cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Markus Clark /Liberty

Markus Clark

DL · Liberty · Jr · #91

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

10 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Liberty for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Liberty for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · Liberty

Returning around him

  • 100% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +7 net (26 in / 19 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Liberty · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #84 · 2026 recruiting class #86

DL · LIBERTY · CONFERENCE USA

Markus Clark

  • 3
  • #91
  • 6-1 | 295 lb
  • Hoover, AL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

16

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 24th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#15060

<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 DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1414 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDL
Class3
Jersey91
Measurements6-1 | 295 lb
HometownHoover, AL
Primary teamLiberty

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1414 recruit
Composite rating 0.8444 HighSchool
Signed with App State 2022
Origin Hoover Hoover, AL, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8444 No. 1414 recruit | HighSchool | App State

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 1 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Liberty 2025
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 23, 2025
Season Move Context
2025 App State -> Liberty 3-star | Immediate

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#15060Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#15174Where 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 App State

Composite

0.8444

#1414 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 Markus Clark

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 Markus Clark

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 defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 7g
10Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
1Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
19Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 10): needs 11.7/game over remaining 6.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 10): needs 15/game over remaining 6.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1/game over remaining 6.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.7/game over remaining 6.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Markus Clark is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Liberty'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.

Current place #15060 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 1 portal move

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
Total tackles 10 7 solo | #2859/4942 (42nd pct)
TFL 0.0 Backfield disruption | #3020/4972 (39th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
10 42nd
SOLO
7 48th
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 7 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 28-7vs Maine100.00.00
Wk 2L 24-34@ Jacksonville State110.00.00
Wk 7W 19-8@ UTEP100.00.00
Wk 8W 30-27vs New Mexico State220.00.00Season-high 2 tackles
Wk 12L 27-34@ Florida International220.00.00
Wk 13L 28-34@ Louisiana Tech110.00.00
Wk 14L 42-48vs Kennesaw State210.00.00
Total1070.00.00
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

2022App State6-6HC: Shawn Clark · Run-leaning
2023App State9-5HC: Shawn Clark · Balanced
2025Liberty4-8HC: Jamey Chadwell · Run-heavy
SeasonTeam
2025Liberty1070.00.0------
2023App State2152.51.0------
2022App State531.00.0------
Career3 loaded seasons36153.51.0------
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

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.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 0 Coverage disruption
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 10 #2859/4942 42nd 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 7 #2403/4584 48th 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

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Lombardi 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 · 7 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home3g1.70.00.00.0
Road4g1.20.00.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g1.30.00.00.0
Losses4g1.50.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-73g1.00.00.00.0
Weeks 8+4g1.80.00.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

16Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles (1st).

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe
Solo tackles#2397 / 2975 · 17th pct
7defe
Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct
0.0defe
Tackles#2859 / 2975 · 2nd pct
10defe

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

Advanced Savant · DL · 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 · 6 metrics
Markus ClarkLibertyTyler MartinMassachusetts· 43% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 38% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 37% sim
Sacks
24
Clark
24
Martin
24
Fletcher
24
Ra-El
QB hurries
22
Clark
22
Martin
92
Fletcher
22
Ra-El
Passes defended
18
Clark
67
Martin
67
Fletcher
91
Ra-El
Solo tackles
17
Clark
87
Martin
91
Fletcher
100
Ra-El
Tackles for loss
7
Clark
63
Martin
28
Fletcher
56
Ra-El
Tackles
2
Clark
98
Martin
99
Fletcher
99
Ra-El

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

Player DNA

The Two-Gap Base

Stout at the point of attack; controls his gap and stacks blocks.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Marcus Moore’s 2023 season.

Marcus Moore

92%match

North Texas · 2023

#2

Tim Passmore Jr.

Massachusetts · 2025

88%
#3

Dion Bergan

Wake Forest · 2022

87%
#4

Fatafehi Vailea

North Texas · 2022

87%
#5

Fatafehi Vailea

North Texas · 2025

87%

Matches Marcus on

TFL rate
Sack rate
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Curt Neal's senior season at Illinois (2025).

Curt Neal

83%match

Illinois · 2025

#2

Asani Redwood

West Virginia · 2025

74%
#3

Bishop Thomas

Georgia State · 2025

67%
#4

Bryce Dixon

Liberty · 2025

62%
#5

Derek Wilkins

California · 2025

61%

Matches Curt on

Class year
Sack rate
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jamey Chadwell

Pass share

38.7%

314 pass / 498 run

Plays / game

67.7

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

8.4%

249 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

2 coaches
2022
Hugh Freeze
Liberty
2023
Jamey Chadwell
Liberty
era →
2025
Jamey Chadwell
Liberty

Coaching transition mid-career: Hugh Freeze → Jamey Chadwell. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownHoover, AL
Height6'1"
Weight295 lb
Class3
PositionDL
Jersey91

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 App State DL3 #15060 #15174 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Sun Belt
2023 App State DL3 #10676 #10808 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Sun Belt
2022 App State DL3 #12376 #12341 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Sun Belt

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Liberty Conference USA DL 3 No. 91 | 6-1 | 295 lb | Hoover, AL
2024 App State Sun Belt DL 3 No. 91 | 6-1 | 295 lb | Hoover, AL
2023 App State Sun Belt DL 3 No. 91 | 6-1 | 295 lb | Hoover, AL
2022 App State Sun Belt DL 3 No. 91 | 6-1 | 295 lb | Hoover, AL