#44

Niles King

Senior edge rusher for San Diego State. 2025: 6.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss, 29 tackles.

EDGE · San Diego State · Sr. · #44

6′5″ · 260 lb · Southfield, MI

CFB Index 75 · #72 of 420 edge rushersMedium confidenceReturning to San Diego State for 2026

How he plays

Turns pressure into sacks — when he gets there, he finishes.

Sacks: 98th percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

6.5

sacks · 2025

9.5 TFL · 29 tackles · 2 hurries

Best game: 2.5 sacks, 2.5 TFL, 5 tackles, at New Mexico

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 edge rusher for San Diego State. 2025: 6.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss, 29 tackles.

His career, year by year

Niles King

EDGE · San Diego State · Sr · #44

Turns pressure into sacks — when he gets there, he finishes. The receipt: 3 tackles against Stony Brook — Week 1, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2025San Diego State9-4HC: Sean Lewis · Run-heavy

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

75Quality starter #72 of 420?

Medium confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sacks (98th percentile). Strength: tackles for loss (96th percentile). Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Sacks#55 / 2975 · 98th pct

6.5

Tackles for loss#126 / 2975 · 96th pct

9.5

QB hurries#634 / 2975 · 72nd pct

Tackles#1415 / 2975 · 52nd pct

Solo tackles#1622 / 2975 · 44th pct

Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	2.7	0.9	0.4	0.0
Road5g	2.0	0.7	0.7	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	2.3	0.3	0.3	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	2.6	1.5	0.9	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Sean Lewis

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

75 · #72 of 420 edge rushers

Unranked recruit. Now #72 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	San Diego State	29	13	9.5	6.5	--	--	--
Career		29	13	9.5	6.5	--	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 12 · 2025

W 17–7

vs Boise State

1 TFL · 1 SOLO · 2 TOT

With H. Green — 45 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 53 LONG · L. Sutton — 150 rush yds (25 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 42-0vs Stony Brook	3	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 2	L 13-36@ Washington State	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 4	W 34-0vs California	2	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 5	W 6-3@ Northern Illinois	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 6	W 45-24vs Colorado State	4	3	2.0	2.0	—	2 sacks
Wk 7	W 44-10@ Nevada	2	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 9	W 23-0@ Fresno State	1	1	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 10	W 24-7vs Wyoming	2	2	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 12	W 17-7vs Boise State	2	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 13	W 25-3vs San José State	3	3	2.0	1.0	—
Wk 14	L 17-23@ New Mexico	5	2	2.5	2.5	—	Season-high 5 tackles
Bowl	L 47-49vs North Texas	3	0	0.0	0.0	—
Total		29	13	9.5	6.5	—

How he plays

Play style

Turns pressure into sacks — when he gets there, he finishes.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

12 games

29Tackles

13Solo

9.5TFL

6.5Sacks

0Pass def.

0INT

29 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 9.5 TFL.

Week 62 sacks
Week 91 sack
Week 131 sack
Week 142.5 sacks

Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.

2026 Outlook

San Diego State

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Edge · San Diego State

Returning around him

1 San Diego State player drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: +0 net (26 in / 26 out)

2026 Award watch

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

San Diego State · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #89 · 2026 recruiting class #83

DNA match

Player DNA

Finisher

Turns pressure into sacks — when he gets there, he finishes.

EDGE

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jack Sawyer’s 2022 season.

Jack Sawyer

80%match

Ohio State · 2022

NFL Rd 4

Tavion Woodard

Ball State · 2021

79%

J.T. Tuimoloau

Ohio State · 2024

77%

Kenyatta Jackson

Ohio State · 2025

73%

Kameron Toomer

Nevada · 2021

70%

Matches Jack on

TFL rate

Sack rate

Hurry rate

Differs from Jack on

Pressure-to-sack conversion (higher)

Class year (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a freshman, his production profile tracks closest to Korey Foreman's freshman season at USC (2021).

Korey Foreman

86%match

USC · 2021

Lancine Turay

Temple · 2022

86%

Khordae Sydnor

Purdue · 2022

82%

Eyabi Anoma

Michigan · 2022

78%

Desmond Little

LSU · 2021

All-AAC

73%

Matches Korey on

Class year

Sack rate

TFL rate

Player DNA

Players who play like Niles King

Kenyatta Jackson

Ohio State · 2025

73%

Vincent Anthony

Duke · 2025

69%

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology