CFB Zeitgeist Score
39
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 67th percentile.
Kale Smith
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
20 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Oklahoma State for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Cornerback · Oklahoma State
Returning around him
- 44% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
- Transfer portal: -10 net (55 in / 65 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Oklahoma State · Last season: 1-11 · Talent rank #49 · 2026 recruiting class #53
CB · OKLAHOMA STATE · BIG 12
Kale Smith
- 4
- #10
- 5-11 | 180 lb
- Oklahoma City, OK
Heisman Heat
#13170
<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 · StarterR05 · Part-time starter
Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Oklahoma State
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds
#8 in market ▼ from #6 · 4 books
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3-star | 0.8444 | No. 1344 recruit | HighSchool | Oklahoma State |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| 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 16Heisman 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 Oklahoma State
Composite
0.8444
#1344 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
PENDINGThe 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 Kale Smith
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 Kale Smith
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the defensive totals stand
Through 7g
20Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
37Tackles
1.9Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 20): needs 10/game over remaining 6.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 20): needs 13.3/game over remaining 6.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1/game over remaining 6.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.7/game over remaining 6.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Kale Smith is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Oklahoma State's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 1.0 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
20 60th
SOLO
13 65th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
1 44th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 7 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 27-7vs UT Martin | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 3-69@ Oregon | 6 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 4 | L 12-19vs Tulsa | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 27-45vs Baylor | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | L 13-41@ Arizona | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 17-39vs Houston | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 0-42@ Texas Tech | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Total | 20 | 13 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2022Oklahoma State7-6HC: Mike Gundy · Balanced, fast tempo
2023Oklahoma State10-4HC: Mike Gundy · Pass-leaning
2025Oklahoma State1-11HC: Mike Gundy · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Oklahoma State | 20 | 13 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | Oklahoma State | 22 | 11 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Oklahoma State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 3 loaded seasons | 44 | 25 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 20 | #1998/4942 | 60th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 1.0 | #2051/4972 | 59th 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 | QB hurries | 1 | #1051/1878 | 44th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 13 | #1622/4584 | 65th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 1.0 | #543/578 | 6th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 1 | #546/578 | 6th pct | Takeawaysvs 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
Status—Awaiting 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 · 7 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 2.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Road3g | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins1g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Losses6g | 3.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 3.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+1g | — | — | — | — |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the CB cohort
39Mid-pack
Concern: sacks (23rd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · CB · 2024
Percentile Card
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
P4G5All FBS
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
Kale SmithOklahoma StateTyler MartinMassachusetts· 65% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 63% simRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 60% sim
Passes defended
QB hurries
Solo tackles
Tackles
Interceptions
Tackles for loss
Sacks
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Cover Corner
Steady in coverage; doesn't get beat deep and rarely gives up the big play.
CB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Rashad Ajayi’s 2022 season.
Rashad Ajayi
87%match
#2
BJ Sculark
86%
#3
Marcus Clarke
86%
#4
Sam Westfall
85%
#5
Tyreek Chappell
82%
Matches Rashad on
PD rate
Weight
Height
Differs from Rashad on
Class year (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Demarko Williams's senior season at Western Kentucky (2025).
Demarko Williams
95%match
#2
Noah Pierre
94%
#3
Lionell Whitaker
94%
#4
Donte Thompson
92%
#5
Prophet Brown
90%
Matches Demarko on
Class year
Height
Tackle volume
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mike Gundy
Pass share
47.5%
365 pass / 403 run
Plays / game
64.0
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
9.9%
223 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025
1 coach2022
Mike Gundy
Oklahoma State
2023
Mike Gundy
Oklahoma State
2025
Mike Gundy
Oklahoma State
Played his entire career under Mike Gundy.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownOklahoma City, OK
Height5'11"
Weight180 lb
Class4
PositionCB
Jersey10
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamOklahoma State
ConferenceBig 12
Joined2025
Career arc4 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 | Oklahoma State | CB4 | #13170 | #13109 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Big 12 |
| 2023 | Oklahoma State | CB4 | #11697 | #11527 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Big 12 |
| 2022 | Oklahoma State | CB4 | #11374 | #11256 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Big 12 |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | CB | 4 | No. 10 | 5-11 | 180 lb | Oklahoma City, OK |
| 2024 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | CB | 4 | No. 10 | 5-11 | 180 lb | Oklahoma City, OK |
| 2023 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | CB | 4 | No. 10 | 5-11 | 180 lb | Oklahoma City, OK |
| 2022 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | CB | 4 | No. 10 | 5-11 | 180 lb | Oklahoma City, OK |