CFB Zeitgeist Score
49
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by interceptions at the 90th percentile.
Luke Talich
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
25 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Notre Dame for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Safety · Notre Dame
Returning around him
- 37% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
- 6 Notre Dame players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -8 net (7 in / 15 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Notre Dame · Last season: 10-2 (AP #9) · Talent rank #9 · 2026 recruiting class #12
S · NOTRE DAME · FBS INDEPENDENTS
Luke Talich
- 3
- #28
- 6-4 | 209 lb
- Cody, WY
Heisman Heat
#4431
<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 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
Notre Dame
NFL
NFL Draft
—
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No recruiting profile is on file for this player. | ||
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.
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 Luke Talich
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 Luke Talich
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 11g
25Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
30Tackles
1.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 25): needs 27.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 25): needs 37.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 3/game over remaining 2.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 5/game over remaining 2.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Luke Talich is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Notre Dame's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 1.0 tackles for loss, and 3 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?
Coverage splash against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
25 66th
SOLO
19 76th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.0 65th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
3 76th
INT
3 94th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 24-27@ Miami | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 4 tackles |
| Wk 3 | L 40-41vs Texas A&M | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 56-13@ Arkansas | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 28-7vs Boise State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 36-7vs NC State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 34-24vs USC | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 25-10@ Boston College | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 49-10vs Navy | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 37-15@ Pittsburgh | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 13 | W 70-7vs Syracuse | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-20@ Stanford | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 25 | 19 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 3 |
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
2023Notre Dame10-3HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2025Notre Dame10-2HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 25 | 19 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 3 | -- |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 27 | 21 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 3 | -- |
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 | 25 | #1667/4942 | 66th 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 | 3 | #56/869 | 94th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 3 | #521/2184 | 76th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 19 | #1095/4584 | 76th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 4 | #484/578 | 16th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 1.3 | #538/578 | 7th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Defensive TD | 1 | #23/200 | 89th pct | Scoringvs 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 · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 3.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 1.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Losses2g | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the S cohort
49Mid-pack
Elite: interceptions (89th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · S · 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
Luke TalichNotre DameTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 70% simDalton JohnsonArizona· 69% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 68% sim
Interceptions
Passes defended
Solo tackles
Tackles
Tackles for loss
Sacks
QB hurries
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Centerfielder
Single-high range who erases the deep middle of the field.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to J'Marick Woods’s 2021 season.
J'Marick Woods
83%match
#2
Devin Kirkwood
80%
#3
Jordan Robinson
80%
#4
Allie Green IV
78%
#5
Lantz Russell
78%
Matches J'Marick on
Tackle volume
PD rate
Weight
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Lance Holtzclaw's junior season at Utah (2025).
Lance Holtzclaw
84%match
#2
Perry Fisher
81%
#3
Darris Smith
74%
#4
Coleman Bryson
70%
#5
Caleb Herring
69%
Matches Lance on
Class year
Tackle volume
PD rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
44.0%
321 pass / 409 run
Plays / game
60.8
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
4.7%
257 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coach2023
Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame
2025
Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame
Played his entire career under Marcus Freeman.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownCody, WY
Height6'4"
Weight209 lb
Class3
PositionS
Jersey28
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamNotre Dame
ConferenceFBS Independents
Joined2025
Career arc3 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 | Notre Dame | S3 | #4431 | #4068 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | FBS Independents |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | S3 | #7127 | #6968 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | FBS Independents |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Notre Dame | FBS Independents | S | 3 | No. 28 | 6-4 | 209 lb | Cody, WY |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | FBS Independents | S | 3 | No. 28 | 6-4 | 209 lb | Cody, WY |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | FBS Independents | S | 3 | No. 28 | 6-4 | 209 lb | Cody, WY |