cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Bryce Thornton /Florida

Bryce Thornton

DB · Florida · Jr · #18

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

56 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Florida for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Florida for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Florida

Returning around him

  • 55% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • 7 Florida players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -9 net (27 in / 36 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Florida · Last season: 4-8 (AP #13) · Talent rank #12 · 2026 recruiting class #7

DB · FLORIDA · SEC

Bryce Thornton

  • 3
  • #18
  • 5-10 | 211 lb
  • College Park, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

67

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 94th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#8654

<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

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

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

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class3
Jersey18
Measurements5-10 | 211 lb
HometownCollege Park, GA
Primary teamFlorida

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 4-star No. 405 recruit
Composite rating 0.8933 HighSchool
Signed with Florida 2023
Origin Milton Alpharetta, GA, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 4-star | 0.8933 No. 405 recruit | HighSchool | Florida

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#8654Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#9301Where 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 Florida

Composite

0.8933

#405 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 Thornton

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 Thornton

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 11g
56Tackles
3Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
5Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
66Tackles
3.5Tackles for loss
1.2Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 56): needs 12/game over remaining 2.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 56): needs 22/game over remaining 2.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 2.5/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 4.5/game over remaining 2.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Bryce Thornton is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Florida's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 3.0 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 #8654 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 405 recruit

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 56 31 solo | #468/4942 (91st pct)
TFL 3.0 Backfield disruption | #1006/4972 (80th 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?

High-disruption defender | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderCoverage splashHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
56 91st
SOLO
31 89th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
1.0 82nd
QBH
5 90th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
6 93rd
INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 55-0vs Long Island University110.00.00
Wk 2L 16-18vs South Florida520.00.02
Wk 3L 10-20@ LSU330.00.01
Wk 4L 7-26@ Miami411.00.00
Wk 6W 29-21vs Texas530.00.00
Wk 7L 17-34@ Texas A&M650.00.00
Wk 8W 23-21vs Mississippi State720.00.01
Wk 10L 20-24vs Georgia641.00.01
Wk 11L 7-38@ Kentucky540.00.010
Wk 12L 24-34@ Ole Miss640.00.00
Wk 14W 40-21vs Florida State821.01.01Season-high 8 tackles
Total56313.01.016
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

2023Florida5-7HC: Billy Napier · Balanced
2024Florida8-5HC: Billy Napier · Run-leaning
2025Florida4-8HC: Billy Napier · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Florida56313.01.061--
2024Florida41191.50.033--
2023Florida34193.50.51----
Career3 loaded seasons131698.01.5104--
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 6 Coverage disruption | #144/2184 (93rd pct)
QB pressures 5 Quarterback hurries | #188/1878 (90th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 56 #468/4942 91st 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 Interceptions 1 #308/869 65th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 6 #144/2184 93rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 5 #188/1878 90th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 31 #483/4584 89th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense Fumbles recovered 2 #13/736 98th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Defensive TD 1 #23/200 89th pct Scoringvs 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

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 · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g5.30.30.20.8
Road5g4.80.20.00.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins4g5.20.20.20.5
Losses7g5.00.30.00.6

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g4.00.20.00.5
Weeks 8+5g6.40.40.20.6

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

67Solid starter
8 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (93rd). Strength: qb hurries (92nd).

Passes defended#144 / 2975 · 94th pct
6defe
QB hurries#188 / 2975 · 92nd pct
5defe
Tackles#468 / 2975 · 84th pct
56defe
Solo tackles#483 / 2975 · 83rd pct
31defe
Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct
0fumb
Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct
1inte

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 · 8 metrics
Bryce ThorntonFloridaBryce BoettcherOregon· 89% simAndon ThomasArmy· 88% simJordan PollardSan José State· 87% sim
Passes defended
94
Thornton
91
Boettcher
91
Thomas
86
Pollard
QB hurries
92
Thornton
92
Boettcher
82
Thomas
88
Pollard
Tackles
84
Thornton
100
Boettcher
99
Thomas
99
Pollard
Solo tackles
83
Thornton
99
Boettcher
100
Thomas
99
Pollard
Sacks
63
Thornton
63
Boettcher
51
Thomas
85
Pollard
Tackles for loss
63
Thornton
83
Boettcher
73
Thomas
77
Pollard
Forced fumbles
47
Thornton
47
Pollard
Interceptions
31
Thornton
31
Boettcher
31
Pollard

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 Chelen Garnes’s 2023 season.

Chelen Garnes

71%match

Wake Forest · 2023

#2

Rashad Wisdom

UTSA · 2023

All-AAC
68%
#3

Keyshawn Cobb

Buffalo · 2022

71%
#4

Adrian Wilson

Arizona State · 2025

70%
#5

Alonzo McCoy

Central Michigan · 2021

66%

Matches Chelen on

Tackle volume
PD rate
Class year

Differs from Chelen on

Height (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Kaleb Cost's junior season at North Carolina (2025).

Kaleb Cost

78%match

North Carolina · 2025

#2

Kei'Trel Clark

Louisville · 2022

All-ACCNFL Rd 6
76%
#3

Bo Mascoe

Rutgers · 2025

76%
#4

Malachi McLean

UConn · 2024

73%
#5

Kamari Ramsey

USC · 2024

NFL Rd 5
75%

Matches Kaleb on

Class year
PD rate
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Billy Napier

Pass share

49.4%

372 pass / 381 run

Plays / game

62.8

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.1%

311 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Billy Napier
Florida
2024
Billy Napier
Florida
2025
Billy Napier
Florida

Played his entire career under Billy Napier.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownCollege Park, GA
Height5'10"
Weight211 lb
Class3
PositionDB
Jersey18

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 Florida DB3 #8654 #9301 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | SEC
2023 Florida DB3 #12492 #12523 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | SEC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Florida SEC DB 3 No. 18 | 5-10 | 211 lb | College Park, GA
2024 Florida SEC DB 3 No. 18 | 5-10 | 211 lb | College Park, GA
2023 Florida SEC DB 3 No. 18 | 5-10 | 211 lb | College Park, GA