cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Bryce Grays /UTSA

Bryce Grays

LB · UTSA · Jr · #26

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

22 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to UTSA for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to UTSA for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · UTSA

Returning around him

  • 96% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • Transfer portal: -2 net (21 in / 23 out)

2026 Award watch

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

UTSA · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #65 · 2026 recruiting class #107

LB · UTSA · AMERICAN ATHLETIC

Bryce Grays

  • 3
  • #26
  • 6-1 | 205 lb
  • Richmond, TX

CFB Zeitgeist Score

42

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

#11064

<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 LB AWARD

Butkus

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 1 · 2-deep

R04 · Rotational

Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1750 national
CFB
College
UTSA
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionLB
Class3
Jersey26
Measurements6-1 | 205 lb
HometownRichmond, TX
Primary teamUTSA

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1750 recruit
Composite rating 0.8281 HighSchool
Signed with Washington State 2022
Origin Fort Bend Christian Academy Sugar Land, TX, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8281 No. 1750 recruit | HighSchool | Washington State

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#11064Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#11425Where 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 Washington State

Composite

0.8281

#1750 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 Bryce Grays

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 Bryce Grays

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
22Tackles
2.5Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
29Tackles
3.2Tackles for loss
1.3Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 22): needs 19.3/game over remaining 3.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 22): needs 26/game over remaining 3.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 1.7/game over remaining 3.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 3/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.

Bryce Grays is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on UTSA's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 2.5 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.

Current place #11064 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 22 13 solo | #1869/4942 (62nd pct)
TFL 2.5 Backfield disruption | #1236/4972 (75th pct)
Sacks 1.0 Pass-rush finish | #872/4972 (82nd pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
22 62nd
SOLO
13 65th
TFL
2.5 75th
SACK
1.0 82nd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 24-42@ Texas A&M210.00.00
Wk 2L 36-43vs Texas State110.00.00
Wk 3W 48-20vs Incarnate Word110.00.00
Wk 4W 17-16@ Colorado State630.00.00Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 6L 21-27@ Temple310.00.00
Wk 7W 61-13vs Rice100.50.00
Wk 11L 23-55@ South Florida222.01.00
Wk 13W 58-24vs East Carolina330.00.00
Wk 14L 24-27vs Army200.00.00
BowlW 57-20vs Florida International110.00.00
Total22132.51.00
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

2023UTSA9-4HC: Jeff Traylor · Run-leaning
2024UTSA7-6HC: Jeff Traylor · Balanced, fast tempo
2025UTSA7-6HC: Jeff Traylor · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025UTSA22132.51.0------
2024UTSA861.51.01----
2023UTSA630.00.0------
Career3 loaded seasons36224.02.01----
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 -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 0 Coverage disruption
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 22 #1869/4942 62nd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 2.5 #1236/4972 75th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs 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 Butkus 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
Home6g1.50.10.00.0
Road4g3.20.50.20.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins5g2.40.10.00.0
Losses5g2.00.40.20.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-77g2.10.10.00.0
Weeks 8+3g2.30.70.30.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

42Mid-pack
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (17th).

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Tackles for loss#1222 / 2975 · 56th pct
2.5defe
Solo tackles#1622 / 2975 · 44th pct
13defe
Tackles#1869 / 2975 · 36th pct
22defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · LB · 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 · 6 metrics
Bryce GraysUTSAJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 62% simMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 61% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 60% sim
Sacks
63
Grays
63
Vaughns
89
Montgomery
24
Martin
Tackles for loss
56
Grays
85
Vaughns
85
Montgomery
63
Martin
Solo tackles
44
Grays
96
Vaughns
82
Montgomery
87
Martin
Tackles
36
Grays
99
Vaughns
99
Montgomery
98
Martin
QB hurries
22
Grays
22
Vaughns
22
Montgomery
22
Martin
Passes defended
18
Grays
48
Vaughns
67
Montgomery
67
Martin

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

Player DNA

The Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Donyai Taylor’s 2022 season.

Donyai Taylor

83%match

UTSA · 2022

#2

Ej Williams

Eastern Michigan · 2021

81%
#3

Tokyo Gordon

Sam Houston · 2025

75%
#4

Tristan Driggers

UL Monroe · 2023

74%
#5

Juandarion Silas

Kennesaw State · 2025

73%

Matches Donyai on

Tackle volume
Weight
Sack rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Makai Williams's junior season at Tulane (2025).

Makai Williams

86%match

Tulane · 2025

#2

Marcellus Wilkerson

UTSA · 2025

84%
#3

Max Alford

BYU · 2025

82%
#4

Monroe Beard

Marshall · 2024

81%
#5

Whit Weeks

LSU · 2025

81%

Matches Makai on

Class year
TFL rate
Sack rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jeff Traylor

Pass share

50.7%

446 pass / 434 run

Plays / game

67.7

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

6.0%

281 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Jeff Traylor
UTSA
2024
Jeff Traylor
UTSA
2025
Jeff Traylor
UTSA

Played his entire career under Jeff Traylor.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownRichmond, TX
Height6'1"
Weight205 lb
Class3
PositionLB
Jersey26

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 UTSA LB3 #11064 #11425 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | American Athletic
2023 UTSA LB3 #10749 #10573 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | American Athletic
2022 Washington State LB3 #11538 #11416 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Pac-12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 UTSA American Athletic LB 3 No. 26 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Richmond, TX
2024 UTSA American Athletic LB 3 No. 26 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Richmond, TX
2023 UTSA American Athletic LB 3 No. 26 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Richmond, TX
2022 Washington State Pac-12 LB 3 No. 26 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Richmond, TX