cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Isaac Paul /Kennesaw State

Isaac Paul

DB · Kennesaw State · So · #9

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

57 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Kennesaw State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Kennesaw State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Kennesaw State

Returning around him

  • 46% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • Transfer portal: +10 net (29 in / 19 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Kennesaw State · Last season: 10-4 · Talent rank #132 · 2026 recruiting class #137

DB · KENNESAW STATE · CONFERENCE USA

Isaac Paul

  • 2
  • #9
  • 6-0 | 185 lb
  • Panama City, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

40

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 67th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#15115

<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 DB AWARD

Jim Thorpe

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#2008 national
CFB
College
Kennesaw State
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class2
Jersey9
Measurements6-0 | 185 lb
HometownPanama City, FL
Primary teamKennesaw State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 2008 recruit
Composite rating 0.8237 HighSchool
Signed with Kennesaw State 2023
Origin Mosley Lynn Haven, FL, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8237 No. 2008 recruit | HighSchool | Kennesaw State

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#15115Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#15268Where 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 Kennesaw State

Composite

0.8237

#2008 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 Isaac Paul

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 Isaac Paul

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
57Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
5Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
62Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 57): needs 23/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 57): needs 43/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 6/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 10/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.

Isaac Paul is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Kennesaw State's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 tackles for loss, and 1 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 #15115 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Honors spine 1 honors loaded

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 57 31 solo | #449/4942 (91st pct)
TFL 0.0 Backfield disruption | #3020/4972 (39th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th 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
57 91st
SOLO
31 89th
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 9-10@ Wake Forest740.00.00Season-high 8 tackles
Wk 2L 9-56@ Indiana320.00.00
Wk 4W 28-21vs Arkansas State310.00.01
Wk 5W 24-16vs Middle Tennessee220.00.00
Wk 7W 35-7vs Louisiana Tech610.00.01
Wk 9W 45-26@ Florida International430.00.00
Wk 11W 24-21@ New Mexico State430.00.010
Wk 12L 26-35@ Jacksonville State630.00.00
Wk 13W 41-34vs Missouri State530.00.00
Wk 14W 48-42@ Liberty420.00.00
Wk 15W 19-15@ Jacksonville State540.00.00
BowlL 6-41@ Western Michigan830.00.00
Total57310.00.012
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

2025Kennesaw State10-4HC: Jerry Mack · Run-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025Kennesaw State57310.00.021--
Career1 loaded season57310.00.021--
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 1 0 pick-six TD | #308/869 (65th pct)
Pass breakups 2 Coverage disruption | #792/2184 (64th pct)
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 57 #449/4942 91st 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 Interceptions 1 #308/869 65th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 2 #792/2184 64th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 31 #483/4584 89th 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 Thorpe 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
Home4g4.00.00.00.5
Road8g5.10.00.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins8g4.10.00.00.2
Losses4g6.00.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g4.80.00.00.3
Weeks 8+6g4.70.00.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

40Mid-pack
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles (84th). Strength: solo tackles (83rd). Concern: tackles for loss (7th).

Tackles#449 / 2975 · 85th pct
57defe
Solo tackles#483 / 2975 · 83rd pct
31defe
Passes defended#777 / 2975 · 67th pct
2defe
Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct
1inte
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct
0.0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · DB · 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 · 7 metrics
Isaac PaulKennesaw StateTyler MartinMassachusetts· 78% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 76% simBrevin HamblinUtah State· 70% sim
Tackles
85
Paul
98
Martin
99
Ra-El
99
Hamblin
Solo tackles
83
Paul
87
Martin
100
Ra-El
99
Hamblin
Passes defended
67
Paul
67
Martin
91
Ra-El
98
Hamblin
Interceptions
31
Paul
31
Martin
31
Hamblin
Sacks
24
Paul
24
Martin
24
Ra-El
74
Hamblin
QB hurries
22
Paul
22
Martin
22
Ra-El
22
Hamblin
Tackles for loss
7
Paul
63
Martin
56
Ra-El
56
Hamblin

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

Player DNA

The Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Carter Davis’s 2025 season.

Carter Davis

82%match

Boston College · 2025

#2

Jeremiah Vessel

UAB · 2025

81%
#3

Kentrell Webb

Houston · 2024

80%
#4

Asaad Brown Jr.

NC State · 2025

81%
#5

Ethan Slade

BYU · 2023

81%

Matches Carter on

Class year
PD rate
Tackle volume

Differs from Carter on

Height (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Carter Davis's sophomore season at Boston College (2025).

Carter Davis

87%match

Boston College · 2025

#2

Ike Rowell

UAB · 2023

87%
#3

Jaylen McClain

Ohio State · 2025

All-Big Ten
83%
#4

Sione Vaki

Utah · 2023

NFL Rd 4
83%
#5

Kaleb Harris

Auburn · 2025

81%

Matches Carter on

Class year
PD rate
Tackle volume

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jerry Mack

Pass share

44.2%

422 pass / 533 run

Plays / game

68.2

14 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

7.4%

282 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Jerry Mack
Kennesaw State

Played his entire career under Jerry Mack.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownPanama City, FL
Height6'0"
Weight185 lb
Class2
PositionDB
Jersey9

Trophy Case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

1 entries
🎖

ALL-CONFERENCE

All-Conf mention (2024)

All-Conference USA

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

All-Conference

1 all-conference honor

Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
2024 All-Conference USA all_conference Kennesaw State | Conference USA DB

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Kennesaw State DB2 #15115 #15268 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Conference USA

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Kennesaw State Conference USA DB 2 No. 9 | 6-0 | 185 lb | Panama City, FL
2024 Kennesaw State Conference USA DB 2 No. 9 | 6-0 | 185 lb | Panama City, FL