cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Wade Woodaz /Clemson

Wade Woodaz

LB · Clemson · Sr · #17

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

70 TACKLES · 0.5 SACKS

2026 NFL DRAFTDrafted by Houston — Rd 4, Pick 23, #123 overall

Where He Ended Up · NFL

Houston2026 NFL rookie season

#123Rd 4 · Pick 23
Houston2026 NFL rookie season

LB · CLEMSON · ACC

Wade Woodaz

  • 4
  • #17
  • 6-3 | 235 lb
  • Tampa, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

77

All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 90th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#3590

<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
★★★
#589 national
CFB
College
Clemson
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
R4 &middot; #123
Houston &middot; 2026

Identity & Role

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

PositionLB
Class4
Jersey17
Measurements6-3 | 235 lb
HometownTampa, FL
Primary teamClemson

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 589 recruit
Composite rating 0.8789 HighSchool
Signed with -- 2022
Origin Jesuit Tampa, FL, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8789 No. 589 recruit | HighSchool

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#3590Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#4166Where 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

0.8789

#589 national

NFL Draft

2026 · Rd 4, Pick 23

#123 overall · Houston

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 Wade Woodaz

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 Wade Woodaz

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
70Tackles
7Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
0.6Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
76Tackles
7.6Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 70): needs 10/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 70): needs 30/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 5.5/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 9.5/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.

Wade Woodaz is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Clemson's defense, with 0.5 sacks, 7.0 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 #3590 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.5 sacks | 7.0 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 70 43 solo | #268/4942 (95th pct)
TFL 7.0 Backfield disruption | #277/4972 (94th pct)
Sacks 0.5 Pass-rush finish | #1501/4972 (70th 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
70 95th
SOLO
43 97th
TFL
7.0 94th
SACK
0.5 70th
QBH
2 66th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
3 76th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 10-17vs LSU652.00.00
Wk 2W 27-16vs Troy1170.00.00Season-high 11 tackles
Wk 3L 21-24@ Georgia Tech860.00.00
Wk 4L 21-34vs Syracuse1040.00.01
Wk 6W 38-10@ North Carolina100.00.00
Wk 7W 41-10@ Boston College330.00.00
Wk 8L 24-35vs SMU510.50.51
Wk 10L 45-46vs Duke430.00.00
Wk 11W 24-10vs Florida State432.00.00
Wk 12W 20-19@ Louisville621.50.00
Wk 13W 45-10vs Furman541.00.00
Wk 14W 28-14@ South Carolina750.00.01
Total70437.00.53
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

2022Clemson11-3HC: Dabo Swinney · Run-leaning
2023Clemson9-4HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced, fast tempo
2024Clemson10-4HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced, fast tempo
2025Clemson7-6HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Clemson70437.00.53----
2024Clemson75378.53.041--
2023Clemson26156.04.0--2--
2022Clemson1253.51.51----
Career4 loaded seasons18310025.09.083--
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 3 Coverage disruption | #521/2184 (76th pct)
QB pressures 2 Quarterback hurries | #647/1878 (66th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 70 #268/4942 95th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 7.0 #277/4972 94th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.5 #1501/4972 70th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 3 #521/2184 76th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 2 #647/1878 66th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 43 #156/4584 97th 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 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
Home7g6.40.80.10.3
Road5g5.00.30.00.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g5.30.60.00.1
Losses5g6.60.50.10.4

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g6.50.30.00.2
Weeks 8+6g5.20.80.10.3

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
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: solo tackles (94th). Strength: tackles (90th).

Solo tackles#156 / 2975 · 95th pct
43defe
Tackles#268 / 2975 · 91st pct
70defe
Tackles for loss#277 / 2975 · 90th pct
7.0defe
Passes defended#517 / 2975 · 78th pct
3defe
QB hurries#634 / 2975 · 72nd pct
2defe
Sacks#1367 / 2975 · 51st pct
0.5defe

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 · 6 metrics
Wade WoodazClemsonBaron HopsonKennesaw State· 92% simKeaton ThomasBaylor· 91% simAndon ThomasArmy· 90% sim
Solo tackles
95
Woodaz
100
Hopson
99
Thomas
100
Thomas
Tackles
91
Woodaz
100
Hopson
98
Thomas
99
Thomas
Tackles for loss
90
Woodaz
96
Hopson
90
Thomas
73
Thomas
Passes defended
78
Woodaz
94
Hopson
78
Thomas
91
Thomas
QB hurries
72
Woodaz
72
Hopson
55
Thomas
82
Thomas
Sacks
51
Woodaz
51
Hopson
63
Thomas
51
Thomas

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

Player DNA

The Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jimmy Phillips’s 2022 season.

Jimmy Phillips

82%match

SMU · 2022

#2

Taniela Latu

San José State · 2025

82%
#3

Wade Woodaz

Clemson · 2024

NFL Rd 4
81%
#4

Tommy Eichenberg

Ohio State · 2021

NFL Rd 5
80%
#5

Xavian Sorey Jr.

Arkansas · 2025

80%

Matches Jimmy on

Weight
TFL rate
Tackle volume

Differs from Jimmy on

Class year (higher)
PD rate (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Connor Shay's senior season at Wyoming (2024).

Connor Shay

86%match

Wyoming · 2024

#2

Ernest Hausmann

Michigan · 2025

All-Big Ten
84%
#3

Jimmy Rolder

Michigan · 2025

All-Big TenNFL Rd 4
84%
#4

Marco Notarainni

Boise State · 2025

All-Mountain West
83%
#5

Jamal Ligon

UTSA · 2023

All-Conference USA
82%

Matches Connor on

PD rate
Weight
Sack rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Dabo Swinney

Pass share

53.8%

474 pass / 407 run

Plays / game

67.8

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.5%

337 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

1 coach
2022
Dabo Swinney
Clemson
2023
Dabo Swinney
Clemson
2024
Dabo Swinney
Clemson
2025
Dabo Swinney
Clemson

Played his entire career under Dabo Swinney.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownTampa, FL
Height6'3"
Weight235 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey17

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 Clemson LB4 #3590 #4166 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC
2023 Clemson LB4 #4417 #5087 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | ACC
2022 Clemson LB4 #3298 #3220 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Clemson ACC LB 4 No. 17 | 6-3 | 235 lb | Tampa, FL
2024 Clemson ACC LB 4 No. 17 | 6-3 | 235 lb | Tampa, FL
2023 Clemson ACC LB 4 No. 17 | 6-3 | 235 lb | Tampa, FL
2022 Clemson ACC LB 4 No. 17 | 6-3 | 235 lb | Tampa, FL