cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Bryson Donelson /Fresno State

Bryson Donelson

RB · Fresno State · So · #6

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

583 RUSH YDS · 5 RUSH TD · 142 CARRIES

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Fresno State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Fresno State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Running back · Fresno State

Returning around him

  • 17% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: +3 net (13 in / 10 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Fresno State · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #90 · 2026 recruiting class #103

RB · FRESNO STATE · MOUNTAIN WEST

Bryson Donelson

  • 2
  • #6
  • 5-11 | 205 lb
  • Visalia, CA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

53

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by rush yards at the 65th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#3452

<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 RB AWARD

Doak Walker

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
★★★
#2389 national
CFB
College
Fresno State
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionRB
Class2
Jersey6
Measurements5-11 | 205 lb
HometownVisalia, CA
Primary teamFresno State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 2389 recruit
Composite rating 0.8144 HighSchool
Signed with Fresno State 2024
Origin Central Valley Christian Visalia, CA, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8144 No. 2389 recruit | HighSchool | Fresno 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#3452Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#3421Where 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 Fresno State

Composite

0.8144

#2389 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 Bryson Donelson

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 Bryson Donelson

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 rushing totals stand

final
Through 13g
583Rush yards
142Carries
5Rush TDs
Per game
44.8Rush yards
11Carries
0Rush TDs
Final
583Rush yards
142Carries
5Rush TDs

What made this player interesting

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

Bryson Donelson's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Fresno State, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.

Current place #3452 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 19.0% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Development arc The card should explain why this profile stands out

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

RB season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Scrimmage yards 690 583 rush | 107 rec | #123/735 (83rd pct)
Rush TD 5 142 carries | #115/739 (85th pct)
Yards/carry 4.1 Per-rush efficiency | #475/735 (36th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Passing-game back against FBS RB peers.

Passing-game back

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Rushing

CAR
142 90th
YDS
583 83rd
YPC
4.1 36th
TD
5 85th

Receiving

REC
17 80th
YDS
107 72nd
YPR
6.3 42nd
TD
0 70th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppCARYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1L 7-31@ Kansas11343.1012Season-high 167 yds
Wk 1W 42-14vs Georgia Southern231677.3131Season-high 167 yds
Wk 2W 36-27@ Oregon State7344.9011
Wk 3W 56-7vs Southern99010.0157
Wk 4W 23-21@ Hawai'i1510.116
Wk 6W 20-17vs Nevada14392.808
Wk 7L 21-49@ Colorado State8232.9010
Wk 9L 0-23vs San Diego State7233.305
Wk 10W 30-7@ Boise State11454.1111
Wk 12W 24-3vs Wyoming13453.5112
Wk 13L 17-28vs Utah State9323.608
Wk 14W 41-14@ San José State9303.3011
BowlW 18-3vs Miami (OH)6203.305
Total1425834.0557
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

2025Fresno State9-4HC: Matt Entz · Run-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025Fresno State1425834.15--
Career1 loaded season1425834.15--
SeasonTeam
2025Fresno State171076.30--
Career1 loaded season171076.30--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Rushing WEPA

Opponent-adjusted rushing value. It helps separate empty volume from carries that actually move the scoreboard.

Role share

How much of the team's offense flows through this back once rushing work and receiving work are combined.

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.

Receiving work 17 107 rec yds | #111/552 (80th pct)
Usage 19.0% 29.1% rush share | #102/738 (86th pct)
Rushing WEPA -0.08 Opponent-adjusted rush value | #362/362 (0th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Rushing Rushing yards 583 #123/735 83rd pct Volumevs FBS RB
Rushing Rush TD 5 #115/739 85th pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Rushing Yards / carry 4.1 #475/735 36th pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receptions 17 #111/552 80th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving yards 107 #157/548 72nd pct Volumevs FBS RB
Value Rushing WEPA -0.08 #362/362 0th pct Opponent-adjusted rushing value | 132 weighted playsvs FBS RB
Usage Role share 19.0% #102/738 86th pct Share of team offensevs FBS RB
Rushing Carries 142 #78/739 90th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Rushing Rushing LONG 57 #118/733 84th pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving LONG 39 #74/540 86th pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Yards / catch 6.3 #320/548 42nd pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving TD 0 #169/552 70th pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Usage Rush share 29.1% #133/738 82nd pct Ground-game usagevs FBS RB
Usage 1st-down usage 27.2% #62/738 92nd pct Early-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Standard-down usage 23.7% #91/738 88th pct Base-situation sharevs FBS RB
Usage 2nd-down usage 15.1% #176/738 76th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage 3rd-down usage 10.5% #183/738 75th pct Money-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Passing-down usage 9.0% #242/738 67th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS RB
Usage Pass share 6.7% #94/738 87th pct Air-game usagevs FBS RB
Ball Security Fumbles lost 3 #250/256 3rd pct Turnoversvs FBS RB

