cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Mason Starling /San José State

Mason Starling

WR · San José State · Sr · #9

Limited signal — not enough coverage for a story yet.

2026 RETURNINGReturning to San José State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to San José State for 2026

Updated May 27

2026 Depth chart

Returning starter

Wide receiver · San José State

Returning around him

  • 59% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +1 net (17 in / 16 out)

2026 Award watch

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

San José State · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #109 · 2026 recruiting class #117

WR · SAN JOSÉ STATE · MOUNTAIN WEST

Mason Starling

  • 4
  • #9
  • 6-4 | 200 lb
  • Tacoma, WA

CFB Zeitgeist WR Score

Awaiting

Heisman Heat

#1002

<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 WR AWARD

Biletnikoff

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 0 · Not on team

R01 · Scout team / redshirt

Scout team / redshirt. Developing behind the depth chart.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Development Trajectory · receiving yards

2022–2024
70.02022
1212024

+73%

Up 73% from first season to most-recent.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1644 national
CFB
College
California
2022–2024
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionWR
Class4
Jersey9
Measurements6-4 | 200 lb
HometownTacoma, WA
Primary teamSan José State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 71 recruit
Composite rating 0.8393 JUCO
Signed with California 2022
Origin College of San Mateo Seattle, WA, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8393 No. 71 recruit | JUCO | California
2018 3-star | 0.8265 No. 1644 recruit | HighSchool

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 San José State 2025
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Apr 27, 2025
Season Move Context
2025 California -> San José State 3-star | 0.8400 | 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#1002Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#1104Where 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 California

Composite

0.8393

#71 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 Mason Starling

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 Mason Starling

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.

Scenario Explorer

Available for players with a qualifying signature metric (passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, sacks, etc.). The slider projects how a season finishes if the current pace holds.

What made this player interesting

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

Mason Starling's story is about how role and output meet each other. For San José State, 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 #1002 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 4.1% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Transfer path 1 portal move

2024 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

WR season snapshot

2024 season snapshot | final

2024 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Receptions 9 0 rec TD | #604/1110 (46th pct)
Receiving yards 121 13.4 per catch | #586/1107 (47th pct)
Scrimmage yards 121 Total offensive yardage | #586/1107 (47th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Receiving weapon against FBS receiving peers.

Balanced profile

2024 Season · Final

2024 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
9 46th
YDS
121 47th
YPR
13.4 62nd
TD
0 45th

Game Log

Week-by-week box

No per-game rows for this season yet — the table fills in as box scores arrive.

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

2022California4-8HC: Justin Wilcox · Pass-leaning
2024California6-7HC: Justin Wilcox · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2024California912113.40--
2022California77010.00--
Career2 loaded seasons1619111.90--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Pass share

The player's share of a team's passing-game involvement. It is the fastest way to see whether the receiver is a true focal point or more of a complementary piece.

Role share

A blended workload view that accounts for catches, designed touches, and any return-game involvement that shapes the overall profile.

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.

Usage 4.1% 7.3% pass-game share | #665/1137 (42nd pct)
Return yards 0 0 return TD
Touchdowns 0 Across offense and returns | #615/1111 (45th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 9 #604/1110 46th pct Volumevs FBS WR
Receiving Receiving yards 121 #586/1107 47th pct Volumevs FBS WR
Receiving Receiving TD 0 #615/1111 45th pct Scoringvs FBS WR
Receiving Yards / catch 13.4 #416/1106 62nd pct Efficiencyvs FBS WR
Usage Pass share 7.3% #665/1137 42nd pct Air-game usagevs FBS WR
Receiving Receiving LONG 19 #783/1105 29th pct Metricvs FBS WR
Usage 1st-down usage 6.5% #279/1137 76th pct Early-down loadvs FBS WR
Usage Standard-down usage 4.6% #440/1137 61st pct Base-situation sharevs FBS WR
Usage Role share 4.1% #596/1137 48th pct Share of team offensevs FBS WR
Usage Passing-down usage 3.3% #880/1137 23rd pct Known-passing sharevs FBS WR
Usage 3rd-down usage 2.0% #886/1137 22nd pct Money-down loadvs FBS WR
Usage 2nd-down usage 1.4% #960/1137 16th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS WR
Usage Rush share 0.0% #391/1137 66th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS WR

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 splits

Splits fill in once box scores from at least three games land for this season.

Box-score Savant card waits for a season-stat snapshot above the cohort floor. Returns once enough box-score volume lands.

Advanced Savant · WR · 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

Ken Niumatalolo

Pass share

61.1%

486 pass / 310 run

Plays / game

66.3

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

2.1%

420 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2024

2 coaches
2022
Brent Brennan
San José State
2024
Ken Niumatalolo
San José State
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Brent Brennan → Ken Niumatalolo. 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.

HometownTacoma, WA
Height6'4"
Weight200 lb
Class4
PositionWR
Jersey9

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 California WR4 #1002 #1104 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC
2023 California WR4 #3726 #3705 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Pac-12
2022 California WR4 #2902 #3275 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Pac-12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 San José State Mountain West WR 4 No. 9 | 6-4 | 200 lb | Tacoma, WA
2024 California ACC WR 4 No. 9 | 6-4 | 200 lb | Tacoma, WA
2023 California Pac-12 WR 4 No. 9 | 6-4 | 200 lb | Tacoma, WA
2022 California Pac-12 WR 4 No. 9 | 6-4 | 200 lb | Tacoma, WA