cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Mason Woods /Kent State

Mason Woods

LB · Kent State · Sr

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

94 TACKLES · 2 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Kent State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Kent State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · Kent State

Returning around him

  • 11% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: -4 net (11 in / 15 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Kent State · Last season: 5-7 · Talent rank #128 · 2026 recruiting class #93

LB · KENT STATE · MID-AMERICAN

Mason Woods

  • 4
  • 5-11 | 215 lb
  • Woodbridge, VA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

77

All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 97th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#15708

<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 LB AWARD

Butkus

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#2336 national
CFB
College
Kent State
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionLB
Class4
Jersey--
Measurements5-11 | 215 lb
HometownWoodbridge, VA
Primary teamKent State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 891 recruit
Composite rating 0.8714 HighSchool
Signed with -- 2025
Origin Iowa City West Iowa City, IA, USA
Class Profile Context
2025 3-star | 0.8714 No. 891 recruit | HighSchool
2021 3-star | 0.8059 No. 2336 recruit | HighSchool | Towson

Transfer Arc

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

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
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 16
Current nowcast#15708Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#15803Where 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 —

Composite

0.8714

#891 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 Woods

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 Woods

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 12g
94Tackles
11Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
8Tackles
0.9Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
102Tackles
11.9Tackles for loss
2.2Sacks

✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 94.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 94): needs 6/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 2): needs 4/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 2): needs 8/game over remaining 1.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Mason Woods is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Kent State's defense, with 2.0 sacks, 11.0 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 #15708 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 2.0 sacks | 11.0 TFL

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 94 35 solo | #70/4942 (99th pct)
TFL 11.0 Backfield disruption | #74/4972 (99th pct)
Sacks 2.0 Pass-rush finish | #491/4972 (90th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
94 99th
SOLO
35 92nd
TFL
11.0 99th
SACK
2.0 90th
QBH
3 75th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 21-17vs Merrimack820.50.00
Wk 2L 14-62@ Texas Tech520.00.00
Wk 3L 28-31vs Buffalo731.00.00
Wk 4L 10-66@ Florida State821.00.00
Wk 6L 0-44@ Oklahoma421.01.00
Wk 7W 42-6vs Massachusetts541.00.00
Wk 8L 10-45@ Toledo1061.00.00
Wk 9W 24-21vs Bowling Green921.00.00
Wk 11L 13-17@ Ball State820.00.01
Wk 12W 42-35@ Akron1332.01.00Season-high 13 tackles
Wk 13L 16-28vs Central Michigan1131.00.00
Wk 14W 35-31@ Northern Illinois641.50.00
Total943511.02.01
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

2025Kent State5-7HC: Mark Carney · Run-leaning, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Kent State943511.02.01----
Career1 loaded season943511.02.01----
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 1 Coverage disruption | #1241/2184 (43rd pct)
QB pressures 3 Quarterback hurries | #462/1878 (75th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 94 #70/4942 99th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 11.0 #74/4972 99th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 2.0 #491/4972 90th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 1 #1241/2184 43rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 3 #462/1878 75th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 35 #353/4584 92nd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense Fumbles recovered 1 #103/736 86th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Ball Security Fumbles lost 0 #1/773 100th pct Turnoversvs 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 Butkus 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 · 12 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home5g8.00.90.00.0
Road7g7.70.90.30.1

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins5g8.21.20.20.0
Losses7g7.60.70.10.1

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g6.20.80.20.0
Weeks 8+6g9.51.10.20.2

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

77All-Conference
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles (97th). Strength: tackles for loss (97th).

Tackles#70 / 2975 · 98th pct
94defe
Tackles for loss#74 / 2975 · 97th pct
11.0defe
Solo tackles#353 / 2975 · 88th pct
35defe
QB hurries#457 / 2975 · 82nd pct
3defe
Sacks#487 / 2975 · 80th pct
2.0defe
Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe
Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct
0fumb

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

Advanced Savant · LB · 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 · 7 metrics
Mason WoodsKent StateMaverick BaranowskiMinnesota· 94% simAmare CampbellPenn State· 94% simGideon LampronBowling Green· 94% sim
Tackles
98
Woods
98
Baranowski
99
Campbell
100
Lampron
Tackles for loss
97
Woods
95
Baranowski
96
Campbell
100
Lampron
Solo tackles
88
Woods
98
Baranowski
100
Campbell
100
Lampron
QB hurries
82
Woods
82
Baranowski
88
Campbell
88
Lampron
Sacks
80
Woods
89
Baranowski
89
Campbell
85
Lampron
Passes defended
48
Woods
48
Baranowski
48
Campbell
48
Lampron
Forced fumbles
47
Woods
47
Campbell

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

Player DNA

The Every-Down Linebacker

Leads the team in tackles and rarely leaves the field.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jordan Crook’s 2025 season.

Jordan Crook

76%match

Arizona State · 2025

All-Big 12
#2

Josh Chandler

Colorado · 2022

75%
#3

Mark Robinson

Ole Miss · 2021

NFL Rd 7
74%
#4

Josiah Robinson

Georgia State · 2025

74%
#5

Sam Brumfield

Memphis · 2025

All-AAC
73%

Matches Jordan on

Sack rate
Tackle volume
PD rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Eli Neal's senior season at Marshall (2023).

Eli Neal

87%match

Marshall · 2023

#2

Ahmad Walker

SMU · 2024

82%
#3

Jordan Crook

Arizona State · 2025

All-Big 12
82%
#4

Darren Anders

Bowling Green · 2023

All-MAC
78%
#5

Trent Hendrick

James Madison · 2025

All-Sun Belt
75%

Matches Eli on

Tackle volume
Sack rate
PD rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Mark Carney

Pass share

42.8%

292 pass / 390 run

Plays / game

56.8

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.5%

242 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Mark Carney
Kent State

Played his entire career under Mark Carney.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownWoodbridge, VA
Height5'11"
Weight215 lb
Class4
PositionLB

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 Kent State LB4 #15708 #15803 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Mid-American

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Kent State Mid-American LB 4 5-11 | 215 lb | Woodbridge, VA
2024 Kent State Mid-American LB 4 5-11 | 215 lb | Woodbridge, VA