CFB Zeitgeist Score
50
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 77th percentile.
Kevon Merrell
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
27 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to East Carolina for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive back · East Carolina
Returning around him
- 51% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- 1 East Carolina player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -3 net (23 in / 26 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
East Carolina · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #78 · 2026 recruiting class #77
DB · EAST CAROLINA · AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Kevon Merrell
- 2
- #4
- 6-1 | 188 lb
- Cordele, GA
Heisman Heat
#13536
<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 DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 1 · 2-deepR03 · Backup
Backup. On the two-deep, pushing for snaps.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
East Carolina
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3-star | 0.8578 | No. 1297 recruit | HighSchool | East Carolina |
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 East Carolina
Composite
0.8578
#1297 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 Kevon Merrell
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 Kevon Merrell
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the defensive totals stand
Through 13g
27Tackles
4.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Final
27Tackles
4.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Kevon Merrell is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on East Carolina's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 1 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
27 69th
SOLO
18 74th
TFL
4.5 87th
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
1 44th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-24@ NC State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | W 56-3vs Campbell | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 38-0@ Coastal Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | L 13-34vs BYU | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 28-6vs Army | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 19-26@ Tulane | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 41-27vs Tulsa | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 45-14@ Temple | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 48-22vs Charlotte | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 31-27vs Memphis | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 24-58@ UTSA | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 42-3@ Florida Atlantic | 8 | 4 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Bowl | W 23-17vs Pittsburgh | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 27 | 18 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 |
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
2025East Carolina9-4HC: Blake Harrell · Run-leaning, fast tempo
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | East Carolina | 27 | 18 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 27 | 18 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
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 | 27 | #1543/4942 | 69th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 4.5 | #648/4972 | 87th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 1 | #308/869 | 65th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 2 | #792/2184 | 64th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 1 | #1051/1878 | 44th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 70.0 | #12/578 | 98th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 70 | #56/578 | 90th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 18 | #1178/4584 | 74th pct | Volumevs 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 Thorpe 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 · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road6g | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Losses4g | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort
50Mid-pack
Concern: sacks (23rd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DB · 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.
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
Kevon MerrellEast CarolinaTyler MartinMassachusetts· 74% simRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 74% simKeaton ThomasBaylor· 71% sim
Tackles for loss
Passes defended
Solo tackles
QB hurries
Tackles
Interceptions
Sacks
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Hybrid Nickel
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Derek Fields Jr.’s 2025 season.
Derek Fields Jr.
89%match
#2
Kaleb Patterson
87%
#3
Shadarian Harrison
85%
#4
Carl Williams IV
84%
#5
Travon West
82%
Matches Derek on
Class year
Height
PD rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Drew Surges's sophomore season at Iowa State (2025).
Drew Surges
91%match
#2
Sylvester Smith
89%
#3
Darrius Davis
86%
#4
Che Ojarikre
83%
#5
Shadarian Harrison
84%
Matches Drew on
Class year
Height
PD rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Blake Harrell
Pass share
44.5%
440 pass / 548 run
Plays / game
76.0
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
4.7%
343 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, fast tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Blake Harrell
East Carolina
Played his entire career under Blake Harrell.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownCordele, GA
Height6'1"
Weight188 lb
Class2
PositionDB
Jersey4
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamEast Carolina
ConferenceAmerican Athletic
Joined2025
Career arc2 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 | East Carolina | DB2 | #13536 | #13359 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | American Athletic |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | East Carolina | American Athletic | DB | 2 | No. 4 | 6-1 | 188 lb | Cordele, GA |
| 2024 | East Carolina | American Athletic | DB | 2 | No. 4 | 6-1 | 188 lb | Cordele, GA |