CFB Zeitgeist Score
23
Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by solo tackles at the 47th percentile.
Malik Willis
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
20 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · NFL
TennesseeEntering 5th NFL season
#86Rd 3 · Pick 22
TennesseeEntering 5th NFL season
CB · TEXAS STATE · SUN BELT
Malik Willis
- 2
- #37
- 6-2 | 175 lb
- Riviera Beach, FL
Heisman Heat
Awaiting
Not on the live Heisman board this week.
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
—
TOP DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
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
Texas State
NFL
NFL Draft
R3 · #86
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Campbell -> Texas State | 3-star | 0.8300 | Immediate |
Heisman Lens
Where the model places this player relative to the rest of the Heisman field.
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
NFL Draft
2022 · Rd 3, Pick 22
#86 overall · Tennessee
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 Malik Willis
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 Malik Willis
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 9g
20Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
29Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 20): needs 15/game over remaining 4.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 20): needs 20/game over remaining 4.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.5/game over remaining 4.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 2.5/game over remaining 4.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Malik Willis is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Texas State's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 tackles for loss, and -- 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?
Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
20 60th
SOLO
14 67th
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 9 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 52-27vs Eastern Michigan | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 15-34@ Arizona State | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 3 tackles |
| Wk 4 | W 35-3vs Nicholls | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 30-31@ Arkansas State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 39-42@ Louisiana | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 41-14@ Southern Miss | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 31-14vs UL Monroe | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-26vs South Alabama | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 41-10vs Rice | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 20 | 14 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
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
2025Texas State7-6HC: G.J. Kinne · Run-heavy
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Texas State | 20 | 14 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 20 | 14 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
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 | 20 | #1998/4942 | 60th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 0.0 | #3020/4972 | 39th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 14 | #1520/4584 | 67th 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 · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins6g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Losses3g | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.5 | 0.0 | 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 CB cohort
23Below cohort
Concern: tackles for loss (7th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · CB · 2025
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
Malik WillisTexas StateTyler MartinMassachusetts· 56% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 51% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 50% sim
Solo tackles
Tackles
Sacks
QB hurries
Passes defended
Tackles for loss
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Press Corner
Long and physical; jams receivers off their route at the line.
CB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Corey Coley Jr.’s 2022 season.
Corey Coley Jr.
74%match
#2
Tre Hines
70%
#3
Yessman Green
70%
#4
Brandon Turnage
70%
#5
Channing Canada
69%
Matches Corey on
PD rate
Weight
Height
Differs from Corey on
Class year (lower)
Tackle volume (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Tyson McWilliams's sophomore season at California (2022).
Tyson McWilliams
91%match
#2
Aaron Williams
90%
#3
La'khi Roland
89%
#4
Kobe Black
87%
#5
Elijah Wood
86%
Matches Tyson on
Class year
Height
PD rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
G.J. Kinne
Pass share
39.5%
358 pass / 549 run
Plays / game
69.8
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
9.4%
267 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
G.J. Kinne
Texas State
Played his entire career under G.J. Kinne.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownRiviera Beach, FL
Height6'2"
Weight175 lb
Class2
PositionCB
Jersey37
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamTexas State
ConferenceSun Belt
Joined2025
Career arc1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This player hasn’t appeared on a Heisman ballot tracked by the model. | |||||||||
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Texas State | Sun Belt | CB | 2 | No. 37 | 6-2 | 175 lb | Riviera Beach, FL |