cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Ja'Marley Riddle /East Carolina

Ja'Marley Riddle

DB · East Carolina · So · #2

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

70 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to East Carolina for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to East Carolina for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · East Carolina

Returning around him

  • 51% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • 1 East Carolina player drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -3 net (23 in / 26 out)

2026 Award watch

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

East Carolina · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #78 · 2026 recruiting class #77

DB · EAST CAROLINA · AMERICAN ATHLETIC

Ja'Marley Riddle

  • 2
  • #2
  • 6-0 | 182 lb
  • Kingsland, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

64

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by interceptions at the 90th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#13532

<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

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1657 national
CFB
College
East Carolina
2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class2
Jersey2
Measurements6-0 | 182 lb
HometownKingsland, GA
Primary teamEast Carolina

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1657 recruit
Composite rating 0.8472 HighSchool
Signed with East Carolina 2024
Origin Camden County Kingsland, GA, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8472 No. 1657 recruit | HighSchool | East Carolina

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#13532Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#13355Where 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 East Carolina

Composite

0.8472

#1657 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'Marley Riddle

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'Marley Riddle

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
70Tackles
4Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
76Tackles
4.3Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 70): needs 10/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 70): needs 30/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.

Ja'Marley Riddle is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on East Carolina's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 4.0 tackles for loss, and 3 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 #13532 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.0 sacks | 4.0 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 70 38 solo | #268/4942 (95th pct)
TFL 4.0 Backfield disruption | #738/4972 (85th 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-disruption defender | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderCoverage splashHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
70 95th
SOLO
38 94th
TFL
4.0 85th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
6 93rd
INT
3 94th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 17-24@ NC State750.00.00
Wk 2W 56-3vs Campbell420.00.01
Wk 3W 38-0@ Coastal Carolina330.00.012
Wk 4L 13-34vs BYU620.00.02
Wk 5W 28-6vs Army730.50.00
Wk 7L 19-26@ Tulane962.00.00Season-high 9 tackles
Wk 8W 41-27vs Tulsa730.00.00
Wk 10W 45-14@ Temple310.50.010
Wk 11W 48-22vs Charlotte310.00.00
Wk 12W 31-27vs Memphis951.00.00
Wk 13L 24-58@ UTSA740.00.00
Wk 14W 42-3@ Florida Atlantic530.00.011
Total70384.00.036
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

2025East Carolina9-4HC: Blake Harrell · Run-leaning, fast tempo
SeasonTeam
2025East Carolina70384.00.063--
Career1 loaded season70384.00.063--
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 3 0 pick-six TD | #56/869 (94th pct)
Pass breakups 6 Coverage disruption | #144/2184 (93rd 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 70 #268/4942 95th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 4.0 #738/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Interceptions 3 #56/869 94th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 6 #144/2184 93rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense INT return yards 45 #126/578 78th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 38 #271/4584 94th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense INT return avg 15.0 #278/578 52nd pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Fumbles recovered 1 #103/736 86th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Ball Security Fumbles lost 0 #1/773 100th pct Turnoversvs 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
Home6g6.00.20.00.5
Road6g5.70.40.00.5

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins8g5.10.20.00.5
Losses4g7.20.50.00.5

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g6.00.40.00.8
Weeks 8+6g5.70.20.00.2

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

64Solid starter
8 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (93rd). Strength: tackles (90th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Passes defended#144 / 2975 · 94th pct
6defe
Tackles#268 / 2975 · 91st pct
70defe
Solo tackles#271 / 2975 · 90th pct
38defe
Interceptions#56 / 817 · 90th pct
3inte
Tackles for loss#736 / 2975 · 73rd pct
4.0defe
Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct
0fumb
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
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 · 8 metrics
Ja'Marley RiddleEast CarolinaTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 92% simAhmaad MosesSMU· 84% simTy BenefieldBoise State· 84% sim
Passes defended
94
Riddle
91
Ra-El
78
Moses
78
Benefield
Tackles
91
Riddle
99
Ra-El
99
Moses
99
Benefield
Solo tackles
90
Riddle
100
Ra-El
98
Moses
100
Benefield
Interceptions
90
Riddle
98
Moses
75
Benefield
Tackles for loss
73
Riddle
56
Ra-El
83
Moses
94
Benefield
Forced fumbles
47
Riddle
47
Ra-El
47
Moses
47
Benefield
Sacks
24
Riddle
24
Ra-El
63
Moses
24
Benefield
QB hurries
22
Riddle
22
Ra-El
22
Moses
55
Benefield

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

Player DNA

The Box Safety

Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.

S

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Brendon Luper’s 2020 season.

Brendon Luper

80%match

Texas State · 2020

#2

Jacquez Warren

Miami (OH) · 2023

75%
#3

Josh Hayes

Kansas State · 2022

73%
#4

Jaylen Thomas

San José State · 2025

72%
#5

Carrington Valentine

Kentucky · 2021

NFL Rd 7
71%

Matches Brendon on

Tackle volume
PD rate
Weight

Differs from Brendon on

Class year (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Zach Lutmer's sophomore season at Iowa (2025).

Zach Lutmer

86%match

Iowa · 2025

All-Big Ten
#2

Zach Williams

Tulsa · 2025

82%
#3

Nick Cross

Maryland · 2021

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 32
80%
#4

Ian Foster

Southern Miss · 2025

76%
#5

Carrington Valentine

Kentucky · 2021

NFL Rd 7
72%

Matches Zach on

Class year
Height
Tackle volume

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Blake Harrell

Pass share

44.5%

440 pass / 548 run

Plays / game

76.0

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.7%

343 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning, fast tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2025

1 coach
2025
Blake Harrell
East Carolina

Played his entire career under Blake Harrell.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownKingsland, GA
Height6'0"
Weight182 lb
Class2
PositionDB
Jersey2

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 East Carolina DB2 #13532 #13355 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | American Athletic

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 East Carolina American Athletic DB 2 No. 2 | 6-0 | 182 lb | Kingsland, GA
2024 East Carolina American Athletic DB 2 No. 2 | 6-0 | 182 lb | Kingsland, GA