cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Justin Sinclair /Hawai'i

Justin Sinclair

DB · Hawai'i · Sr · #21

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

18 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Hawai'i for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Hawai'i for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Hawai'i

Returning around him

  • 46% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • Transfer portal: +7 net (16 in / 9 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Hawai'i · Last season: 9-4 · Talent rank #120 · 2026 recruiting class #124

DB · HAWAI'I · MOUNTAIN WEST

Justin Sinclair

  • 4
  • #21
  • 5-10 | 185 lb
  • East Palo Alto, CA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

26

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 48th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#13312

<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
★★★
#79 national
CFB
College
Hawai'i
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDB
Class4
Jersey21
Measurements5-10 | 185 lb
HometownEast Palo Alto, CA
Primary teamHawai'i

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 79 recruit
Composite rating 0.8550 JUCO
Signed with Hawai'i 2023
Origin College of San Mateo Mountain View, CA, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8550 No. 79 recruit | JUCO | Hawai'i

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#13312Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#13402Where 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 Hawai'i

Composite

0.8550

#79 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 Justin Sinclair

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 Justin Sinclair

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 5g
18Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
47Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 18): needs 7.8/game over remaining 8.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 18): needs 10.2/game over remaining 8.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.8/game over remaining 8.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.2/game over remaining 8.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Justin Sinclair is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Hawai'i's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 tackles for loss, and -- 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 #13312 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 0.0 sacks | 0.0 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 18 12 solo | #2161/4942 (56th 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?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
18 56th
SOLO
12 62nd
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 5 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 6-40@ Arizona420.00.00
Wk 5W 44-35@ Air Force110.00.00
Wk 7W 44-26vs Utah State440.00.00
Wk 13L 10-38@ UNLV630.00.00Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 14W 27-7vs Wyoming320.00.01
Total18120.00.01
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

2023Hawai'i5-8HC: Timmy Chang · Pass-heavy
2025Hawai'i9-4HC: Timmy Chang · Pass-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025Hawai'i18120.00.01----
2023Hawai'i31211.00.01----
Career2 loaded seasons49331.00.02----
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 -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 1 Coverage disruption | #1241/2184 (43rd 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 18 #2161/4942 56th 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 Pass breakups 1 #1241/2184 43rd pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 12 #1735/4584 62nd 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 · 5 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home2g3.50.00.00.5
Road3g3.70.00.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g2.70.00.00.3
Losses2g5.00.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-73g3.00.00.00.0
Weeks 8+2g4.50.00.00.5

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort

26Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles for loss (7th).

Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe
Solo tackles#1735 / 2975 · 40th pct
12defe
Tackles#2161 / 2975 · 26th pct
18defe
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 · 6 metrics
Justin SinclairHawai'iTyler MartinMassachusetts· 58% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 53% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 52% sim
Passes defended
48
Sinclair
67
Martin
91
Ra-El
67
Fletcher
Solo tackles
40
Sinclair
87
Martin
100
Ra-El
91
Fletcher
Tackles
26
Sinclair
98
Martin
99
Ra-El
99
Fletcher
Sacks
24
Sinclair
24
Martin
24
Ra-El
24
Fletcher
QB hurries
22
Sinclair
22
Martin
22
Ra-El
92
Fletcher
Tackles for loss
7
Sinclair
63
Martin
56
Ra-El
28
Fletcher

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 Jeremiah Johnson’s 2025 season.

Jeremiah Johnson

89%match

NC State · 2025

#2

Will Jones II

South Florida · 2023

89%
#3

Dontae Manning

Oregon · 2021

89%
#4

Dontae Manning

Oregon · 2022

87%
#5

Stan Cross

UConn · 2022

86%

Matches Jeremiah on

Class year
Height
PD rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to DJ Taylor Jr.'s junior season at Arizona State (2022).

DJ Taylor Jr.

92%match

Arizona State · 2022

#2

Will Jones II

South Florida · 2023

92%
#3

CJ Burton

Charlotte · 2023

88%
#4

TJ Smith

Kansas State · 2022

88%
#5

Jacob Dingle

Cincinnati · 2022

88%

Matches DJ on

Class year
Height
Tackle volume

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Timmy Chang

Pass share

60.2%

540 pass / 357 run

Plays / game

69.0

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

6.8%

427 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Timmy Chang
Hawai'i
2025
Timmy Chang
Hawai'i

Played his entire career under Timmy Chang.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownEast Palo Alto, CA
Height5'10"
Weight185 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey21

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 Hawai'i DB4 #13312 #13402 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Mountain West
2023 Hawai'i DB4 #14557 #14674 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Mountain West

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Hawai'i Mountain West DB 4 No. 21 | 5-10 | 185 lb | East Palo Alto, CA
2024 Hawai'i Mountain West DB 4 No. 21 | 5-10 | 185 lb | East Palo Alto, CA
2023 Hawai'i Mountain West DB 4 No. 21 | 5-10 | 185 lb | East Palo Alto, CA