CFB Zeitgeist Score
55
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by interceptions at the 75th percentile.
Makell Esteen
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
51 TACKLES · 0.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Washington for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Safety · Washington
Returning around him
- 42% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
- 7 Washington players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -9 net (14 in / 23 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Washington · Last season: 9-4 (AP #24) · Talent rank #37 · 2026 recruiting class #23
S · WASHINGTON · BIG TEN
Makell Esteen
- 4
- #24
- 6-1 | 205 lb
- Hawthorne, CA
Heisman Heat
#9960
<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
Washington
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3-star | 0.8752 | No. 600 recruit | HighSchool |
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 —
Composite
0.8752
#600 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 Makell Esteen
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 Makell Esteen
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 12g
51Tackles
1.5Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
Per game
4Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
55Tackles
1.6Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 51): needs 29/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 51): needs 49/game over remaining 1.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 5.5/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 9.5/game over remaining 1.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Makell Esteen is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Washington's defense, with 0.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 2 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 | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
51 88th
SOLO
35 92nd
TFL
1.5 64th
SACK
0.5 70th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
1 43rd
INT
2 87th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-21vs Colorado State | 9 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | Season-high 9 tackles |
| Wk 2 | W 70-10vs UC Davis | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 59-24@ Washington State | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 6-24vs Ohio State | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 24-20@ Maryland | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 38-19vs Rutgers | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 7-24@ Michigan | 8 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 42-25vs Illinois | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 10-13@ Wisconsin | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 49-13vs Purdue | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 48-14@ UCLA | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Bowl | W 38-10vs Boise State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 51 | 35 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2 | 1 |
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
2022Washington11-2HC: Kalen DeBoer · Pass-leaning
2023Washington14-1HC: Kalen DeBoer · Pass-leaning
2024Washington6-7HC: Jedd Fisch · Balanced
2025Washington9-4HC: Jedd Fisch · Run-leaning
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Washington | 51 | 35 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 2 | -- |
| 2024 | Washington | 43 | 25 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Washington | 19 | 10 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 | -- |
| 2022 | Washington | 7 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 | -- |
| Career | 4 loaded seasons | 120 | 75 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | -- |
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 | 51 | #579/4942 | 88th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 1.5 | #1771/4972 | 64th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.5 | #1501/4972 | 70th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 2 | #114/869 | 87th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 1 | #1241/2184 | 43rd pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 35 | #353/4584 | 92nd 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
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 · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 4.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 4.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 4.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Losses3g | 5.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 4.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 4.0 | 0.2 | 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 S cohort
55Solid starter
Elite: solo tackles (87th). Strength: tackles (80th). 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
Makell EsteenWashingtonDevin LafayetteTroy· 80% simJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 79% simDalton JohnsonArizona· 78% sim
Solo tackles
Tackles
Interceptions
Sacks
Passes defended
Tackles for loss
QB hurries
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 Maxwell Worship’s 2021 season.
Maxwell Worship
89%match
#2
Scotty Edwards
88%
#3
Bailey Despanie
All-AAC
87%
#4
Muhammed Jammeh
87%
#5
Yamarus Banks
84%
Matches Maxwell on
PD rate
Tackle volume
Height
Differs from Maxwell on
Class year (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Mitch Leigber's senior season at Stanford (2024).
Mitch Leigber
95%match
#2
Scotty Edwards
94%
#3
Wesley Walker
89%
#4
Kendrick Simpkins
All-Conference USA
88%
#5
Marcus Fuqua
All-MAC
87%
Matches Mitch on
Class year
Height
PD rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jedd Fisch
Pass share
44.9%
370 pass / 454 run
Plays / game
63.4
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
9.3%
268 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025
2 coaches2022
Kalen DeBoer
Washington
2023
Kalen DeBoer
Washington
2024era →
Jedd Fisch
Washington
2025
Jedd Fisch
Washington
Coaching transition mid-career: Kalen DeBoer → Jedd Fisch. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownHawthorne, CA
Height6'1"
Weight205 lb
Class4
PositionS
Jersey24
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamWashington
ConferenceBig Ten
Joined2025
Career arc5 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 | Washington | S4 | #9960 | #9986 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2023 | Washington | S4 | #4394 | #4317 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Pac-12 |
| 2022 | Washington | S4 | #8882 | #8773 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Pac-12 |
| 2021 | Washington | S4 | #11486 | #11544 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Pac-12 |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Washington | Big Ten | S | 4 | No. 24 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Hawthorne, CA |
| 2024 | Washington | Big Ten | S | 4 | No. 24 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Hawthorne, CA |
| 2023 | Washington | Pac-12 | S | 4 | No. 24 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Hawthorne, CA |
| 2022 | Washington | Pac-12 | S | 4 | No. 24 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Hawthorne, CA |
| 2021 | Washington | Pac-12 | S | 4 | No. 24 | 6-1 | 205 lb | Hawthorne, CA |