cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Lance Holtzclaw /Utah

Lance Holtzclaw

DE · Utah · Jr · #15

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

26 TACKLES · 1.5 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Utah for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Utah for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive end · Utah

Returning around him

  • 14% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
  • 3 Utah players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -3 net (17 in / 20 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Utah · Last season: 11-2 (AP #15) · Talent rank #44 · 2026 recruiting class #40

DE · UTAH · BIG 12

Lance Holtzclaw

  • 3
  • #15
  • 6-3 | 227 lb
  • Boston, MA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

61

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 74th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#9830

<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 DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#663 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDE
Class3
Jersey15
Measurements6-3 | 227 lb
HometownBoston, MA
Primary teamUtah

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 663 recruit
Composite rating 0.8748 HighSchool
Signed with -- 2022
Origin Desert Ridge Mesa, AZ, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8748 No. 663 recruit | HighSchool

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#9830Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#9843Where 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 —

Composite

0.8748

#663 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 Lance Holtzclaw

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 Lance Holtzclaw

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 10g
26Tackles
4Tackles for loss
1.5Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
34Tackles
5.2Tackles for loss
1.9Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 26): needs 18/game over remaining 3.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 26): needs 24.7/game over remaining 3.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1.5): needs 1.5/game over remaining 3.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1.5): needs 2.8/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.

Lance Holtzclaw is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Utah's defense, with 1.5 sacks, 4.0 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 #9830 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

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 26 17 solo | #1609/4942 (67th pct)
TFL 4.0 Backfield disruption | #738/4972 (85th pct)
Sacks 1.5 Pass-rush finish | #724/4972 (85th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defender

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
26 67th
SOLO
17 73rd
TFL
4.0 85th
SACK
1.5 85th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
3 76th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 43-10@ UCLA110.00.00
Wk 2W 63-9vs Cal Poly200.50.50
Wk 5W 48-14@ West Virginia532.00.00Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 7W 42-10vs Arizona State210.00.00
Wk 8L 21-24@ BYU210.50.00
Wk 9W 53-7vs Colorado110.00.01
Wk 10W 45-14vs Cincinnati320.00.00
Wk 12W 55-28@ Baylor320.00.00
Wk 14W 31-21@ Kansas550.00.01
BowlW 44-22vs Nebraska211.01.01
Total26174.01.53
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

2023Washington14-1HC: Kalen DeBoer · Pass-leaning
2024Washington6-7HC: Jedd Fisch · Balanced
2025Utah11-2HC: Kyle Whittingham · Run-heavy
SeasonTeam
2025Utah26174.01.53----
2024Washington851.01.0------
2023Washington541.01.0------
Career3 loaded seasons39266.03.53----
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 3 Coverage disruption | #521/2184 (76th 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 26 #1609/4942 67th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 4.0 #738/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.5 #724/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 3 #521/2184 76th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 17 #1252/4584 73rd 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 Lombardi 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/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home5g2.00.30.30.4
Road5g3.20.50.00.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins9g2.70.40.20.3
Losses1g2.00.50.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-75g2.40.70.30.2
Weeks 8+5g2.80.10.00.4

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DE cohort

61Solid starter
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Passes defended#517 / 2975 · 78th pct
3defe
Sacks#707 / 2975 · 74th pct
1.5defe
Tackles for loss#736 / 2975 · 73rd pct
4.0defe
Solo tackles#1252 / 2975 · 56th pct
17defe
Tackles#1609 / 2975 · 45th pct
26defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · DE · 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
Lance HoltzclawUtahMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 74% simAhmaad MosesSMU· 72% simOwen LongColorado State· 71% sim
Passes defended
78
Holtzclaw
67
Montgomery
78
Moses
91
Long
Sacks
74
Holtzclaw
89
Montgomery
63
Moses
80
Long
Tackles for loss
73
Holtzclaw
85
Montgomery
83
Moses
80
Long
Solo tackles
56
Holtzclaw
82
Montgomery
98
Moses
99
Long
Tackles
45
Holtzclaw
99
Montgomery
99
Moses
100
Long
QB hurries
22
Holtzclaw
22
Montgomery
22
Moses
22
Long

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

Player DNA

The Versatile End

Holds up against run and pass without a single dominant trait.

EDGE

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Caleb Tannor’s 2021 season.

Caleb Tannor

88%match

Nebraska · 2021

#2

Caleb Tannor

Nebraska · 2022

86%
#3

Jonathan Bax

TCU · 2025

84%
#4

Max Michel

Buffalo · 2022

77%
#5

Miles Capers

Vanderbilt · 2024

77%

Matches Caleb on

TFL rate
Sack rate
Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Antonio Watts's junior season at Louisville (2025).

Antonio Watts

87%match

Louisville · 2025

#2

Daymion Sanford

Texas A&M · 2025

82%
#3

Charlie Gray

Marshall · 2022

81%
#4

Owen Pewee

UTSA · 2024

81%
#5

Jibreel Al-Amin

Marshall · 2025

80%

Matches Antonio on

Class year
Sack rate
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Kyle Whittingham

Pass share

39.8%

371 pass / 562 run

Plays / game

71.8

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.2%

289 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Kyle Whittingham
Utah
2024
Kyle Whittingham
Utah
2025
Kyle Whittingham
Utah

Played his entire career under Kyle Whittingham.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

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

HometownBoston, MA
Height6'3"
Weight227 lb
Class3
PositionDE
Jersey15

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 Washington DE3 #9830 #9843 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten
2023 Washington DE3 #5715 #5604 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Pac-12
2022 Washington DE3 #10454 #10133 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Pac-12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Utah Big 12 DE 3 No. 15 | 6-3 | 227 lb | Boston, MA
2024 Washington Big Ten DE 3 No. 15 | 6-3 | 227 lb | Boston, MA
2023 Washington Pac-12 DE 3 No. 15 | 6-3 | 227 lb | Boston, MA
2022 Washington Pac-12 DE 3 No. 15 | 6-3 | 227 lb | Boston, MA