CFB Zeitgeist LB Score
Awaiting
Jay Higgins
Limited signal — not enough coverage for a story yet.
LB · IOWA · BIG TEN
Jay Higgins
- 4
- #34
- 6-2 | 232 lb
- Indianapolis, IN
Heisman Heat
#7032
<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 1 · 2-deepR02 · Deep reserve
Deep reserve. In the program, working up the two-deep.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career arc · Season-by-season Standing
4 seasons on the ladder
2021
Iowa · LB
—
2022
Iowa · LB
—
2023
Iowa · LB
R12 · All-American
Elite
★
2024
Iowa · LB
R14 · Unanimous All-American
Elite
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Iowa
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3-star | 0.8367 | No. 1646 recruit | HighSchool | Iowa |
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 Iowa
Composite
0.8367
#1646 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 Jay Higgins
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 Jay Higgins
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.
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.
Jay Higgins is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Iowa's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 4 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
High-disruption defender | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2024 Season · Final
2024 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
124 100th
SOLO
53 99th
TFL
2.5 75th
SACK
1.0 82nd
QBH
6 94th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
5 90th
INT
4 97th
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 context · Team result + system
2021Iowa10-3HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning
2022Iowa8-5HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2023Iowa10-4HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2024Iowa8-5HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-heavy
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 | 124 | #12/4942 | 100th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.5 | #1236/4972 | 75th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 1.0 | #872/4972 | 82nd pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 4 | #23/869 | 97th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 5 | #218/2184 | 90th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 6 | #117/1878 | 94th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 53 | #51/4584 | 99th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 15 | #357/578 | 38th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 3.8 | #484/578 | 16th pct | Takeawaysvs 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 splits
Splits fill in once box scores from at least three games land for this season.
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.
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Kirk Ferentz
Pass share
36.6%
286 pass / 495 run
Plays / game
60.1
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
7.9%
228 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2024
1 coach2021
Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
2022
Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
2023
Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
2024
Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
Played his entire career under Kirk Ferentz.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownIndianapolis, IN
Height6'2"
Weight232 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey34
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamIowa
ConferenceBig Ten
Joined2024
Career arc4 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🏆
ALL-AMERICA · CONSENSUS
Consensus AA (2024)
10 first-team selectors
🥈
ALL-CONFERENCE · 1ST TEAM
All-Conf 1st team (2024)
All-Big Ten
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
14 All-America selections
National selector recognition is one of the strongest non-Heisman signals on a player card and should sit near the top of the showcase.
3 all-conference honors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | All-America (SI) | all_america | SI | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (USA Today) | all_america | USA Today | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (PFF) | all_america | PFF | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (The Athletic) | all_america | The Athletic | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (CBS) | all_america | CBS | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (WCFF) | all_america | WCFF | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (SN) | all_america | SN | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (FWAA) | all_america | FWAA | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (AP) | all_america | AP | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (AFCA) | all_america | AFCA | LB |
| 2024 | All-America (Consensus) | all_america | Iowa | Consensus | -- |
| 2024 | All-Big Ten | all_conference | Iowa | Big Ten | LB |
| 2024 | All-Big Ten | all_conference | Iowa | Big Ten | BUTK |
| 2023 | All-Big Ten | all_conference | Iowa | Big Ten | LB |
| 2023 | All-America (SI) | all_america | Iowa | SI | first | LB |
| 2023 | All-America (USA Today) | all_america | Iowa | USA Today | first | LB |
| 2023 | All-America (FWAA) | all_america | Iowa | FWAA | first | LB |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Iowa | LB4 | #7032 | #7499 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2023 | Iowa | LB4 | #4795 | #5291 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2022 | Iowa | LB4 | #8059 | #8008 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2021 | Iowa | LB4 | #7003 | #6691 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Big Ten |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.