cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / James Burns /UConn

James Burns

WR · UConn · Sr · #13

Limited signal — not enough coverage for a story yet.

ALUMNUSUConn 2023 alumnus

WR · UCONN · FBS INDEPENDENTS

James Burns

  • 4
  • #13
  • 5-8 | 157 lb
  • Charlotte, NC

CFB Zeitgeist WR Score

Awaiting

Heisman Heat

#3595

<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 WR AWARD

Biletnikoff

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 0 · Not on team

R01 · Scout team / redshirt

Scout team / redshirt. Developing behind the depth chart.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Development Trajectory · receiving yards

2021–2023
17.02021
21.02023

+24%

Modest growth (24%) across the multi-season window.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★
#2779 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2021–2023
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionWR
Class4
Jersey13
Measurements5-8 | 157 lb
HometownCharlotte, NC
Primary teamUConn

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 2-star No. 2779 recruit
Composite rating 0.7944 HighSchool
Signed with Miami (OH) 2019
Origin Rocky River Charlotte, NC, USA
Class Profile Context
2019 2-star | 0.7944 No. 2779 recruit | HighSchool | Miami (OH)

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 2 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Prairie View A&M 2024
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Oct 31, 2023
Season Move Context
2024 UConn -> Prairie View A&M 3-star | Immediate
2022 Miami (OH) -> -- 2-star | Immediate

Heisman Lens · 2023 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 19
Current nowcast#3595Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#3919Where 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 Miami (OH)

Composite

0.7944

#2779 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 James Burns

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 James Burns

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.

Scenario Explorer

Available for players with a qualifying signature metric (passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, sacks, etc.). The slider projects how a season finishes if the current pace holds.

What made this player interesting

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

James Burns's story is about how role and output meet each other. For UConn, 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.

Current place #3595 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 5.4% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Transfer path 2 portal moves

2023 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

WR season snapshot

2023 season snapshot | final

2023 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Receptions 2 0 rec TD | #886/1110 (20th pct)
Receiving yards 21 10.5 per catch | #916/1107 (17th pct)
Scrimmage yards 14 Total offensive yardage | #916/1107 (17th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Receiving weapon against FBS receiving peers.

Balanced profile

2023 Season · Final

2023 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
2 20th
YDS
21 17th
YPR
10.5 37th
TD
0 45th

Rushing

CAR
1 35th
YDS
-7 5th
YPC
-7.0 4th
TD
0 81st

Game Log

Week-by-week box

No per-game rows for this season yet — the table fills in as box scores arrive.

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

2021Miami (OH)6-6HC: Chuck Martin · Balanced
2023UConn3-9HC: Jim Mora · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2023UConn22110.50--
2021Miami (OH)11717.00--
Career2 loaded seasons33812.70--
SeasonTeam
2023UConn1-7------
2021Miami (OH)----------
Career2 loaded seasons1-7------
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Pass share

The player's share of a team's passing-game involvement. It is the fastest way to see whether the receiver is a true focal point or more of a complementary piece.

Role share

A blended workload view that accounts for catches, designed touches, and any return-game involvement that shapes the overall profile.

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.

Usage 5.4% 13.0% pass-game share | #321/1137 (72nd pct)
Return yards 0 0 return TD
Touchdowns 0 Across offense and returns | #615/1111 (45th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 2 #886/1110 20th pct Volumevs FBS WR
Receiving Receiving yards 21 #916/1107 17th pct Volumevs FBS WR
Receiving Receiving TD 0 #615/1111 45th pct Scoringvs FBS WR
Receiving Yards / catch 10.5 #700/1106 37th pct Efficiencyvs FBS WR
Usage Pass share 13.0% #321/1137 72nd pct Air-game usagevs FBS WR
Rushing Carries 1 #264/407 35th pct Volumevs FBS WR
Rushing Rush TD 0 #81/411 81st pct Scoringvs FBS WR
Rushing Rushing yards -7 #379/397 5th pct Volumevs FBS WR
Rushing Yards / carry -7.0 #380/393 4th pct Efficiencyvs FBS WR
Receiving Receiving LONG 24 #689/1105 38th pct Metricvs FBS WR
Usage 3rd-down usage 12.5% #111/1137 90th pct Money-down loadvs FBS WR
Usage 2nd-down usage 11.8% #63/1137 95th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS WR
Usage Passing-down usage 7.7% #406/1137 64th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS WR
Usage Role share 5.4% #442/1137 61st pct Share of team offensevs FBS WR
Usage Standard-down usage 4.7% #420/1137 63rd pct Base-situation sharevs FBS WR
Usage 1st-down usage 0.0% #1017/1137 11th pct Early-down loadvs FBS WR
Usage Rush share 0.0% #391/1137 66th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS WR

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

Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.

Splits

Per-game splits

Splits fill in once box scores from at least three games land for this season.

Box-score Savant card waits for a season-stat snapshot above the cohort floor. Returns once enough box-score volume lands.

Advanced Savant · WR · 2023

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 returns once this player clears the Savant metric floor (4+ scored bars).
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

Jim Mora

Pass share

53.5%

451 pass / 392 run

Plays / game

64.8

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.5%

314 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2021–2023

2 coaches
2021
Lou Spanos
UConn
2023
Jim Mora
UConn
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Lou Spanos → Jim Mora. 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.

HometownCharlotte, NC
Height5'8"
Weight157 lb
Class4
PositionWR
Jersey13

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
2023 UConn WR4 #3595 #3919 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | FBS Independents
2021 Miami (OH) WR4 #3266 #3549 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Mid-American

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2023 UConn FBS Independents WR 4 No. 13 | 5-8 | 157 lb | Charlotte, NC
2021 Miami (OH) Mid-American WR 4 No. 13 | 5-8 | 157 lb | Charlotte, NC