cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Ja'Den Mcburrows /App State

Ja'Den Mcburrows

DB · App State · Sr · #18

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

11 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to App State for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to App State for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · App State

Returning around him

  • 14% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • Transfer portal: -3 net (38 in / 41 out)

2026 Award watch

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

App State · Last season: 5-8 · Talent rank #79 · 2026 recruiting class #116

DB · APP STATE · SUN BELT

Ja'Den Mcburrows

  • 4
  • #18
  • 5-11 | 194 lb
  • Fort Lauderdale, FL

CFB Zeitgeist Score

34

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 47th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#10310

<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 1 · 2-deep

R03 · Backup

Backup. On the two-deep, pushing for snaps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#555 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2021–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class4
Jersey18
Measurements5-11 | 194 lb
HometownFort Lauderdale, FL
Primary teamApp State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 555 recruit
Composite rating 0.8770 HighSchool
Signed with Michigan 2021
Origin St. Thomas Aquinas Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Class Profile Context
2021 3-star | 0.8770 No. 555 recruit | HighSchool | Michigan

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#10310Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#10235Where 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 Michigan

Composite

0.8770

#555 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 Ja'Den Mcburrows

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 Ja'Den Mcburrows

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 2g
11Tackles
2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
72Tackles
13Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 11): needs 6.3/game over remaining 11.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 11): needs 8.1/game over remaining 11.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.5/game over remaining 11.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.9/game over remaining 11.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Ja'Den Mcburrows is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on App State's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 2.0 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 #10310 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

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 11 7 solo | #2749/4942 (44th pct)
TFL 2.0 Backfield disruption | #1443/4972 (71st 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?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
11 44th
SOLO
7 48th
TFL
2.0 71st
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
1 44th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd
INT
1 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 2 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 34-11@ Charlotte631.00.010Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 2W 20-13vs Lindenwood541.00.01
Total1172.00.011
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

2021Michigan12-1HC: Jim Harbaugh · Run-leaning
2023Michigan15-0HC: Jim Harbaugh · Run-heavy, slow tempo
2024Michigan8-5HC: Sherrone Moore · Run-heavy
2025App State5-8HC: Dowell Loggains · Pass-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025App State1172.00.011--
2024Michigan440.00.01----
2023Michigan752.00.0--1--
2021Michigan210.00.01----
Career4 loaded seasons24174.00.032--
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 1 Coverage disruption | #1241/2184 (43rd 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 11 #2749/4942 44th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 2.0 #1443/4972 71st 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 1 #1241/2184 43rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 1 #1051/1878 44th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 7 #2403/4584 48th 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 · 2 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home1g5.01.00.01.0
Road1g6.01.00.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins2g5.51.00.00.5

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-72g5.51.00.00.5

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

34Below cohort
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles (5th).

QB hurries#1007 / 2975 · 55th pct
1defe
Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe
Tackles for loss#1424 / 2975 · 47th pct
2.0defe
Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct
1inte
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
Solo tackles#2397 / 2975 · 17th pct
7defe
Tackles#2749 / 2975 · 6th pct
11defe

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
Ja'Den McburrowsApp StateTyler MartinMassachusetts· 54% simRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 49% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 48% sim
QB hurries
55
Mcburrows
22
Martin
55
Fitzgerald
92
Fletcher
Passes defended
48
Mcburrows
67
Martin
86
Fitzgerald
67
Fletcher
Tackles for loss
47
Mcburrows
63
Martin
85
Fitzgerald
28
Fletcher
Interceptions
31
Mcburrows
31
Martin
31
Fitzgerald
Sacks
24
Mcburrows
24
Martin
24
Fitzgerald
24
Fletcher
Solo tackles
17
Mcburrows
87
Martin
100
Fitzgerald
91
Fletcher
Tackles
6
Mcburrows
98
Martin
99
Fitzgerald
99
Fletcher

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

DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Dowell Loggains

Pass share

55.6%

508 pass / 405 run

Plays / game

70.2

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

6.7%

389 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025

2 coaches
2021
Shawn Clark
App State
2023
Shawn Clark
App State
2024
Shawn Clark
App State
2025
Dowell Loggains
App State
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Shawn Clark → Dowell Loggains. 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.

HometownFort Lauderdale, FL
Height5'11"
Weight194 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey18

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 Michigan DB4 #10310 #10235 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten
2023 Michigan DB4 #3303 #2918 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big Ten
2022 Michigan DB4 #4055 #3633 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big Ten
2021 Michigan DB4 #4892 #4674 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big Ten

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 App State Sun Belt DB 4 No. 18 | 5-11 | 194 lb | Fort Lauderdale, FL
2024 Michigan Big Ten DB 4 No. 18 | 5-11 | 194 lb | Fort Lauderdale, FL
2023 Michigan Big Ten DB 4 No. 18 | 5-11 | 194 lb | Fort Lauderdale, FL
2022 Michigan Big Ten DB 4 No. 18 | 5-11 | 194 lb | Fort Lauderdale, FL
2021 Michigan Big Ten DB 4 No. 18 | 5-11 | 194 lb | Fort Lauderdale, FL