cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Josh Ford /Oklahoma State

Josh Ford

TE · Oklahoma State · So · #40

The Hope Economyas of 2026-06-22

Josh Ford is Oklahoma State's offseason bet — the case is potential over production.

45REC YDS3REC1REC TD

Oklahoma State fans sell the ceiling harder than the résumé; the upside is the whole argument.

high confidence3 sources
Read the story so far

Josh Ford arrived as a 3-star prospect. He lines up at TE for Oklahoma State.

On the field, the headline is 45 rec yds, with 3 rec.

Oklahoma State fans sell the ceiling harder than the résumé; the upside is the whole argument.

Whatever the tape says, the room has already made up its mind.

Why nowHe is squarely in the 2026 hype cycle — projection season.
  • season totals
  • compiled from tagged fan discourse

AI narrative · updated 2026-06-22 · compiled from CFB Zeitgeist data

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Oklahoma State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Oklahoma State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Tight end · Oklahoma State

Returning around him

  • 44% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • Transfer portal: -10 net (55 in / 65 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Oklahoma State · Last season: 1-11 · Talent rank #49 · 2026 recruiting class #53

TE · OKLAHOMA STATE · BIG 12

Josh Ford

  • 2
  • #40
  • 6-6 | 265 lb
  • Stillwater, OK

CFB Zeitgeist Score

27

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by yards / catch at the 95th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#3326

<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 TE AWARD

Mackey

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1368 national
CFB
College
Oklahoma State
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionTE
Class2
Jersey40
Measurements6-6 | 265 lb
HometownStillwater, OK
Primary teamOklahoma State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1475 recruit
Composite rating 0.8531 HighSchool
Signed with Oklahoma State 2024
Origin Stillwater Stillwater, OK, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8531 No. 1475 recruit | HighSchool | Oklahoma State
2010 3-star | 0.8422 No. 1368 recruit | HighSchool | New Mexico

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#3326Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#3278Where 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 Oklahoma State

Composite

0.8531

#1475 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 Josh Ford

Fan sentiment ·

Belief Meter

50

Mixed Sentiment

Sample 4 mentions
Confidence LOW

Top Take

Trajectory

Cohort divergence mapbearishbullishheatedcalmOwn fans: 4 mentions · belief +0 · "Alabama Crimson Tide’s tight end room is brimming with potential, but can Kaleb "Own fansNational: 4 mentions · belief +100 · "It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Get your daily college s"National
  • Own fans · n=4
  • National · n=4

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Josh Ford

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 receiving totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 3g
45Rec yards
3Receptions
1Rec TDs
Per game
15Rec yards
1Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
195Rec yards
13Receptions
4Rec TDs

To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 45): needs 65.5/game over remaining 10.

To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 45): needs 95.5/game over remaining 10.

To hit 60-catch season (currently 3): needs 5.7/game over remaining 10.

To hit 80-catch season (currently 3): needs 7.7/game over remaining 10.

To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 1): needs 0.7/game over remaining 10.

To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 1): needs 0.9/game over remaining 10.

What made this player interesting

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

Josh Ford's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Oklahoma State, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.

Current place #3326 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 3.8% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Development arc The card should explain why this profile stands out

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

TE season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Receptions 3 1 rec TD | #311/475 (35th pct)
Receiving yards 45 15.0 per catch | #284/475 (40th pct)
Scrimmage yards 45 Total offensive yardage | #284/475 (40th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Big-play receiver against FBS receiving peers.

Big-play receiver

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
3 35th
YDS
45 40th
YPR
15.0 90th
TD
1 71st

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 3 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppRECYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 2L 3-69@ Oregon11414.0014
Wk 4L 12-19vs Tulsa155.005
Wk 5L 27-45vs Baylor12626.0126Season-high 26 yds
Total34515.0126
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

2025Oklahoma State1-11HC: Mike Gundy · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Oklahoma State34515.01--
Career1 loaded season34515.01--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Pass share

The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.

Role share

A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.

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.

Usage 3.8% 7.1% pass-game share | #172/468 (63rd pct)
Return yards 0 0 return TD
Touchdowns 1 Across offense and returns | #140/475 (71st pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 3 #311/475 35th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving yards 45 #284/475 40th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving TD 1 #140/475 71st pct Scoringvs FBS TE
Receiving Yards / catch 15.0 #48/475 90th pct Efficiencyvs FBS TE
Usage Pass share 7.1% #172/468 63rd pct Air-game usagevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving LONG 26 #178/475 63rd pct Metricvs FBS TE
Usage 2nd-down usage 5.9% #68/468 86th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage 3rd-down usage 4.2% #178/468 62nd pct Money-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Passing-down usage 3.9% #208/468 56th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS TE
Usage Role share 3.8% #137/468 71st pct Share of team offensevs FBS TE
Usage Standard-down usage 3.7% #148/468 69th pct Base-situation sharevs FBS TE
Usage 1st-down usage 2.2% #294/468 37th pct Early-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Rush share 0.0% #58/468 88th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS TE

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 Mackey 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 · 3 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Home2g1.015.515.50.5
Road1g1.014.014.00.0

Win vs Loss

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Losses3g1.015.015.00.3

First half vs Second half

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Weeks 1-73g1.015.015.00.3

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

27Below cohort
5 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (94th). Concern: receptions (0th).

Yards / catch#9 / 175 · 95th pct
15.0rece
Long catch#134 / 175 · 23rd pct
26rece
Rec TDs#126 / 175 · 21st pct
1rece
Rec yards#176 / 175 · 0th pct
45rece
Receptions#176 / 175 · 0th pct
3rece

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

Advanced Savant · TE · 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 · 5 metrics
Josh FordOklahoma StateLuke LindenmeyerNebraska· 54% simDecker DeGraafWashington· 50% simTyler FortenberryArkansas State· 47% sim
Yards / catch
95
Ford
53
Lindenmeyer
62
DeGraaf
26
Fortenberry
Long catch
23
Ford
23
Lindenmeyer
39
DeGraaf
32
Fortenberry
Rec TDs
21
Ford
43
Lindenmeyer
43
DeGraaf
43
Fortenberry
Rec yards
0
Ford
63
Lindenmeyer
72
DeGraaf
58
Fortenberry
Receptions
0
Ford
66
Lindenmeyer
75
DeGraaf
75
Fortenberry

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

DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Mike Gundy

Pass share

47.5%

365 pass / 403 run

Plays / game

64.0

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.9%

223 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Mike Gundy
Oklahoma State

Played his entire career under Mike Gundy.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownStillwater, OK
Height6'6"
Weight265 lb
Class2
PositionTE
Jersey40

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 Oklahoma State TE2 #3326 #3278 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big 12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Oklahoma State Big 12 TE 2 No. 40 | 6-6 | 265 lb | Stillwater, OK
2024 Oklahoma State Big 12 TE 2 No. 40 | 6-6 | 265 lb | Stillwater, OK