CFB Zeitgeist Score
1
Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by rush tds at the 3rd percentile.
Malachi James
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
-2 RUSH YDS · 0 RUSH TD · 2 CARRIES
2026 Outlook
Returning to Syracuse for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Running back · Syracuse
Returning around him
- 14% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- Transfer portal: -10 net (19 in / 29 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Syracuse · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #34 · 2026 recruiting class #42
RB · SYRACUSE · ACC
Malachi James
- 2
- #36
- 5-11 | 200 lb
- Burlington, NJ
Heisman Heat
#2163
<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-deepR04 · Rotational
Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Syracuse
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
| 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.
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 Malachi James
Fan sentiment ·
Belief Meter
50
Mixed Sentiment
Top Take
“”
Trajectory
Per-cohort trajectory lands when historical bucket data is aggregated.
Cohort divergence map
- Own fans · n=1
- National · n=1
Rival Radar
How rival fanbases talk about Malachi James
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 rushing totals stand
Through 2g
-2Rush yards
2Carries
0Rush TDs
Per game
-1Rush yards
1Carries
0Rush TDs
Projected (13g)
-13Rush yards
13Carries
0Rush TDs
To hit 750-yard season (currently -2): needs 68.4/game over remaining 11.
To hit 1,000-yard season (currently -2): needs 91.1/game over remaining 11.
To hit 1,500-yard season (currently -2): needs 136.5/game over remaining 11.
To hit 10 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 0.9/game over remaining 11.
To hit 15 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 1.4/game over remaining 11.
To hit 20 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 1.8/game over remaining 11.
What made this player interesting
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Malachi James's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Syracuse, 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
Backfield contributor against FBS RB peers.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Rushing
CAR
2 10th
YDS
-2 0th
YPC
-1.0 1st
TD
0 40th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 2 games
| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 26-45@ Tennessee | 2 | -2 | -1.0 | 0 | 3 | Season-high -2 yds |
| Wk 2 | W 27-20vs UConn | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Total | 2 | -2 | -1.0 | 0 | 3 |
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
2024Syracuse10-3HC: Fran Brown · Pass-leaning, fast tempo
2025Syracuse3-9HC: Fran Brown · Balanced
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
Opponent-adjusted rushing value. It helps separate empty volume from carries that actually move the scoreboard.
How much of the team's offense flows through this back once rushing work and receiving work are combined.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rushing | Rushing yards | -2 | #733/735 | 0th pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Rush TD | 0 | #447/739 | 40th pct | Scoringvs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Yards / carry | -1.0 | #732/735 | 1st pct | Efficiencyvs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Rushing LONG | 3 | #695/733 | 5th pct | Metricvs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Carries | 2 | #667/739 | 10th pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Returns | Kick return avg | 16.0 | #132/199 | 34th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS RB |
| Returns | Kick return yards | 16 | #164/200 | 18th pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Returns | Kick returns | 1 | #139/206 | 33rd pct | Volumevs 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 2 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home1g | — | — | — |
| Road1g | -2.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins1g | — | — | — |
| Losses1g | -2.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-72g | -1.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort
1Below cohort
Concern: carries (0th).
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
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
Malachi JamesSyracuseTae MeadowsTroy· 35% simAl-Jay HendersonBuffalo· 35% simRashod DubinionApp State· 35% sim
Rush TDs
Rush yards
Yards / carry
Long run
Carries
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Fran Brown
Pass share
48.6%
408 pass / 432 run
Plays / game
70.0
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
9.2%
379 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025
1 coach2024
Fran Brown
Syracuse
2025
Fran Brown
Syracuse
Played his entire career under Fran Brown.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownBurlington, NJ
Height5'11"
Weight200 lb
Class2
PositionRB
Jersey36
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamSyracuse
ConferenceACC
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 | Syracuse | RB2 | #2163 | #2124 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | ACC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.