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

Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Home7g59.44.80.4
Road6g27.83.10.3

Win vs Loss

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Wins9g52.34.40.6
Losses4g28.03.20.0

First half vs Second half

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Weeks 1-78g51.04.30.4
Weeks 8+5g35.03.60.4

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

53Mid-pack
8 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: fumbles lost (2nd).

Carries#78 / 349 · 78th pct
142rush
Long run#107 / 349 · 68th pct
57rush
Receptions#103 / 338 · 67th pct
17rece
Rush yards#123 / 349 · 65th pct
583rush
Rush TDs#115 / 349 · 62nd pct
5rush
Rec yards#145 / 338 · 57th pct
107rece
Yards / carry#285 / 349 · 18th pct
4.1rush
Fumbles lost#195 / 201 · 2nd pct
3fumb

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

Advanced Savant · RB · 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.

wepa_rushing-0.08Below (<p25) (n=178)

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 8 metrics
Bryson DonelsonFresno StateAl-Jay HendersonBuffalo· 84% simBill DavisLouisiana· 81% simJevyon DuckerTemple· 80% sim
Carries
78
Donelson
90
Henderson
83
Davis
83
Ducker
Long run
68
Donelson
43
Henderson
91
Davis
66
Ducker
Receptions
67
Donelson
85
Henderson
39
Davis
82
Ducker
Rush yards
65
Donelson
79
Henderson
80
Davis
81
Ducker
Rush TDs
62
Donelson
72
Henderson
72
Davis
80
Ducker
Rec yards
57
Donelson
79
Henderson
45
Davis
56
Ducker
Yards / carry
18
Donelson
18
Henderson
45
Davis
62
Ducker
Fumbles lost
2
Donelson
14
Henderson

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

Player DNA

The Balanced Back

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

RB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Star Thomas’s 2024 season.

Star Thomas

80%match

Duke · 2024

#2

Emari Demercado

TCU · 2021

80%
#3

Andrew Henry

UL Monroe · 2021

78%
#4

Jaziun Patterson

Iowa · 2023

76%
#5

Tory Blaylock

Oklahoma · 2025

76%

Matches Star on

Weight
Receiving share
Yards / reception

Differs from Star on

Class year (lower)

Through 2 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Andrew Body’s path through Alabama State.

Andrew Body

100%match

Alabama State · 2025

#2

Larry McCammon III

Florida Atlantic · 2023

All-Conference USA
96%
#3

Narii Gaither

Gardner-Webb · 2023

92%
#4

Bryson Kuzdzal

Michigan · 2025

90%
#5

Omiri Wiggins

Louisiana Tech · 2025

90%

Matches Andrew on

Yards per carry

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Kirby Vorhees's sophomore season at Washington State (2025).

Kirby Vorhees

79%match

Washington State · 2025

#2

Chavon Mceachern

Charlotte · 2021

77%
#3

Jonzell Norrils

Akron · 2021

77%
#4

Zylan Perry

Louisiana · 2023

76%
#5

Brandon Hood

Massachusetts · 2025

75%

Matches Kirby on

Yards / carry
Weight
Receiving share

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Matt Entz

Pass share

44.2%

373 pass / 471 run

Plays / game

64.9

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

6.4%

282 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Matt Entz
Fresno State

Played his entire career under Matt Entz.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownVisalia, CA
Height5'11"
Weight205 lb
Class2
PositionRB
Jersey6

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 Fresno State RB2 #3452 #3421 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Mountain West

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Fresno State Mountain West RB 2 No. 6 | 5-11 | 205 lb | Visalia, CA
2024 Fresno State Mountain West RB 2 No. 6 | 5-11 | 205 lb | Visalia, CA