cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Braheem Long Jr. /Syracuse

Braheem Long Jr.

DB · Syracuse · So

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

42 TACKLES · 2 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Syracuse for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Syracuse for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Syracuse

Returning around him

  • 14% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: -10 net (19 in / 29 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Syracuse · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #34 · 2026 recruiting class #42

DB · SYRACUSE · ACC

Braheem Long Jr.

  • 2
  • 6-0 | 185 lb
  • Camden, NJ

CFB Zeitgeist Score

56

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 80th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#11956

<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 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1794 national
CFB
College
Syracuse
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class2
Jersey--
Measurements6-0 | 185 lb
HometownCamden, NJ
Primary teamSyracuse

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1794 recruit
Composite rating 0.8417 HighSchool
Signed with Syracuse 2024
Origin Camden Camden, NJ, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8417 No. 1794 recruit | HighSchool | Syracuse

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#11956Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#11915Where 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 Syracuse

Composite

0.8417

#1794 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 Braheem Long Jr.

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 Braheem Long Jr.

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 10g
42Tackles
2Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
55Tackles
2.6Tackles for loss
2.6Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 42): needs 12.7/game over remaining 3.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 42): needs 19.3/game over remaining 3.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 2): needs 1.3/game over remaining 3.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 2): needs 2.7/game over remaining 3.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Braheem Long Jr. is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Syracuse's defense, with 2.0 sacks, 2.0 tackles for loss, and 1 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 #11956 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 2.0 sacks | 2.0 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 42 28 solo | #834/4942 (83rd pct)
TFL 2.0 Backfield disruption | #1443/4972 (71st 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
42 83rd
SOLO
28 87th
TFL
2.0 71st
SACK
2.0 90th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 26-45@ Tennessee220.00.00
Wk 2W 27-20vs UConn000.00.01
Wk 3W 66-24vs Colgate441.01.010
Wk 4W 34-21@ Clemson831.01.01Season-high 8 tackles
Wk 5L 3-38vs Duke320.00.00
Wk 6L 18-31@ SMU870.00.00
Wk 8L 13-30vs Pittsburgh530.00.00
Wk 9L 16-41@ Georgia Tech730.00.00
Wk 11L 10-38@ Miami430.00.00
Wk 14L 12-34vs Boston College110.00.00
Total42282.02.012
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

2024Syracuse10-3HC: Fran Brown · Pass-leaning, fast tempo
2025Syracuse3-9HC: Fran Brown · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Syracuse42282.02.021--
2024Syracuse540.00.0------
Career2 loaded seasons47322.02.021--
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 1 0 pick-six TD | #308/869 (65th pct)
Pass breakups 2 Coverage disruption | #792/2184 (64th pct)
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 42 #834/4942 83rd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 2.0 #1443/4972 71st pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 2.0 #491/4972 90th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Interceptions 1 #308/869 65th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 2 #792/2184 64th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 28 #608/4584 87th 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 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 · 10 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home5g2.60.20.20.2
Road5g5.80.20.20.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g4.00.70.70.7
Losses7g4.30.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g4.20.30.30.3
Weeks 8+4g4.20.00.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

56Solid starter
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Sacks#487 / 2975 · 80th pct
2.0defe
Solo tackles#608 / 2975 · 79th pct
28defe
Tackles#834 / 2975 · 71st pct
42defe
Passes defended#777 / 2975 · 67th pct
2defe
Tackles for loss#1424 / 2975 · 47th pct
2.0defe
Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct
1inte
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe

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
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
Braheem Long Jr.SyracuseBrevin HamblinUtah State· 82% simOwen LongColorado State· 78% simChris JonesSouthern Miss· 77% sim
Sacks
80
Jr.
74
Hamblin
80
Long
91
Jones
Solo tackles
79
Jr.
99
Hamblin
99
Long
97
Jones
Tackles
71
Jr.
99
Hamblin
100
Long
100
Jones
Passes defended
67
Jr.
98
Hamblin
91
Long
67
Jones
Tackles for loss
47
Jr.
56
Hamblin
80
Long
96
Jones
Interceptions
31
Jr.
31
Hamblin
31
Jones
QB hurries
22
Jr.
22
Hamblin
22
Long
22
Jones

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

Player DNA

The Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Ja'Bril Rawls’s 2025 season.

Ja'Bril Rawls

86%match

Florida State · 2025

#2

Jo Chavez

Rice · 2025

84%
#3

Christian Ford

Missouri State · 2025

84%
#4

Daevon Iles

Old Dominion · 2025

84%
#5

Jacquez Warren

Miami (OH) · 2021

83%

Matches Ja'Bril on

Class year
Interceptions
PD rate

Differs from Ja'Bril on

Height (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Quay'sheed Scott's sophomore season at Kentucky (2025).

Quay'sheed Scott

92%match

Kentucky · 2025

#2

Christian Bodnar

Liberty · 2025

88%
#3

Ryland Gandy

Pittsburgh · 2024

86%
#4

Talique Allen

Western Kentucky · 2022

85%
#5

Daevon Iles

Old Dominion · 2025

86%

Matches Quay'sheed on

Class year
Height
PD rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Fran Brown

Pass share

48.6%

408 pass / 432 run

Plays / game

70.0

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.2%

379 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

1 coach
2024
Fran Brown
Syracuse
2025
Fran Brown
Syracuse

Played his entire career under Fran Brown.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownCamden, NJ
Height6'0"
Weight185 lb
Class2
PositionDB

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 Syracuse DB2 #11956 #11915 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Syracuse ACC DB 2 6-0 | 185 lb | Camden, NJ
2024 Syracuse ACC DB 2 6-0 | 185 lb | Camden, NJ