cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Brenden Deasfernandes /Central Michigan

Brenden Deasfernandes

DB · Central Michigan · Sr · #3

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

25 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Central Michigan for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Central Michigan for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Central Michigan

Returning around him

  • 10% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: -5 net (12 in / 17 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Central Michigan · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #121 · 2026 recruiting class #113

DB · CENTRAL MICHIGAN · MID-AMERICAN

Brenden Deasfernandes

  • 4
  • #3
  • 6-0 | 195 lb
  • Belleville, MI

CFB Zeitgeist Score

44

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 98th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#14064

<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 1 · 2-deep

R03 · Backup

Backup. On the two-deep, pushing for snaps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#2413 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class4
Jersey3
Measurements6-0 | 195 lb
HometownBelleville, MI
Primary teamCentral Michigan

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 2413 recruit
Composite rating 0.8119 HighSchool
Signed with Iowa 2020
Origin Belleville Belleville, MI, USA
Class Profile Context
2020 3-star | 0.8119 No. 2413 recruit | HighSchool | Iowa

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#14064Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#14019Where 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 Iowa

Composite

0.8119

#2413 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 Brenden Deasfernandes

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 Brenden Deasfernandes

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

final
Through 13g
25Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Final
25Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Brenden Deasfernandes is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Central Michigan's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 tackles for loss, and 2 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 #14064 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

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 25 13 solo | #1667/4942 (66th pct)
TFL 0.0 Backfield disruption | #3020/4972 (39th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Coverage splash against FBS defenders.

Coverage splash

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
25 66th
SOLO
13 65th
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
8 98th
INT
2 87th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 16-14@ San José State110.00.011
Wk 2L 17-45@ Pittsburgh310.00.00
Wk 3L 3-63@ Michigan210.00.010
Wk 4W 49-10vs Wagner000.00.01
Wk 5W 24-13vs Eastern Michigan110.00.01
Wk 6L 22-28@ Akron110.00.00
Wk 8W 27-6@ Bowling Green430.00.00Season-high 4 tackles
Wk 9W 38-13vs Massachusetts100.00.00
Wk 10L 21-24@ Western Michigan210.00.00
Wk 12W 38-19vs Buffalo320.00.01
Wk 13W 28-16@ Kent State100.00.00
Wk 14L 3-21vs Toledo420.00.00
BowlL 7-34@ Northwestern200.00.04
Total25130.00.028
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

2023Iowa10-4HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2025Central Michigan7-6HC: Matt Drinkall · Run-heavy, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Central Michigan25130.00.082--
2023Iowa210.50.0----1
Career2 loaded seasons27140.50.0821
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 2 0 pick-six TD | #114/869 (87th pct)
Pass breakups 8 Coverage disruption | #45/2184 (98th 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 25 #1667/4942 66th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 0.0 #3020/4972 39th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Interceptions 2 #114/869 87th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 8 #45/2184 98th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 13 #1622/4584 65th 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 · 13 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home5g1.80.00.00.6
Road8g2.00.00.00.6

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g1.60.00.00.6
Losses6g2.30.00.00.7

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-77g1.40.00.01.0
Weeks 8+6g2.50.00.00.2

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

44Mid-pack
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (97th). Concern: tackles for loss (7th).

Passes defended#45 / 2975 · 98th pct
8defe
Interceptions#114 / 817 · 75th pct
2inte
Solo tackles#1622 / 2975 · 44th pct
13defe
Tackles#1667 / 2975 · 43rd pct
25defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct
0.0defe

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
Brenden DeasfernandesCentral MichiganDalton JohnsonArizona· 63% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 62% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 62% sim
Passes defended
98
Deasfernandes
96
Johnson
91
Lafayette
91
Ra-El
Interceptions
75
Deasfernandes
95
Johnson
75
Lafayette
Solo tackles
44
Deasfernandes
97
Johnson
98
Lafayette
100
Ra-El
Tackles
43
Deasfernandes
98
Johnson
99
Lafayette
99
Ra-El
Sacks
24
Deasfernandes
63
Johnson
63
Lafayette
24
Ra-El
QB hurries
22
Deasfernandes
22
Johnson
22
Lafayette
22
Ra-El
Tackles for loss
7
Deasfernandes
47
Johnson
56
Lafayette
56
Ra-El

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

Player DNA

The Centerfielder

Single-high range who erases the deep middle of the field.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jahari Rogers’s 2021 season.

Jahari Rogers

81%match

SMU · 2021

#2

Trey Creamer

Charlotte · 2021

77%
#3

Ahmari Harvey

Georgia Tech · 2025

73%
#4

Quincy Riley

Louisville · 2024

NFL Rd 4
74%
#5

Rome Weber

Western Kentucky · 2023

72%

Matches Jahari on

Tackle volume
Height
PD rate

Differs from Jahari on

Class year (higher)
Weight (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Johnny Dixon's junior season at Penn State (2022).

Johnny Dixon

83%match

Penn State · 2022

All-Big Ten
#2

Thaddeus Dixon

North Carolina · 2025

81%
#3

J.J. Roberts

Wake Forest · 2022

77%
#4

Fentrell Cypress

Virginia · 2022

All-ACC
74%
#5

Avante Dickerson

Utah State · 2023

73%

Matches Johnny on

Class year
Height
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Matt Drinkall

Pass share

32.2%

252 pass / 531 run

Plays / game

60.2

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

10.1%

188 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

2 coaches
2023
Jim McElwain
Central Michigan
2025
Matt Drinkall
Central Michigan
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Jim McElwain → Matt Drinkall. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownBelleville, MI
Height6'0"
Weight195 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey3

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 Central Michigan DB4 #14064 #14019 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Mid-American
2023 Iowa DB4 #8468 #8141 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big Ten
2022 Iowa DB4 #9420 #8989 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big Ten
2021 Iowa DB4 #6675 #6499 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big Ten

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Central Michigan Mid-American DB 4 No. 3 | 6-0 | 195 lb | Belleville, MI
2024 Central Michigan Mid-American DB 4 No. 3 | 6-0 | 195 lb | Belleville, MI
2023 Iowa Big Ten DB 4 No. 3 | 6-0 | 195 lb | Belleville, MI
2022 Iowa Big Ten DB 4 No. 3 | 6-0 | 195 lb | Belleville, MI
2021 Iowa Big Ten DB 4 No. 3 | 6-0 | 195 lb | Belleville, MI