CFB Zeitgeist Score
34
Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 98th percentile.
Derek Wilkins
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
12 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to California for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive line · California
Returning around him
- 22% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- 1 California player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -4 net (32 in / 36 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
California · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #36 · 2026 recruiting class #69
DL · CALIFORNIA · ACC
Derek Wilkins
- 3
- #96
- 6-5 | 305 lb
- Irvine, CA
Heisman Heat
#10155
<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 · StarterR05 · Part-time starter
Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★★
CFB
College
California
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 | 0.8926 | No. 377 recruit | HighSchool | California |
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 California
Composite
0.8926
#377 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 Derek Wilkins
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 Derek Wilkins
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
12Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
1Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
14Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 12): needs 34/game over remaining 2.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 12): needs 44/game over remaining 2.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 3/game over remaining 2.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 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.
Derek Wilkins is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on California's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 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?
Coverage splash against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
12 46th
SOLO
5 39th
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
1 44th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
8 98th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 3 | W 27-14vs Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | L 0-34@ San Diego State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | W 28-24@ Boston College | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | L 21-45vs Duke | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 21-18vs North Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 34-42@ Virginia Tech | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 21-31vs Virginia | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 29-26@ Louisville | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 13 | L 10-31@ Stanford | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 14 | W 38-35vs SMU | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | L 31-35@ Hawai'i | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 12 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 8 |
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
2021California5-7HC: Justin Wilcox · Balanced
2023California6-7HC: Justin Wilcox · Run-leaning
2024California6-7HC: Justin Wilcox · Balanced
2025California7-6HC: Justin Wilcox · Pass-leaning
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | California | 12 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 8 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | California | 12 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 | California | 8 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | California | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 4 loaded seasons | 34 | 15 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 8 | -- | -- |
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 | 12 | #2651/4942 | 46th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 0.0 | #3020/4972 | 39th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 8 | #45/2184 | 98th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 1 | #1051/1878 | 44th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 5 | #2793/4584 | 39th 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 Lombardi 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Road6g | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins5g | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| Losses6g | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort
34Below cohort
Elite: passes defended (97th). Concern: tackles for loss (7th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DL · 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
Derek WilkinsCaliforniaBlake FletcherAir Force· 45% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 43% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 42% sim
Passes defended
QB hurries
Sacks
Tackles
Solo tackles
Tackles for loss
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Nose Anchor
Two-gap space-eater who occupies blockers and frees the linebackers.
IDL
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Zion Logue’s 2022 season.
Zion Logue
93%match
NFL Rd 6
#2
Rayshaun Benny
NFL Rd 7
88%
#3
Xach Gill
87%
#4
Kevin Penn
87%
#5
Malik Langham
87%
Matches Zion on
TFL rate
Sack rate
Height
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Asani Redwood's senior season at West Virginia (2025).
Asani Redwood
72%match
#2
Jaden Williams
67%
#3
Keith Randolph Jr.
All-Big Ten
63%
#4
Markus Clark
61%
#5
Trevion Williams
59%
Matches Asani on
Class year
Sack rate
Weight
Differs from Asani on
Height (higher)
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Justin Wilcox
Pass share
57.0%
502 pass / 379 run
Plays / game
67.8
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
8.2%
353 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
1 coach2021
Justin Wilcox
California
2023
Justin Wilcox
California
2024
Justin Wilcox
California
2025
Justin Wilcox
California
Played his entire career under Justin Wilcox.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownIrvine, CA
Height6'5"
Weight305 lb
Class3
PositionDL
Jersey96
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamCalifornia
ConferenceACC
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 | California | DL3 | #10155 | #10244 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | ACC |
| 2023 | California | DL3 | #11668 | #11907 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Pac-12 |
| 2022 | California | DL3 | #13640 | #13655 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Pac-12 |
| 2021 | California | DL3 | #12164 | #12115 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Pac-12 |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | California | ACC | DL | 3 | No. 96 | 6-5 | 305 lb | Irvine, CA |
| 2024 | California | ACC | DL | 3 | No. 96 | 6-5 | 305 lb | Irvine, CA |
| 2023 | California | Pac-12 | DL | 3 | No. 96 | 6-5 | 305 lb | Irvine, CA |
| 2022 | California | Pac-12 | DL | 3 | No. 96 | 6-5 | 305 lb | Irvine, CA |
| 2021 | California | Pac-12 | DL | 3 | No. 96 | 6-5 | 305 lb | Irvine, CA |