CFB Zeitgeist Score
83
All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 98th percentile.
Darryl Peterson
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
33 TACKLES · 6.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Wisconsin for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Linebacker · Wisconsin
Returning around him
- 40% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
- Transfer portal: +8 net (33 in / 25 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Wisconsin · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #28 · 2026 recruiting class #27
LB · WISCONSIN · BIG TEN
Darryl Peterson
- 4
- #17
- 6-1 | 260 lb
- Akron, OH
Heisman Heat
#11233
<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-deepR04 · Rotational
Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★★
CFB
College
Wisconsin
NFL
NFL Draft
—
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4-star | 0.8918 | No. 385 recruit | HighSchool | Wisconsin |
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 Wisconsin
Composite
0.8918
#385 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
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 Darryl Peterson
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 Darryl Peterson
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 11g
33Tackles
11.5Tackles for loss
6.5Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0.6Sacks
Projected (13g)
39Tackles
13.6Tackles for loss
7.7Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 33): needs 23.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 33): needs 33.5/game over remaining 2.
✓ Hit 6-sack season · finished with 6.5.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 6.5): needs 1.8/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.
Darryl Peterson is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Wisconsin's defense, with 6.5 sacks, 11.5 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.
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
33 76th
SOLO
21 79th
TFL
11.5 99th
SACK
6.5 99th
QBH
3 75th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
3 76th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 17-0vs Miami (OH) | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 42-10vs Middle Tennessee | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 10-27vs Maryland | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 10-24@ Michigan | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 7 | L 0-37vs Iowa | 4 | 3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 0-34vs Ohio State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 7-21@ Oregon | 5 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 13-10vs Washington | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 7-31@ Indiana | 6 | 4 | 2.5 | 2.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 13 | W 27-10vs Illinois | 6 | 5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | — | 2 | 3 sacks |
| Wk 14 | L 7-17@ Minnesota | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 33 | 21 | 11.5 | 6.5 | — | 3 |
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
2021Wisconsin8-4HC: Paul Chryst · Run-heavy
2022Wisconsin7-6HC: Jim Leonhard · Run-heavy
2023Wisconsin7-6HC: Luke Fickell · Balanced
2024Wisconsin5-7HC: Luke Fickell · Run-leaning
2025Wisconsin4-8HC: Luke Fickell · Run-heavy, slow tempo
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 | 33 | #1194/4942 | 76th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 11.5 | #62/4972 | 99th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 6.5 | #55/4972 | 99th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 3 | #521/2184 | 76th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 3 | #462/1878 | 75th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 21 | #959/4584 | 79th 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 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 · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Road4g | 3.8 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 2.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| Losses7g | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
83All-Conference
Elite: sacks (97th). Strength: tackles for loss (97th).
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
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
Darryl PetersonWisconsinRasheem BilesPittsburgh· 81% simCade UluaveCalifornia· 80% simJohn MillerUtah State· 79% sim
Sacks
Tackles for loss
QB hurries
Passes defended
Solo tackles
Tackles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Thumper
Downhill striker who fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to PJ Ramsey’s 2023 season.
PJ Ramsey
61%match
All-Mountain West
#2
Daniel Grzesiak
49%
#3
Brenton Cox
47%
#4
Maurice Westmoreland
All-Conference USA
46%
#5
Harvey Dyson III
40%
Matches PJ on
Tackle volume
TFL rate
Class year
Differs from PJ on
Height (lower)
PD rate (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to David Reese's graduate season at California (2024).
David Reese
80%match
#2
Michael Heldman
All-MAC
60%
#3
Elijah Roberts
All-AACNFL Rd 5
59%
#4
Johnny Walker
59%
#5
Korey Foreman
56%
Matches David on
TFL rate
Sack rate
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Luke Fickell
Pass share
39.7%
272 pass / 413 run
Plays / game
57.1
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
10.8%
249 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
3 coaches2021
Paul Chryst
Wisconsin
2022era →
Jim Leonhard
Wisconsin
2023era →
Luke Fickell
Wisconsin
2024
Luke Fickell
Wisconsin
2025
Luke Fickell
Wisconsin
Played under 3 different head coaches: Paul Chryst, Jim Leonhard, and Luke Fickell. Multi-era developmental context.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownAkron, OH
Height6'1"
Weight260 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey17
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamWisconsin
ConferenceBig Ten
Joined2025
Career arc5 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.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Wisconsin | LB4 | #11233 | #11563 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2023 | Wisconsin | LB4 | #6043 | #6933 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2022 | Wisconsin | LB4 | #7178 | #7729 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2021 | Wisconsin | LB4 | #8898 | #8657 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Big Ten |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | LB | 4 | No. 17 | 6-1 | 260 lb | Akron, OH |
| 2024 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | LB | 4 | No. 17 | 6-1 | 260 lb | Akron, OH |
| 2023 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | LB | 4 | No. 17 | 6-1 | 260 lb | Akron, OH |
| 2022 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | LB | 4 | No. 17 | 6-1 | 260 lb | Akron, OH |
| 2021 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | LB | 4 | No. 17 | 6-1 | 260 lb | Akron, OH |