#45

Joseph Zelinsky

Senior defensive lineman for Pittsburgh. 2025: 2 sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, 23 tackles.

DL · Pittsburgh · Sr. · #45

6′4″ · 250 lb · Cressona, PA

CFB Index 32 · #317 of 420 edge rushersLow confidence

How he plays

Wins his gap play after play.

QB hurries: 82nd percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

sacks · 2025

Best game: 1 sacks, 1 TFL, 2 tackles, vs Duquesne

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Senior defensive lineman for Pittsburgh. 2025: 2 sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, 23 tackles.

Signed with Eastern Michigan in 2022.
2 sacks in 2024. Then 2 in 2025.

The full story, with sources

Joseph Zelinsky

DL · Pittsburgh · Sr · #45

Wins his gap play after play. Joseph Zelinsky has played for two head coaches across four seasons and two programs. One game to point at: 5 tackles against Notre Dame — Week 12, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Pittsburgh	23	10	4.5	2.0	--	--	--
2024	Eastern Michigan	30	13	5.5	2.0	1	--	--
2023	Eastern Michigan	37	17	6.0	2.0	--	--	--
2022	Eastern Michigan	11	3	0.5	0.0	--	--	--
Career		101	43	16.5	6.0	1	--	--

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 61-9vs Duquesne	2	2	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 2	W 45-17vs Central Michigan	2	0	1.0	0.5	—
Wk 5	L 27-34vs Louisville	3	2	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 6	W 48-7vs Boston College	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 8	W 30-13@ Syracuse	1	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 9	W 53-34vs NC State	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 10	W 35-20@ Stanford	3	0	0.5	0.5	—
Wk 12	L 15-37vs Notre Dame	5	3	0.0	0.0	—	Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 13	W 42-28@ Georgia Tech	2	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 14	L 7-38vs Miami	3	0	0.0	0.0	—
Total		23	10	4.5	2.0	—

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 13 · 2025

W 42–28

at Georgia Tech

1 tackles for loss · 2 tackles · 1 solo tackles

Edged out Georgia Tech on the road in a shootout.

With M. Heintschel — 226 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 77.8 · -29 rush yds (10 car) · 1 TD · J. Turner — 201 rush yds (21 car) · 1 TD

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2022Eastern Michigan9-4HC: Chris Creighton · Run-leaning

2023Eastern Michigan6-7HC: Chris Creighton · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2024Eastern Michigan5-7HC: Chris Creighton · Run-leaning

2025Pittsburgh8-5HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

32Below cohort / limited sample #317 of 420?

Medium confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (82nd percentile). Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#457 / 2975 · 82nd pct

Sacks#487 / 2975 · 80th pct

2.0

Tackles for loss#648 / 2975 · 77th pct

4.5

Tackles#1813 / 2975 · 38th pct

Solo tackles#1996 / 2975 · 31st pct

Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Defensive profile

Defender profile · Production by role

Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet

23 tkl · 4 TFL · 2 sacks

TFL rate

20%4 TFL

Sack rate

9%2 sacks

Hurry rate

13%3 hurries

23 tackles · 4 for loss · 2 sacks.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	2.4	0.3	0.2	0.0
Road3g	2.0	0.8	0.2	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-74g	2.0	0.5	0.4	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	2.5	0.4	0.1	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Pat Narduzzi

Pass share

47.5%

96 pass / 106 run

Plays / game

67.3

3 games

Team sack rate

3.8%

105 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

32 · #317 of 420 edge rushers

Unranked recruit. Now #317 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-ACC

Based on 2025: #59 of 73 ACC DLs

How the All-ACC estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Joseph Zelinsky

20227 games

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

2025 snapshot

Defensive profile

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

How he plays

DNA match

Two-Gap Base

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