CFB Zeitgeist Score
47
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by rec yards at the 48th percentile.
Grayson Barnes
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
232 REC YDS · 21 REC · 2 REC TD
2026 Outlook
Returning to West Virginia for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Tight end · West Virginia
Returning around him
- 26% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- Transfer portal: -16 net (34 in / 50 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
West Virginia · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #63 · 2026 recruiting class #43
TE · WEST VIRGINIA · BIG 12
Grayson Barnes
- 4
- #80
- 6-4 | 223 lb
- Rocklin, CA
Heisman Heat
#4270
<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 TE AWARD
Mackey
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Development Trajectory · receiving yards
2023–2025-45%
Sharp dropoff (-45%) — career inflection point.
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
2 teams
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3-star | 0.8450 | No. 105 recruit | JUCO | Northern Illinois |
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 Northern Illinois
Composite
0.8450
#105 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 Grayson Barnes
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 Grayson Barnes
No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.
2025 Signature · 2025 season
Yards per reception
11.0
yds
All FBS WRs, min 20 receptions
National rank #360 of 531
Percentile vs All FBS WRs, min 20 receptions 32nd
Why it matters
#360 of 531 All FBS WRs at 11.0 yards per reception (21 catches).
Vs cohort
This player 11.0 (32th)
MODERATE · n=21 cohort 531
- Also strong
- Receiving TDs#302 / 531
- Receiving yards (total)#467 / 531
Signature Moment
Week 3 vs Pittsburgh — 58 ypr
Result W 31-24
The week the volume broke through — put up 58 yds vs Pittsburgh.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the receiving totals stand
Through 9g
232Rec yards
21Receptions
2Rec TDs
Per game
25.8Rec yards
2Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
335.1Rec yards
30Receptions
3Rec TDs
To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 232): needs 117/game over remaining 4.
To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 232): needs 192/game over remaining 4.
To hit 60-catch season (currently 21): needs 9.8/game over remaining 4.
To hit 80-catch season (currently 21): needs 14.8/game over remaining 4.
To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 2): needs 1.5/game over remaining 4.
To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 2): needs 2/game over remaining 4.
What made this player interesting
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Grayson Barnes's story is about how role and output meet each other. For West Virginia, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.
2025 Season · Final
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
TE 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?
Receiving weapon against FBS receiving peers.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Receiving
REC
21 81st
YDS
232 81st
YPR
11.0 65th
TD
2 84th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 9 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-3vs Robert Morris | 3 | 37 | 12.3 | 0 | 20 | |
| Wk 2 | L 10-17@ Ohio | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-24vs Pittsburgh | 5 | 58 | 11.6 | 1 | 34 | Season-high 58 yds |
| Wk 4 | L 10-41@ Kansas | 3 | 20 | 6.7 | 0 | 8 | |
| Wk 6 | L 24-38@ BYU | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 0 | 15 | |
| Wk 9 | L 17-23vs TCU | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 1 | 17 | |
| Wk 11 | W 29-22vs Colorado | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 0 | 20 | |
| Wk 12 | L 23-25@ Arizona State | 3 | 26 | 8.7 | 0 | 17 | |
| Wk 14 | L 0-49vs Texas Tech | 1 | 29 | 29.0 | 0 | 29 | |
| Total | 21 | 232 | 12.6 | 2 | 34 |
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
2023Northern Illinois7-6HC: Thomas Hammock · Run-leaning
2025West Virginia4-8HC: Rich Rodriguez · Run-heavy
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | West Virginia | 21 | 232 | 11.0 | 2 | -- |
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | 23 | 422 | 18.3 | 5 | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 44 | 654 | 14.9 | 7 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.
A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Receptions | 21 | #93/475 | 81st pct | Volumevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving yards | 232 | #91/475 | 81st pct | Volumevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving TD | 2 | #79/475 | 84th pct | Scoringvs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Yards / catch | 11.0 | #166/475 | 65th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Pass share | 9.7% | #97/468 | 79th pct | Air-game usagevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving LONG | 34 | #103/475 | 79th pct | Metricvs FBS TE |
| Usage | 3rd-down usage | 5.1% | #147/468 | 69th pct | Money-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Passing-down usage | 4.8% | #152/468 | 68th pct | Known-passing sharevs FBS TE |
| Usage | 1st-down usage | 4.1% | #124/468 | 74th pct | Early-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Role share | 4.1% | #122/468 | 74th pct | Share of team offensevs FBS TE |
| Usage | Standard-down usage | 3.8% | #139/468 | 71st pct | Base-situation sharevs FBS TE |
| Usage | 2nd-down usage | 3.3% | #239/468 | 49th pct | Middle-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Rush share | 0.0% | #58/468 | 88th pct | Ground-game usagevs FBS TE |
| Ball Security | Fumbles lost | 1 | #34/55 | 40th pct | Turnoversvs FBS TE |
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 Mackey 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 · 9 games
Home vs Road
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.6 | 33.8 | 16.2 | 0.4 |
| Road4g | 2.0 | 15.8 | 8.1 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins3g | 3.0 | 38.3 | 14.6 | 0.3 |
| Losses6g | 2.0 | 19.5 | 11.6 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.6 | 26.4 | 9.5 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.0 | 25.0 | 16.5 | 0.2 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort
47Mid-pack
Concern: fumbles lost (27th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · TE · 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
Grayson BarnesWest VirginiaLuke LindenmeyerNebraska· 83% simHouston ThomasUTSA· 81% simHayden HansenFlorida· 79% sim
Yards / catch
Long catch
Rec yards
Receptions
Rec TDs
Fumbles lost
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Complete TE
Dual-threat: blocks when needed, catches when needed. Coveted on both sides.
TE
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Xavier Gaines’s 2020 season.
Xavier Gaines
80%match
All-Conference USA
#2
Dominick Mazotti
78%
#3
Dominick Mazotti
77%
#4
Christian Ross
74%
#5
Xavier Gravette
74%
Matches Xavier on
Weight
TD rate
Height
Differs from Xavier on
Reception volume (lower)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Alec Holler's junior season at UCF (2023).
Alec Holler
83%match
#2
Christian Fitzpatrick
81%
#3
Andre Johnson
81%
#4
Miles Marshall
80%
#5
Blake Nowell
80%
Matches Alec on
Total EPA (college ability)
TD rate
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Rich Rodriguez
Pass share
38.7%
327 pass / 517 run
Plays / game
70.3
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
10.7%
272 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
2 coaches2023
Neal Brown
West Virginia
2025era →
Rich Rodriguez
West Virginia
Coaching transition mid-career: Neal Brown → Rich Rodriguez. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownRocklin, CA
Height6'4"
Weight223 lb
Class4
PositionTE
Jersey80
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamWest Virginia
ConferenceBig 12
Joined2025
Career arc3 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 | Northern Illinois | TE4 | #4270 | #4292 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Mid-American |
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | TE4 | #911 | #1154 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Mid-American |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | West Virginia | Big 12 | TE | 4 | No. 80 | 6-4 | 223 lb | Rocklin, CA |
| 2024 | Northern Illinois | Mid-American | TE | 4 | No. 80 | 6-4 | 223 lb | Rocklin, CA |
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | Mid-American | TE | 4 | No. 80 | 6-4 | 223 lb | Rocklin, CA |