cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Derrieon Craig /Massachusetts

Derrieon Craig

DL · Massachusetts · Sr

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

78 TACKLES · 0.5 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Massachusetts for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Massachusetts for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · Massachusetts

Returning around him

  • 76% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +3 net (22 in / 19 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Massachusetts · Last season: 0-12 · Talent rank #118 · 2026 recruiting class #136

DL · MASSACHUSETTS · MID-AMERICAN

Derrieon Craig

  • 4
  • 5-10 | 215 lb
  • Boynton Beach, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

58

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 51st percentile.

Heisman Heat

#12570

<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 · Starter

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1670 national
CFB
College
Massachusetts
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDL
Class4
Jersey--
Measurements5-10 | 215 lb
HometownBoynton Beach, FL
Primary teamMassachusetts

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1670 recruit
Composite rating 0.8317 HighSchool
Signed with Massachusetts 2022
Origin St. Thomas Aquinas Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8317 No. 1670 recruit | HighSchool | Massachusetts

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#12570Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#13033Where 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 Massachusetts

Composite

0.8317

#1670 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 Derrieon Craig

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 Derrieon Craig

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 10g
78Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
Per game
8Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
101Tackles
1.3Tackles for loss
0.7Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 78): needs 0.7/game over remaining 3.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 78): needs 7.3/game over remaining 3.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 1.8/game over remaining 3.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 3.2/game over remaining 3.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Derrieon Craig is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Massachusetts's defense, with 0.5 sacks, 1.0 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.

Current place #12570 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.5 sacks | 1.0 TFL

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 78 27 solo | #167/4942 (97th pct)
TFL 1.0 Backfield disruption | #2051/4972 (59th pct)
Sacks 0.5 Pass-rush finish | #1501/4972 (70th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
78 97th
SOLO
27 86th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.5 70th
QBH
1 44th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
2 64th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 10-42vs Temple850.00.00
Wk 2L 26-27vs Bryant950.00.01
Wk 3L 7-47@ Iowa650.00.00
Wk 5L 6-42@ Missouri1140.50.50
Wk 6L 3-21vs Western Michigan600.00.00
Wk 7L 6-42@ Kent State630.00.00
Wk 8L 21-28vs Buffalo1230.00.00Season-high 12 tackles
Wk 12L 3-45vs Northern Illinois610.00.00
Wk 13L 14-42@ Ohio1100.50.00
Wk 14L 14-45vs Bowling Green310.00.01
Total78271.00.52
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

2023Massachusetts3-9HC: Don Brown · Balanced, slow tempo
2024Massachusetts2-10HC: Shane Montgomery · Run-leaning
2025Massachusetts0-12HC: Joe Harasymiak · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Massachusetts78271.00.52----
2024Massachusetts43252.50.01----
2023Massachusetts24114.51.51----
Career3 loaded seasons145638.02.04----
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 -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 2 Coverage disruption | #792/2184 (64th pct)
QB pressures 1 Quarterback hurries | #1051/1878 (44th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 78 #167/4942 97th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 1.0 #2051/4972 59th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.5 #1501/4972 70th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 2 #792/2184 64th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 1 #1051/1878 44th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 27 #649/4584 86th 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

StatusAwaiting 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 · 10 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g7.30.00.00.3
Road4g8.50.20.10.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Losses10g7.80.10.10.2

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g7.70.10.10.2
Weeks 8+4g8.00.10.00.2

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

58Solid starter
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles (94th). Concern: tackles for loss (28th).

Tackles#167 / 2975 · 94th pct
78defe
Solo tackles#649 / 2975 · 77th pct
27defe
Passes defended#777 / 2975 · 67th pct
2defe
QB hurries#1007 / 2975 · 55th pct
1defe
Sacks#1367 / 2975 · 51st pct
0.5defe
Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct
1.0defe

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
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 · 6 metrics
Derrieon CraigMassachusettsBlake FletcherAir Force· 80% simDalton JohnsonArizona· 78% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 78% sim
Tackles
94
Craig
99
Fletcher
98
Johnson
99
Lafayette
Solo tackles
77
Craig
91
Fletcher
97
Johnson
98
Lafayette
Passes defended
67
Craig
67
Fletcher
96
Johnson
91
Lafayette
QB hurries
55
Craig
92
Fletcher
22
Johnson
22
Lafayette
Sacks
51
Craig
24
Fletcher
63
Johnson
63
Lafayette
Tackles for loss
28
Craig
28
Fletcher
47
Johnson
56
Lafayette

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

Player DNA

The Two-Gap Base

Stout at the point of attack; controls his gap and stacks blocks.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Derrieon Craig’s 2024 season.

Derrieon Craig

79%match

Massachusetts · 2024

#2

Justin Jefferson

Eastern Michigan · 2022

79%
#3

Justin Jefferson

Eastern Michigan · 2021

78%
#4

Eli Adams

Virginia Tech · 2021

66%
#5

Malcolm Greene

Massachusetts · 2025

58%

Matches Derrieon on

Sack rate
Height
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Muheem McCargo's junior season at Ball State (2025).

Muheem McCargo

94%match

Ball State · 2025

#2

Isheem Young

Ole Miss · 2022

All-Big 12
93%
#3

Simeon Blair

Arkansas · 2022

All-AAC
92%
#4

Daiquain Jackson

Tulsa · 2022

92%
#5

Jaden Voisin

South Alabama · 2023

All-Sun Belt
92%

Matches Muheem on

Class year
Height
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Joe Harasymiak

Pass share

54.2%

415 pass / 351 run

Plays / game

63.8

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.9%

342 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

3 coaches
2023
Don Brown
Massachusetts
2024
Shane Montgomery
Massachusetts
era →
2025
Joe Harasymiak
Massachusetts
era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Don Brown, Shane Montgomery, and Joe Harasymiak. Multi-era developmental context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownBoynton Beach, FL
Height5'10"
Weight215 lb
Class4
PositionDL

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 Massachusetts DL4 #12570 #13033 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | FBS Independents
2023 Massachusetts DL4 #12425 #12985 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | FBS Independents
2022 Massachusetts DL4 #13706 #13907 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | FBS Independents

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Massachusetts Mid-American DL 4 5-10 | 215 lb | Boynton Beach, FL
2024 Massachusetts FBS Independents DL 4 5-10 | 215 lb | Boynton Beach, FL
2023 Massachusetts FBS Independents DL 4 5-10 | 215 lb | Boynton Beach, FL
2022 Massachusetts FBS Independents DL 4 5-10 | 215 lb | Boynton Beach, FL