Bluff -> Northern Illinois | 3-star | 0.8400 | Immediate |
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 16Heisman 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.
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
PENDINGThe 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 Jalen Macon
Fan sentiment ·
Belief Meter
50
Mixed Sentiment
Top Take
“”
Trajectory
Per-cohort trajectory lands when historical bucket data is aggregated.
Cohort divergence map
- Own fans · n=1
Rival Radar
How rival fanbases talk about Jalen Macon
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the passing totals stand
Through 5g
105Pass yards
1Pass TDs
0INT
Per game
21Pass yards
0Pass TDs
0INT
Projected (13g)
273Pass yards
3Pass TDs
0INT
To hit 3,000-yard season (currently 105): needs 361.9/game over remaining 8.
To hit 4,000-yard season (currently 105): needs 486.9/game over remaining 8.
To hit 25 passing TDs (currently 1): needs 3/game over remaining 8.
To hit 30 passing TDs (currently 1): needs 3.6/game over remaining 8.
To hit 35 passing TDs (currently 1): needs 4.2/game over remaining 8.
Why this is a two-channel quarterback case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
The unusual part of Jalen Macon's case is that the production comes in two channels, not one. For Northern Illinois, he has 105 passing yards and 1 touchdown passes, but he also adds 216 rushing yards and 5 rushing scores. That kind of dual-threat load tends to create a more resilient Heisman case because the offense can tilt the game in multiple ways.
2025 Season · Final
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
QB season snapshot
2025 season snapshot | final
2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
Dual-threat against FBS QB peers. The quickest read is whether the profile wins on volume, efficiency, explosiveness, or rushing value.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Passing Efficiency
CMP
9 30th
ATT
21 39th
CMP%
42.9% 7th
Y/A
5.0 19th
Passing Production
YDS
105 31st
TD
1 44th
INT
0 100th
Rushing
CAR
45 67th
YDS
216 81st
YPC
4.8 75th
TD
5 86th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 5 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 6 | L 14-25vs Miami (OH) | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 7 | L 10-16@ Eastern Michigan | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 12 | W 45-3@ Massachusetts | 3/4 | 73 | 1 | 0 | 18.3 | 98.4 | Season-high 73 yds |
| Wk 13 | L 19-35vs Western Michigan | 1/7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.7 | 14.9 | |
| Wk 14 | L 31-35vs Kent State | 5/10 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 2.7 | 28.2 | |
| Total | 9/21 | 105 | 1 | 0 | 7.2 | 47.2 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2025Northern Illinois3-9HC: Thomas Hammock · Run-heavy, slow tempo
| Season | Team | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Illinois | 9 | 21 | 42.9% | 105 | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 100.6 | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 9 | 21 | 42.9% | 105 | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 100.6 | -- | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Illinois | 45 | 216 | 4.8 | 5 | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 45 | 216 | 4.8 | 5 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
Opponent-adjusted passing value. Positive numbers mean the quarterback is adding more value through the air than a neutral peer would in the same environment.
How much of the offense runs through the quarterback once passing and rushing responsibility are blended together.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passing | Passing yards | 105 | #266/382 | 31st pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Pass TD | 1 | #228/407 | 44th pct | Scoringvs FBS QB |
| Passing | Completions | 9 | #271/383 | 30th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Completion % | 42.9% | #356/383 | 7th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS QB |
| Passing | Yards / attempt | 5.0 | #312/382 | 19th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Rushing yards | 216 | #80/408 | 81st pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Usage | Role share | 19.1% | #217/428 | 50th pct | Share of team offensevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Attempts | 21 | #251/407 | 39th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Passing | Interceptions | 0 | #1/407 | 100th pct | Turnoversvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Carries | 45 | #136/408 | 67th pct | Volumevs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Rushing LONG | 36 | #86/391 | 78th pct | Metricvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Rush TD | 5 | #59/408 | 86th pct | Scoringvs FBS QB |
| Rushing | Yards / carry | 4.8 | #103/407 | 75th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS QB |
| Usage | 2nd-down usage | 25.5% | #195/428 | 55th pct | Middle-down loadvs FBS QB |
| Usage | Pass share | 23.3% | #240/428 | 44th pct | Air-game usagevs FBS QB |
| Usage | Passing-down usage | 23.3% | #228/428 | 47th pct | Known-passing sharevs FBS QB |
| Usage | 3rd-down usage | 22.1% | #233/428 | 46th pct | Money-down loadvs FBS QB |
| Usage | Rush share | 17.8% | #78/428 | 82nd pct | Ground-game usagevs FBS QB |
| Usage | Standard-down usage | 17.4% | #212/428 | 51st pct | Base-situation sharevs FBS QB |
| Usage | 1st-down usage | 12.7% | #237/428 | 45th pct | Early-down loadvs FBS QB |
| Value | Rushing WEPA | +0.14 | #116/140 | 18th pct | Opponent-adjusted rushing value | 38 weighted playsvs FBS QB |
| Ball Security | Fumbles lost | 1 | #69/258 | 74th pct | Turnoversvs FBS QB |
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
Status—Awaiting tracker
Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 5 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 10.7 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 36.5 | 0.5 | 18.3 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins1g | 73.0 | 1.0 | 18.3 | 0.0 |
| Losses4g | 8.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-72g | — | — | — | — |
| Weeks 8+3g | 35.0 | 0.3 | 7.2 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
27Below cohort
Elite: interceptions (99th). Concern: pass yards (0th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · QB · 2024
Percentile Card
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
P4G5All FBS
Advanced Savant
Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.
wepa_rushing0.14Below (<p25) (n=72)
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
Jalen MaconNorthern IllinoisAvery JohnsonKansas State· 58% simNick VattiatoMiddle Tennessee· 58% simRyan BrownePurdue· 57% sim
Interceptions
Rush TDs
Fumbles lost
Rush yards
Yards / att
Pass TDs
Completion %
Pass yards
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Thomas Hammock
Pass share
33.0%
244 pass / 495 run
Plays / game
61.6
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
7.3%
234 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Thomas Hammock
Northern Illinois
Played his entire career under Thomas Hammock.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownNashville, TN
Height6'5"
Weight230 lb
Class3
PositionQB
Jersey14
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamNorthern Illinois
ConferenceMid-American
Joined2025
Career arc2 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 | Northern Illinois | QB3 | #1525 | #1680 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Mid-American |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Illinois | Mid-American | QB | 3 | No. 14 | 6-5 | 230 lb | Nashville, TN |
| 2024 | Northern Illinois | Mid-American | QB | 3 | No. 14 | 6-5 | 230 lb | Nashville, TN |