CFB Zeitgeist Score
54
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 85th percentile.
Malakai Williams
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
11 TACKLES · 2.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Boise State for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Edge · Boise State
Returning around him
- 58% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- 1 Boise State player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -8 net (11 in / 19 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Boise State · Last season: 9-5 (AP #25) · Talent rank #81 · 2026 recruiting class #62
EDGE · BOISE STATE · MOUNTAIN WEST
Malakai Williams
- 4
- #15
- 6-5 | 245 lb
- Chandler, AZ
Heisman Heat
Awaiting
Not on the live Heisman board this week.
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
—
TOP DEFENSE AWARD
Nagurski
—
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
Boise State
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds
#21 in market ▼ from #18 · 6 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 | 2-star | 0.7733 | No. 2675 recruit | HighSchool | Idaho |
| 2020 | 3-star | 0.8100 | No. 2503 recruit | HighSchool | Idaho |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Idaho -> Boise State | 3-star | Immediate |
Heisman Lens
Where the model places this player relative to the rest of the Heisman field.
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 Idaho
Composite
0.7733
#2675 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 Malakai Williams
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 Malakai Williams
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 9g
11Tackles
4Tackles for loss
2.5Sacks
Per game
1Tackles
0.4Tackles for loss
0.3Sacks
Projected (13g)
16Tackles
5.8Tackles for loss
3.6Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 11): needs 17.2/game over remaining 4.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 11): needs 22.2/game over remaining 4.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 2.5): needs 0.9/game over remaining 4.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 2.5): needs 1.9/game over remaining 4.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Malakai Williams is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Boise State's defense, with 2.5 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.
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-disruption defender against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
11 44th
SOLO
5 39th
TFL
4.0 85th
SACK
2.5 92nd
QBH
7 96th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 9 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 51-14vs Eastern Washington | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 49-37@ Air Force | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 3 tackles |
| Wk 5 | W 47-14vs App State | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 41-25vs New Mexico | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 56-31vs UNLV | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 24-3@ Nevada | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 7-30vs Fresno State | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 25-24@ Utah State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | L 10-38@ Washington | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 11 | 5 | 4.0 | 2.5 | — | 0 |
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
2025Boise State9-5HC: Spencer Danielson · Run-leaning
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Boise State | 11 | 5 | 4.0 | 2.5 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 11 | 5 | 4.0 | 2.5 | -- | -- | -- |
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 | 11 | #2749/4942 | 44th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 4.0 | #738/4972 | 85th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 2.5 | #393/4972 | 92nd pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 7 | #69/1878 | 96th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 5 | #2793/4584 | 39th 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
Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins7g | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Losses2g | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the EDGE cohort
54Mid-pack
Elite: qb hurries (96th). Strength: sacks (85th). Concern: tackles (5th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · EDGE · 2025
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
Malakai WilliamsBoise StateMarcAnthony ParkerNavy· 47% simEthan WesloskiNorth Texas· 46% simMicah DaveyUTEP· 45% sim
QB hurries
Sacks
Tackles for loss
Passes defended
Solo tackles
Tackles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Speed Rusher
Bends the edge and wins with first-step quickness. Lighter frame, relentless motor.
EDGE
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Malachi Lawrence’s 2023 season.
Malachi Lawrence
81%match
NFL Rd 1 · Pk 23
#2
Vincent Anthony
77%
#3
KJ Henry
77%
#4
Malachi Lawrence
All-Big 12NFL Rd 1 · Pk 23
76%
#5
Jaylen Harrell
NFL Rd 7
76%
Matches Malachi on
Sack rate
TFL rate
Weight
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Tyler Baron's senior season at Tennessee (2023).
Tyler Baron
86%match
NFL Rd 5
#2
Max Llewellyn
NFL Rd 7
86%
#3
Kenyatta Jackson
79%
#4
Vincent Anthony
78%
#5
Jordan Strachan
78%
Matches Tyler on
Class year
Height
TFL rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Spencer Danielson
Pass share
46.6%
472 pass / 540 run
Plays / game
72.3
14 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.4%
358 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Spencer Danielson
Boise State
Played his entire career under Spencer Danielson.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownChandler, AZ
Height6'5"
Weight245 lb
Class4
PositionEDGE
Jersey15
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamBoise State
ConferenceMountain West
Joined2025
Career arc1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This player hasn’t appeared on a Heisman ballot tracked by the model. | |||||||||
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Boise State | Mountain West | EDGE | 4 | No. 15 | 6-5 | 245 lb | Chandler, AZ |