CFB Zeitgeist Score
70
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 91st percentile.
Zechariah Poyser
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
68 TACKLES · 1 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Miami for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive back · Miami
Returning around him
- 12% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- 9 Miami players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -6 net (13 in / 19 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Miami · Last season: 13-3 (AP #10) · Talent rank #15 · 2026 recruiting class #13
DB · MIAMI · ACC
Zechariah Poyser
- 2
- #7
- 6-2 | 190 lb
- Wildwood, FL
Heisman Heat
#13211
<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 DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
2 teams
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| No recruiting profile is on file for this player. | ||
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| 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 16Heisman 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.
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
PENDINGThe 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 Zechariah Poyser
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 Zechariah Poyser
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the defensive totals stand
Through 16g
68Tackles
3Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Final
68Tackles
3Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Zechariah Poyser is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Miami's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.0 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
68 94th
SOLO
42 96th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
1.0 82nd
QBH
1 44th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
5 90th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 16 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 27-24vs Notre Dame | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 45-3vs Bethune-Cookman | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 49-12vs South Florida | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | W 26-7vs Florida | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 28-22@ Florida State | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 21-24vs Louisville | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 42-7vs Stanford | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 10 | L 20-26@ SMU | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 38-10vs Syracuse | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 41-7vs NC State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 34-17@ Virginia Tech | 10 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 14 | W 38-7@ Pittsburgh | 5 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 10-3@ Texas A&M | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 24-14@ Ohio State | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 31-27@ Ole Miss | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | L 21-27@ Indiana | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 68 | 42 | 3.0 | 1.0 | — | 5 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2023Jacksonville State9-4HC: Rich Rodriguez · Run-heavy, fast tempo
2025Miami13-3HC: Mario Cristobal · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Miami | 68 | 42 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 5 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Jacksonville State | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 68 | 42 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 5 | 1 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 68 | #293/4942 | 94th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 3.0 | #1006/4972 | 80th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 1.0 | #872/4972 | 82nd pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 5 | #218/2184 | 90th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 1 | #1051/1878 | 44th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 42 | #165/4584 | 96th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Fumbles recovered | 2 | #13/736 | 98th 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Thorpe 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 · 16 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home8g | 2.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Road8g | 6.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins13g | 4.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Losses3g | 5.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-79g | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 4.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort
70Solid starter
Elite: solo tackles (94th). Strength: passes defended (90th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DB · 2024
Percentile Card
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
P4G5All FBS
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
Zechariah PoyserMiamiKeaton ThomasBaylor· 88% simEli BlakeyMiami (OH)· 88% simMarsel McDuffieUNLV· 87% sim
Solo tackles
Passes defended
Tackles
Sacks
Tackles for loss
QB hurries
Forced fumbles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Box Safety
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jackson Bennee’s 2025 season.
Jackson Bennee
88%match
#2
Jessiah Mcgrew
80%
#3
Tao Johnson
79%
#4
Alex Spillum
All-Sun Belt
78%
#5
Jeremiah Dervil
77%
Matches Jackson on
Class year
Height
Weight
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Ameer Speed's junior season at Michigan State (2022).
Ameer Speed
80%match
NFL Rd 6
#2
Tawfiq Byard
76%
#3
Charlie Gray
69%
#4
Wylan Free
68%
#5
Chris Bracy
68%
Matches Ameer on
PD rate
Tackle volume
Height
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mario Cristobal
Pass share
47.2%
496 pass / 554 run
Plays / game
65.6
16 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
4.1%
245 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coach2023
Mario Cristobal
Miami
2025
Mario Cristobal
Miami
Played his entire career under Mario Cristobal.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownWildwood, FL
Height6'2"
Weight190 lb
Class2
PositionDB
Jersey7
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamMiami
ConferenceACC
Joined2025
Career arc3 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🎖
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2024)
All-Conference USA
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
1 all-conference honor
Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.
Honors Timeline
Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.
| Season | Honor | Scope | Team / Selector | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | All-Conference USA | all_conference | Jacksonville State | Conference USA | DB |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Jacksonville State | DB2 | #13211 | #13240 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Conference USA |
| 2023 | Jacksonville State | DB2 | #12293 | #11954 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Conference USA |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Miami | ACC | DB | 2 | No. 7 | 6-2 | 190 lb | Wildwood, FL |
| 2024 | Jacksonville State | Conference USA | DB | 2 | No. 7 | 6-2 | 190 lb | Wildwood, FL |
| 2023 | Jacksonville State | Conference USA | DB | 2 | No. 7 | 6-2 | 190 lb | Wildwood, FL |