CFB Zeitgeist Score
62
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by qb hurries at the 92nd percentile.
James Jackson
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
66 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Virginia for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Linebacker · Virginia
Returning around him
- 28% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- Transfer portal: +8 net (30 in / 22 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Virginia · Last season: 11-3 (AP #20) · Talent rank #62 · 2026 recruiting class #58
LB · VIRGINIA · ACC
James Jackson
- 4
- #1
- 6-3 | 234 lb
- Roanoke, VA
Heisman Heat
#9102
<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 LB AWARD
Butkus
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career arc · Season-by-season Standing
5 seasons on the ladder
2021
Virginia · LB
—
★
2022
Virginia · LB
R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
Recognized
2023
Virginia · LB
—
2024
Virginia · LB
—
2025
Virginia · LB
—
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Virginia
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3-star | 0.8444 | No. 1344 recruit | HighSchool | Virginia |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| 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 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.
NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft
Market value, pedigree & pro outcome
Recruit stars
★★★☆☆
to Virginia
Composite
0.8444
#1344 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
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 James Jackson
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 James Jackson
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 defensive totals stand
Through 14g
66Tackles
2.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
5Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Final
66Tackles
2.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
James Jackson is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Virginia's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 2.5 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.
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
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.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
66 94th
SOLO
24 83rd
TFL
2.5 75th
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
5 90th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
3 76th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 14 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 48-7vs Coastal Carolina | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 31-35@ NC State | 8 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 55-16vs William & Mary | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 48-20vs Stanford | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 46-38vs Florida State | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 30-27@ Louisville | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | W 22-20vs Washington State | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 17-16@ North Carolina | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 31-21@ California | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 9-16vs Wake Forest | 7 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 34-17@ Duke | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 27-7vs Virginia Tech | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 15 | L 20-27vs Duke | 7 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 13-7@ Missouri | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 66 | 24 | 2.5 | 0.0 | — | 3 |
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
2021Virginia6-6HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Pass-heavy
2022Virginia3-7HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced
2023Virginia3-9HC: Tony Elliott · Run-leaning
2024Virginia5-7HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced
2025Virginia11-3HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 66 | #316/4942 | 94th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.5 | #1236/4972 | 75th 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 | 5 | #188/1878 | 90th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 24 | #790/4584 | 83rd 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Butkus 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 · 14 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home8g | 4.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road6g | 4.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins11g | 4.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Losses3g | 7.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 4.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 5.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
62Solid starter
Elite: qb hurries (92nd). Strength: tackles (89th). Concern: sacks (23rd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · LB · 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.
Advanced opponent-adjusted metrics are coming soon for this player. Selected cohort: P4.
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
James JacksonVirginiaBlake FletcherAir Force· 85% simBryce LlewellynEastern Michigan· 85% simAndon ThomasArmy· 81% sim
QB hurries
Tackles
Passes defended
Solo tackles
Tackles for loss
Forced fumbles
Sacks
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Balanced Linebacker
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Alec Marenco’s 2023 season.
Alec Marenco
83%match
#2
Cody Simon
NFL Rd 4
81%
#3
Trevor Brohard
80%
#4
Riko Jeffers
80%
#5
Alan Tisdale
80%
Matches Alec on
Sack rate
Weight
TFL rate
Differs from Alec on
Height (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Ethan Barr's graduate season at UCF (2024).
Ethan Barr
88%match
#2
Jermaine Johnson
84%
#3
Deshawn Pace
80%
#4
Wayne Matthews III
All-Sun Belt
80%
#5
Shammond Cooper
79%
Matches Ethan on
Class year
TFL rate
Tackle volume
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Tony Elliott
Pass share
48.0%
492 pass / 534 run
Plays / game
73.3
14 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
5.0%
337 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
2 coaches2021
Bronco Mendenhall
Virginia
2022era →
Tony Elliott
Virginia
2023
Tony Elliott
Virginia
2024
Tony Elliott
Virginia
2025
Tony Elliott
Virginia
Coaching transition mid-career: Bronco Mendenhall → Tony Elliott. 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.
HometownRoanoke, VA
Height6'3"
Weight234 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey1
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamVirginia
ConferenceACC
Joined2025
Career arc5 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🎖
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2022)
All-Sun Belt
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | All-Sun Belt | all_conference | South Alabama | Sun Belt | OL |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Virginia | LB4 | #9102 | #9740 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | ACC |
| 2023 | Virginia | LB4 | #11053 | #11644 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | ACC |
| 2022 | Virginia | LB4 | #9925 | #10311 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | ACC |
| 2021 | Virginia | LB4 | #13243 | #13191 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | ACC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Virginia | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 1 | 6-3 | 234 lb | Roanoke, VA |
| 2024 | Virginia | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 1 | 6-3 | 234 lb | Roanoke, VA |
| 2023 | Virginia | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 1 | 6-3 | 234 lb | Roanoke, VA |
| 2022 | Virginia | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 1 | 6-3 | 234 lb | Roanoke, VA |
| 2021 | Virginia | ACC | LB | 4 | No. 1 | 6-3 | 234 lb | Roanoke, VA |