cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Jordan Ross /Tennessee

Jordan Ross

DL · Tennessee · So · #29

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

24 TACKLES · 2 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Tennessee for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Tennessee for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · Tennessee

Returning around him

  • 22% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • 5 Tennessee players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -8 net (21 in / 29 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Tennessee · Last season: 8-5 (AP #18) · Talent rank #16 · 2026 recruiting class #11

DL · TENNESSEE · SEC

Jordan Ross

  • 2
  • #29
  • 6-5 | 245 lb
  • Vestavia Hills, AL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

60

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 80th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#4349

<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 2 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★★★
#22 national
CFB
College
Tennessee
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDL
Class2
Jersey29
Measurements6-5 | 245 lb
HometownVestavia Hills, AL
Primary teamTennessee

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 5-star No. 22 recruit
Composite rating 0.9924 HighSchool
Signed with Tennessee 2024
Origin Vestavia Hills Birmingham, AL, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 5-star | 0.9924 No. 22 recruit | HighSchool | Tennessee

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#4349Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#4134Where 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 Tennessee

Composite

0.9924

#22 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

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 Jordan Ross

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 Jordan Ross

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.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 11g
24Tackles
4Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
28Tackles
4.7Tackles for loss
2.4Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 24): needs 28/game over remaining 2.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 24): needs 38/game over remaining 2.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 2): needs 2/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 2): needs 4/game over remaining 2.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Jordan Ross is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Tennessee's defense, with 2.0 sacks, 4.0 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 #4349 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 22 recruit

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
Total tackles 24 6 solo | #1737/4942 (65th pct)
TFL 4.0 Backfield disruption | #738/4972 (85th pct)
Sacks 2.0 Pass-rush finish | #491/4972 (90th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defender

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
24 65th
SOLO
6 43rd
TFL
4.0 85th
SACK
2.0 90th
QBH
2 66th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
2 64th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 45-26vs Syracuse111.00.01Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 2W 72-17vs East Tennessee State210.00.00
Wk 3L 41-44vs Georgia401.00.51
Wk 4W 56-24vs UAB100.00.00
Wk 5W 41-34@ Mississippi State210.00.00
Wk 7W 34-31vs Arkansas211.51.50
Wk 8L 20-37@ Alabama310.00.00
Wk 9W 56-34@ Kentucky110.00.00
Wk 10L 27-33vs Oklahoma100.00.00
Wk 13W 31-11@ Florida100.00.00
BowlL 28-30@ Illinois600.50.00
Total2464.02.02
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

2024Tennessee10-3HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy, fast tempo
2025Tennessee8-5HC: Josh Heupel · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Tennessee2464.02.02----
2024Tennessee311.50.0------
Career2 loaded seasons2775.52.02----
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 2 Quarterback hurries | #647/1878 (66th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 24 #1737/4942 65th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 4.0 #738/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 2.0 #491/4972 90th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 2 #792/2184 64th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 2 #647/1878 66th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 6 #2592/4584 43rd 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

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g1.80.60.30.3
Road5g2.60.10.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g1.40.40.20.1
Losses4g3.50.40.10.2

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-77g2.60.60.30.3
Weeks 8+4g1.50.00.00.0

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

60Solid starter
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: solo tackles (11th).

Sacks#487 / 2975 · 80th pct
2.0defe
Tackles for loss#736 / 2975 · 73rd pct
4.0defe
QB hurries#634 / 2975 · 72nd pct
2defe
Passes defended#777 / 2975 · 67th pct
2defe
Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct
0fumb
Tackles#1737 / 2975 · 40th pct
24defe
Solo tackles#2560 / 2975 · 12th pct
6defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · DL · 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 · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 7 metrics
Jordan RossTennesseeColton PharesApp State· 61% simRasheem BilesPittsburgh· 60% simMarsel McDuffieUNLV· 60% sim
Sacks
80
Ross
80
Phares
95
Biles
80
McDuffie
Tackles for loss
73
Ross
96
Phares
100
Biles
83
McDuffie
QB hurries
72
Ross
72
Phares
88
Biles
72
McDuffie
Passes defended
67
Ross
78
Phares
86
Biles
78
McDuffie
Forced fumbles
47
Ross
47
Phares
47
Biles
47
McDuffie
Tackles
40
Ross
98
Phares
98
Biles
99
McDuffie
Solo tackles
12
Ross
95
Phares
91
Biles
99
McDuffie

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Two-Gap Base

Stout at the point of attack; controls his gap and stacks blocks.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to DeAndre Gill Jr.’s 2025 season.

DeAndre Gill Jr.

88%match

Colorado State · 2025

#2

Davin Wilson

Bowling Green · 2023

85%
#3

Langston Hardy

UConn · 2024

85%
#4

Evan Herrmann

Ohio · 2025

84%
#5

Avery Dunn

Toledo · 2025

81%

Matches DeAndre on

Height
Sack rate
TFL rate

Differs from DeAndre on

Class year (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Michael Green's sophomore season at Marshall (2023).

Michael Green

84%match

Marshall · 2023

#2

Princewill Umanmielen

Nebraska · 2024

84%
#3

DeAndre Gill Jr.

Colorado State · 2025

84%
#4

Amadou Fofana

Coastal Carolina · 2022

82%
#5

Quintavius Johnson

Georgia · 2025

82%

Matches Michael on

Class year
Sack rate
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

Pass share

47.3%

437 pass / 486 run

Plays / game

71.0

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

5.4%

334 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

1 coach
2024
Josh Heupel
Tennessee
2025
Josh Heupel
Tennessee

Played his entire career under Josh Heupel.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownVestavia Hills, AL
Height6'5"
Weight245 lb
Class2
PositionDL
Jersey29

Trophy Case · Detail

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

Honors

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 Tennessee DL2 #4349 #4134 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | SEC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Tennessee SEC DL 2 No. 29 | 6-5 | 245 lb | Vestavia Hills, AL
2024 Tennessee SEC DL 2 No. 29 | 6-5 | 245 lb | Vestavia Hills, AL