cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Josiah McLaurin /Maryland

Josiah McLaurin

RB · Maryland · So · #17

Limited signal — not enough coverage for a story yet.

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Maryland for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Maryland for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Running back · Maryland

Returning around him

  • 13% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • 1 Maryland player drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -1 net (15 in / 16 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Maryland · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #52 · 2026 recruiting class #25

RB · MARYLAND · BIG TEN

Josiah McLaurin

  • 2
  • #17
  • 6-1 | 188 lb
  • Clinton, NC

CFB Zeitgeist RB Score

Awaiting

Heisman Heat

#1504

<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 RB AWARD

Doak Walker

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 1 · 2-deep

R04 · Rotational

Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
No recruit profile
CFB
College
Maryland
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionRB
Class2
Jersey17
Measurements6-1 | 188 lb
HometownClinton, NC
Primary teamMaryland

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree Not on file No matched recruiting profile in the loaded archive
Composite rating -- Composite rating unavailable for this player
Signed with -- Commitment history unavailable
Origin -- Hometown and high school unavailable
Class Profile Context
No recruiting profile is on file for this player.

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#1504Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#1618Where 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.

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 Josiah McLaurin

Fan sentiment ·

Belief Meter

Awaiting per-cohort signal

Sample 0 mentions
Confidence BELOW-FLOOR

Top Take

Trajectory

Cohort divergence mapbearishbullishheatedcalmNational: 2 mentions · belief +0 · "The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found [here]( https://www.r"National
  • National · n=2

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Josiah McLaurin

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 rushing totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 3g
0Rush yards
0Carries
0Rush TDs
Per game
0Rush yards
0Carries
0Rush TDs
Projected (13g)
0Rush yards
0Carries
0Rush TDs

To hit 750-yard season (currently 0): needs 75/game over remaining 10.

To hit 1,000-yard season (currently 0): needs 100/game over remaining 10.

To hit 1,500-yard season (currently 0): needs 150/game over remaining 10.

To hit 10 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 1/game over remaining 10.

To hit 15 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 1.5/game over remaining 10.

To hit 20 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 2/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.

Josiah McLaurin's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Maryland, 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 #1504 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 1.4% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Development arc 90 return yds

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

RB season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Scrimmage yards 10 -- rush | 10 rec
Rush TD -- -- carries
Yards/carry -- Per-rush efficiency
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Backfield contributor against FBS RB peers.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
1 16th
YDS
10 17th
YPR
10.0 78th
TD
0 70th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 3 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppCARYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1W 39-7vs Florida Atlantic
Wk 2W 20-9vs Northern Illinois
Wk 3W 44-17vs Towson
Total
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

2024Maryland4-8HC: Mike Locksley · Pass-leaning
2025Maryland4-8HC: Mike Locksley · Pass-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025Maryland----------
2024Maryland231.50--
Career2 loaded seasons231.50--
SeasonTeam
2025Maryland11010.00--
2024Maryland22914.51--
Career2 loaded seasons33913.01--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Rushing WEPA

Opponent-adjusted rushing value. It helps separate empty volume from carries that actually move the scoreboard.

Role share

How much of the team's offense flows through this back once rushing work and receiving work are combined.

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.

Receiving work 1 10 rec yds | #467/552 (16th pct)
Usage 1.4% 0.0% rush share | #711/738 (4th pct)
Rushing WEPA -- Adjusted value feed still loading
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 1 #467/552 16th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving yards 10 #454/548 17th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Usage Role share 1.4% #711/738 4th pct Share of team offensevs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving LONG 10 #415/540 23rd pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Yards / catch 10.0 #121/548 78th pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving TD 0 #169/552 70th pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Returns Kick return yards 62 #88/200 56th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Returns Punt return yards 28 #16/27 44th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Returns Kick return avg 15.5 #140/199 30th pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Returns Punt return avg 5.6 #21/27 26th pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Returns Punt returns 5 #12/29 62nd pct Volumevs FBS RB
Returns Kick returns 4 #69/206 67th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Usage 3rd-down usage 6.5% #366/738 51st pct Money-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Pass share 2.6% #351/738 53rd pct Air-game usagevs FBS RB
Usage Passing-down usage 2.0% #612/738 17th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS RB
Usage Standard-down usage 1.0% #722/738 2nd pct Base-situation sharevs FBS RB
Usage 1st-down usage 0.0% #706/738 4th pct Early-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage 2nd-down usage 0.0% #696/738 6th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Rush share 0.0% #735/738 1st pct Ground-game usagevs FBS RB

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

Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 3 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Home3g

Win vs Loss

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Wins3g

First half vs Second half

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Weeks 1-73g

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

2 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: receptions (1st).

Rec yards#318 / 338 · 6th pct
10rece
Receptions#327 / 338 · 2nd pct
1rece

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

Advanced Savant · RB · 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 returns once this player clears the Savant metric floor (4+ scored bars).
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 Locksley

Pass share

61.9%

491 pass / 302 run

Plays / game

66.1

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

2.3%

383 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

1 coach
2024
Mike Locksley
Maryland
2025
Mike Locksley
Maryland

Played his entire career under Mike Locksley.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownClinton, NC
Height6'1"
Weight188 lb
Class2
PositionRB
Jersey17

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 Maryland RB2 #1504 #1618 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Maryland Big Ten RB 2 No. 17 | 6-1 | 188 lb | Clinton, NC
2024 Maryland Big Ten RB 2 No. 17 | 6-1 | 188 lb | Clinton, NC