cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Drayk Bowen /Notre Dame

Drayk Bowen

LB · Notre Dame · Jr · #34

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

67 TACKLES · 3.5 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Notre Dame for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Notre Dame for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · Notre Dame

Returning around him

  • 37% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 6 Notre Dame players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -8 net (7 in / 15 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Notre Dame · Last season: 10-2 (AP #9) · Talent rank #9 · 2026 recruiting class #12

LB · NOTRE DAME · FBS INDEPENDENTS

Drayk Bowen

  • 3
  • #34
  • 6-2 | 235 lb
  • Saint John, IN

CFB Zeitgeist Score

82

All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 91st percentile.

Heisman Heat

#5089

<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 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★★
#102 national
CFB
College
Notre Dame
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionLB
Class3
Jersey34
Measurements6-2 | 235 lb
HometownSaint John, IN
Primary teamNotre Dame

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 4-star No. 102 recruit
Composite rating 0.9513 HighSchool
Signed with Notre Dame 2023
Origin Andrean Merrillville, IN, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 4-star | 0.9513 No. 102 recruit | HighSchool | Notre Dame

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#5089Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#4578Where 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 Notre Dame

Composite

0.9513

#102 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 Drayk Bowen

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 Drayk Bowen

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 12g
67Tackles
4.5Tackles for loss
3.5Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0.3Sacks
Projected (13g)
73Tackles
4.9Tackles for loss
3.8Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 67): needs 13/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 67): needs 33/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 3.5): needs 2.5/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 3.5): needs 6.5/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.

Drayk Bowen is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Notre Dame's defense, with 3.5 sacks, 4.5 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.

Current place #5089 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 102 recruit

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 67 33 solo | #303/4942 (94th pct)
TFL 4.5 Backfield disruption | #648/4972 (87th pct)
Sacks 3.5 Pass-rush finish | #233/4972 (95th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
67 94th
SOLO
33 91st
TFL
4.5 87th
SACK
3.5 95th
QBH
2 66th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
3 76th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 24-27@ Miami820.00.00
Wk 3L 40-41vs Texas A&M620.00.00
Wk 4W 56-30vs Purdue110.00.00
Wk 5W 56-13@ Arkansas400.00.00
Wk 6W 28-7vs Boise State511.01.00
Wk 7W 36-7vs NC State730.00.00
Wk 8W 34-24vs USC500.00.01
Wk 10W 25-10@ Boston College14142.01.01Season-high 14 tackles
Wk 11W 49-10vs Navy520.00.00
Wk 12W 37-15@ Pittsburgh220.00.01
Wk 13W 70-7vs Syracuse331.01.00
Wk 14W 49-20@ Stanford730.50.50
Total67334.53.53
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

2023Notre Dame10-3HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2025Notre Dame10-2HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Notre Dame67334.53.53----
2023Notre Dame1370.50.0------
Career2 loaded seasons80405.03.53----
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 3 Coverage disruption | #521/2184 (76th pct)
QB pressures 2 Quarterback hurries | #647/1878 (66th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 67 #303/4942 94th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 4.5 #648/4972 87th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 3.5 #233/4972 95th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 3 #521/2184 76th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 2 #647/1878 66th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 33 #417/4584 91st 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 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 · 12 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home7g4.60.30.30.1
Road5g7.00.50.30.4

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins10g5.30.50.30.3
Losses2g7.00.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g5.20.20.20.0
Weeks 8+6g6.00.60.40.5

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

82All-Conference
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sacks (91st). Strength: tackles (89th).

Sacks#233 / 2975 · 91st pct
3.5defe
Tackles#303 / 2975 · 90th pct
67defe
Solo tackles#417 / 2975 · 85th pct
33defe
Passes defended#517 / 2975 · 78th pct
3defe
Tackles for loss#648 / 2975 · 77th pct
4.5defe
QB hurries#634 / 2975 · 72nd pct
2defe

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
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
Drayk BowenNotre DameMarsel McDuffieUNLV· 92% simGavin MoulDelaware· 91% simMatt RoseStanford· 90% sim
Sacks
91
Bowen
80
McDuffie
80
Moul
89
Rose
Tackles
90
Bowen
99
McDuffie
99
Moul
99
Rose
Solo tackles
85
Bowen
99
McDuffie
98
Moul
97
Rose
Passes defended
78
Bowen
78
McDuffie
78
Moul
78
Rose
Tackles for loss
77
Bowen
83
McDuffie
90
Moul
93
Rose
QB hurries
72
Bowen
72
McDuffie
72
Moul
82
Rose

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

Player DNA

The Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Christian Albright’s 2021 season.

Christian Albright

84%match

Ball State · 2021

#2

Isaac Slade-Matautia

SMU · 2022

81%
#3

Jaden Hunter

Western Kentucky · 2021

78%
#4

Abraham Beauplan

Marshall · 2022

All-Sun Belt
78%
#5

Reid Williford

Charlotte · 2024

78%

Matches Christian on

Tackle volume
TFL rate
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Dion Hunter's junior season at New Mexico (2022).

Dion Hunter

89%match

New Mexico · 2022

#2

Kamren Robinson

Virginia · 2025

88%
#3

Shemar James

Florida · 2024

NFL Rd 5
86%
#4

Trenton Simpson

Clemson · 2022

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 23
86%
#5

Timmy Hinspeter

Massachusetts · 2025

85%

Matches Dion on

Class year
TFL rate
Tackle volume

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Marcus Freeman

Pass share

44.0%

321 pass / 409 run

Plays / game

60.8

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.7%

257 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame
2025
Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame

Played his entire career under Marcus Freeman.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownSaint John, IN
Height6'2"
Weight235 lb
Class3
PositionLB
Jersey34

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 Notre Dame LB3 #5089 #4578 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | FBS Independents
2023 Notre Dame LB3 #7022 #6883 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | FBS Independents

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Notre Dame FBS Independents LB 3 No. 34 | 6-2 | 235 lb | Saint John, IN
2024 Notre Dame FBS Independents LB 3 No. 34 | 6-2 | 235 lb | Saint John, IN
2023 Notre Dame FBS Independents LB 3 No. 34 | 6-2 | 235 lb | Saint John, IN