Zane Zandier

Senior linebacker for Virginia. 2020: 79 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks.

LB · Virginia · Sr.

6′3″ · 230 lb · Pittsburgh, PA

Virginia 2020 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

OLB recruit

No. 590 nationally · Signed with Virginia

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 linebacker for Virginia. 2020: 79 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Virginia in 2017.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Virginia, 252 tackles — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

2017

Signed with Virginia3-star out of Thomas Jefferson

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#590 national

CFB

College

Virginia

2017–2020

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2017–2020

1 coach

2017–2020

Bronco Mendenhall

Virginia

Played his entire career under Bronco Mendenhall.

2020 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

4 seasons under Bronco Mendenhall — 28-22 over that span.

2017Virginia6-7HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Pass-leaning

2018Virginia8-5HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Run-leaning

2019Virginia9-5HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Balanced

2020Virginia5-5HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles (98th percentile). Strength: tackles for loss (93rd percentile). Concern: qb hurries (29th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Tackles#52 / 2211 · 98th pct

Tackles for loss#147 / 2211 · 93rd pct

7.5

Solo tackles#201 / 2211 · 90th pct

Sacks#276 / 2211 · 86th pct

2.5

Passes defended#749 / 2211 · 54th pct

QB hurries#917 / 2211 · 29th 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

2020 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	8.2	0.8	0.2	0.2
Road4g	7.5	0.6	0.2	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-74g	9.2	0.8	0.0	0.2
Weeks 8+6g	7.0	0.8	0.4	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Tony Elliott

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

Awards

Player standing · 2020

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2020	Virginia	79	33	7.5	2.5	1	--	--
2019	Virginia	108	49	12.5	5.0	5	1	--
2018	Virginia	62	27	5.0	2.0	1	--	--
2017	Virginia	3	1	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		252	110	25.0	9.5	7	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2020

W 44–41

vs North Carolina

5 TOT · 2 SOLO

Edged out North Carolina at home in a shootout.

With B. Armstrong — 208 yds · 3 TD · 1 INT · 66 rush yds (20 car) · 1 TD · S. Simpson — 70 rush yds (8 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week