CFB Zeitgeist Score
39
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 67th percentile.
Korey Smith
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
38 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Middle Tennessee for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Linebacker · Middle Tennessee
Returning around him
- 99% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
- 1 Middle Tennessee player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: +1 net (19 in / 18 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Middle Tennessee · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #110 · 2026 recruiting class #98
LB · MIDDLE TENNESSEE · CONFERENCE USA
Korey Smith
- 2
- #58
- 5-11 | 225 lb
- Murfreesboro, TN
Heisman Heat
#15668
<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 LB AWARD
Butkus
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Middle Tennessee
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3-star | 0.8519 | No. 1509 recruit | HighSchool |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Boston College -> -- | 3-star | TBD |
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 —
Composite
0.8519
#1509 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 Korey 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 Korey 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 10g
38Tackles
0.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
49Tackles
0.7Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 38): needs 14/game over remaining 3.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 38): needs 20.7/game over remaining 3.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 2/game over remaining 3.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 3.3/game over remaining 3.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Korey Smith is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Middle Tennessee's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.5 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?
High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
38 80th
SOLO
19 76th
TFL
0.5 47th
SACK
0.0 65th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 10 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 14-34vs Austin Peay | 4 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | L 10-42@ Wisconsin | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 14-13@ Nevada | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 28-42vs Marshall | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 16-24@ Kennesaw State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 20-22vs Missouri State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 30-56vs Florida International | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 26-42@ Western Kentucky | 11 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 11 tackles |
| Wk 13 | W 31-17vs Sam Houston | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 31-24@ New Mexico State | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 38 | 19 | 0.5 | 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
2025Middle Tennessee3-9HC: Derek Mason · Pass-leaning
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Middle Tennessee | 38 | 19 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 38 | 19 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 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 | 38 | #976/4942 | 80th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 0.5 | #2658/4972 | 47th 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 | Solo tackles | 19 | #1095/4584 | 76th pct | Volumevs 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Butkus 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 · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road5g | 4.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins3g | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Losses7g | 3.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 2.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 6.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
39Mid-pack
Concern: tackles for loss (18th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · LB · 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
Korey SmithMiddle TennesseeTyler MartinMassachusetts· 79% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 75% simBrevin HamblinUtah State· 70% sim
Passes defended
Tackles
Solo tackles
Forced fumbles
Interceptions
Sacks
QB hurries
Tackles for loss
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Coverage 'Backer
Carries tight ends and patrols the middle of the field in coverage.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Kailep Edwards’s 2023 season.
Kailep Edwards
80%match
#2
Trevor Denbow
79%
#3
Tylan McNichols
79%
#4
Hudson Miller
78%
#5
Jayden Montgomery
78%
Matches Kailep on
TFL rate
PD rate
Weight
Differs from Kailep on
Height (lower)
Class year (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Josh Anglin's sophomore season at Tulsa (2025).
Josh Anglin
90%match
#2
Tylan McNichols
85%
#3
Sayed Abuhamdeh
81%
#4
Ike Esonwune
80%
#5
Jordan Jones
79%
Matches Josh on
Class year
Height
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Derek Mason
Pass share
61.3%
495 pass / 313 run
Plays / game
67.3
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
8.6%
373 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Derek Mason
Middle Tennessee
Played his entire career under Derek Mason.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownMurfreesboro, TN
Height5'11"
Weight225 lb
Class2
PositionLB
Jersey58
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamMiddle Tennessee
ConferenceConference USA
Joined2025
Career arc2 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 | Middle Tennessee | LB2 | #15668 | #15757 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Conference USA |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Middle Tennessee | Conference USA | LB | 2 | No. 58 | 5-11 | 225 lb | Murfreesboro, TN |
| 2024 | Middle Tennessee | Conference USA | LB | 2 | No. 58 | 5-11 | 225 lb | Murfreesboro, TN |