CFB Zeitgeist Score
55
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 74th percentile.
David Santiago
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
24 TACKLES · 1.5 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to Kansas
2025Michigan State
2026Kansas
EDGE · MICHIGAN STATE · BIG TEN
David Santiago
- 2
- #41
- 6-4 | 253 lb
- Raleigh, NC
Heisman Heat
#14577
<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 DEFENSE AWARD
Nagurski
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Michigan State
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No recruiting profile is on file for this player. | ||
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Michigan State -> Kansas | 3-star | 0.8600 | Immediate |
| 2025 | Air Force -> Michigan State | 3-star | 0.8800 | Immediate |
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.
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 David Santiago
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 David Santiago
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 12g
24Tackles
2.5Tackles for loss
1.5Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
26Tackles
2.7Tackles for loss
1.6Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 24): needs 56/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 24): needs 76/game over remaining 1.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 1.5): needs 4.5/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 1.5): needs 8.5/game over remaining 1.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
David Santiago is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Michigan State's defense, with 1.5 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.
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
24 65th
SOLO
10 56th
TFL
2.5 75th
SACK
1.5 85th
QBH
2 66th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
1 43rd
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-6vs Western Michigan | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 42-40vs Boston College | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-24vs Youngstown State | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 31-45@ USC | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 27-38@ Nebraska | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 13-38vs UCLA | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 8 | L 13-38@ Indiana | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 20-31vs Michigan | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 20-23@ Minnesota | 3 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 10-28vs Penn State | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 17-20@ Iowa | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 38-28vs Maryland | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 24 | 10 | 2.5 | 1.5 | — | 1 |
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
2025Michigan State4-8HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Michigan State | 24 | 10 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1 | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 24 | 10 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1 | -- | -- |
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 | 24 | #1737/4942 | 65th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.5 | #1236/4972 | 75th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 1.5 | #724/4972 | 85th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 1 | #1241/2184 | 43rd pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 2 | #647/1878 | 66th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 10 | #1996/4584 | 56th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Fumbles recovered | 1 | #103/736 | 86th pct | Takeawaysvs 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Road5g | 1.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 1.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Losses8g | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 1.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the EDGE cohort
55Mid-pack
Production sits in the middle of the position cohort across the board.
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · EDGE · 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
David SantiagoMichigan StateTrey FieldsNorth Texas· 63% simMarcAnthony ParkerNavy· 63% simJaxton EckNew Mexico· 63% sim
Sacks
QB hurries
Tackles for loss
Passes defended
Forced fumbles
Tackles
Solo tackles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Versatile End
Holds up against run and pass without a single dominant trait.
EDGE
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Trey Smith’s 2025 season.
Trey Smith
86%match
NFL Rd 6
#2
Zachary Chapman
82%
#3
Patrick Joyner Jr.
81%
#4
Ovie Oghoufo
81%
#5
Joey Petersen
80%
Matches Trey on
Class year
Height
Weight
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to David Afogho's sophomore season at Bowling Green (2025).
David Afogho
86%match
#2
Dominic Lolesio
86%
#3
Breeon Ishmail
86%
#4
Zachary Chapman
86%
#5
Tyree Weathersby
85%
Matches David on
Class year
TFL rate
Sack rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jonathan Smith
Pass share
49.7%
378 pass / 382 run
Plays / game
63.3
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
11.2%
303 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Jonathan Smith
Michigan State
Played his entire career under Jonathan Smith.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownRaleigh, NC
Height6'4"
Weight253 lb
Class2
PositionEDGE
Jersey41
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamMichigan State
ConferenceBig Ten
Joined2025
Career arc2 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 | Air Force | EDGE2 | #14577 | #14740 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Mountain West |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Michigan State | Big Ten | EDGE | 2 | No. 41 | 6-4 | 253 lb | Raleigh, NC |
| 2024 | Air Force | Mountain West | EDGE | 2 | No. 41 | 6-4 | 253 lb | Raleigh, NC |