CFB Zeitgeist Score
65
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 80th percentile.
Brandon Cleveland
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
36 TACKLES · 2 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · NFL
Las Vegas2026 NFL rookie season
#229Rd 7 · Pick 13
Las Vegas2026 NFL rookie season
DT · NC STATE · ACC
Brandon Cleveland
- 4
- #44
- 6-4 | 315 lb
- Tampa, FL
Heisman Heat
#11680
<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 DEFENSE AWARD
Nagurski
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★★
CFB
College
NC State
NFL
NFL Draft
R7 · #229
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4-star | 0.8933 | No. 384 recruit | HighSchool | NC State |
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.
NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft
Market value, pedigree & pro outcome
Recruit stars
★★★★☆
to NC State
Composite
0.8933
#384 national
NFL Draft
2026 · Rd 7, Pick 13
#229 overall · Las Vegas
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 Brandon Cleveland
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 Brandon Cleveland
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 12g
36Tackles
7Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.6Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
39Tackles
7.6Tackles for loss
2.2Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 36): needs 44/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 36): needs 64/game over remaining 1.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 2): needs 4/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 2): needs 8/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.
Brandon Cleveland is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on NC State's defense, with 2.0 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.
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?
High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
36 79th
SOLO
12 62nd
TFL
7.0 94th
SACK
2.0 90th
QBH
3 75th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 24-17vs East Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 35-31vs Virginia | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 33-45@ Duke | 5 | 2 | 2.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | 2.5 TFL |
| Wk 5 | L 21-23vs Virginia Tech | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 56-10vs Campbell | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 7-36@ Notre Dame | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 34-53@ Pittsburgh | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 10 | W 48-36vs Georgia Tech | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 7-41@ Miami | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 21-11vs Florida State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 42-19vs North Carolina | 2 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 31-7vs Memphis | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 36 | 12 | 7.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 |
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
2022NC State8-5HC: Dave Doeren · Balanced
2023NC State9-4HC: Dave Doeren · Run-leaning
2025NC State8-5HC: Dave Doeren · Balanced
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 | 36 | #1060/4942 | 79th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 7.0 | #277/4972 | 94th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 2.0 | #491/4972 | 90th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 3 | #462/1878 | 75th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 12 | #1735/4584 | 62nd 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Lombardi 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 vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home8g | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 4.8 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins7g | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Losses5g | 4.6 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 3.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DT cohort
65Solid starter
Elite: tackles for loss (89th). Strength: qb hurries (81st). Concern: passes defended (17th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DT · 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
Brandon ClevelandNC StateMarcAnthony ParkerNavy· 73% simEthan WesloskiNorth Texas· 71% simMicah DaveyUTEP· 71% sim
Tackles for loss
QB hurries
Sacks
Tackles
Solo tackles
Passes defended
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Nose Anchor
Two-gap space-eater who occupies blockers and frees the linebackers.
IDL
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Fabien Lovett Sr.’s 2023 season.
Fabien Lovett Sr.
91%match
#2
Jordan Jefferson
91%
#3
Jaray Bledsoe
88%
#4
Lee Hunter
NFL Rd 2 · Pk 17
85%
#5
Bryson Eason
85%
Matches Fabien on
Weight
Height
TFL rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Fabien Lovett Sr.'s senior season at Florida State (2023).
Fabien Lovett Sr.
95%match
#2
Jordan Jefferson
94%
#3
Bryson Eason
90%
#4
Josaih Hayes
88%
#5
Myles Murphy
87%
Matches Fabien on
Class year
Height
TFL rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Dave Doeren
Pass share
49.7%
411 pass / 416 run
Plays / game
63.6
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.5%
307 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025
1 coach2022
Dave Doeren
NC State
2023
Dave Doeren
NC State
2025
Dave Doeren
NC State
Played his entire career under Dave Doeren.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownTampa, FL
Height6'4"
Weight315 lb
Class4
PositionDT
Jersey44
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamNC State
ConferenceACC
Joined2025
Career arc4 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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.
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.