cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Marcellius Pulliam /Michigan State

Marcellius Pulliam

LB · Michigan State · Jr · #4

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

8 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 TRANSFERTransferred Michigan State → Coastal Carolina for 2026

Where He Ended Up · Transfer

Transferred to Coastal Carolina

2025Michigan State
2026Coastal Carolina

LB · MICHIGAN STATE · BIG TEN

Marcellius Pulliam

  • 3
  • #4
  • 6-2 | 239 lb
  • Tyrone, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

14

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 24th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#12351

<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 1 · 2-deep

R04 · Rotational

Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#760 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.

PositionLB
Class3
Jersey4
Measurements6-2 | 239 lb
HometownTyrone, GA
Primary teamMichigan State

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 760 recruit
Composite rating 0.8736 HighSchool
Signed with Miami 2023
Origin Sandy Creek Tyrone, GA, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8736 No. 760 recruit | HighSchool | Miami

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 2 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Coastal Carolina 2026
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 18, 2026
Season Move Context
2026 Michigan State -> Coastal Carolina 3-star | 0.8500 | Immediate
2024 Miami -> Michigan State 3-star | 0.8600 | Immediate

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#12351Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#12400Where 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 Miami

Composite

0.8736

#760 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 Marcellius Pulliam

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 Marcellius Pulliam

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 4g
8Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
26Tackles
0Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 8): needs 8/game over remaining 9.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 8): needs 10.2/game over remaining 9.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 0.7/game over remaining 9.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.1/game over remaining 9.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Marcellius Pulliam is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Michigan State's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 0.0 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 #12351 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 2 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 8 4 solo | #3089/4942 (38th pct)
TFL 0.0 Backfield disruption | #3020/4972 (39th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
8 38th
SOLO
4 34th
TFL
0.0 39th
SACK
0.0 65th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 4 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 23-6vs Western Michigan100.00.00
Wk 2W 42-40vs Boston College110.00.00
Wk 3W 41-24vs Youngstown State100.00.00
Wk 4L 31-45@ USC530.00.00Season-high 5 tackles
Total840.00.00
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

2023Miami7-6HC: Mario Cristobal · Balanced
2025Michigan State4-8HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Michigan State840.00.0------
2023Miami110.00.0--1--
Career2 loaded seasons950.00.0--1--
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 0 Coverage disruption
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 8 #3089/4942 38th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 0.0 #3020/4972 39th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 0.0 #1762/4972 65th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 4 #3005/4584 34th 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 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 · 4 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home3g1.00.00.00.0
Road1g5.00.00.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g1.00.00.00.0
Losses1g5.00.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-74g2.00.00.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

14Below cohort
6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: tackles (0th).

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe
Tackles for loss#2548 / 2975 · 7th pct
0.0defe
Solo tackles#2803 / 2975 · 4th pct
4defe
Tackles#2976 / 2975 · 0th pct
8defe

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
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
Marcellius PulliamMichigan StateTyler MartinMassachusetts· 40% simBlake FletcherAir Force· 35% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 33% sim
Sacks
24
Pulliam
24
Martin
24
Fletcher
24
Ra-El
QB hurries
22
Pulliam
22
Martin
92
Fletcher
22
Ra-El
Passes defended
18
Pulliam
67
Martin
67
Fletcher
91
Ra-El
Tackles for loss
7
Pulliam
63
Martin
28
Fletcher
56
Ra-El
Solo tackles
4
Pulliam
87
Martin
91
Fletcher
100
Ra-El
Tackles
0
Pulliam
98
Martin
99
Fletcher
99
Ra-El

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

DNA Match awaiting data — similarity scores compute once season stats clear the volume gate for this position cohort.

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jonathan Smith

Pass share

49.7%

378 pass / 382 run

Plays / game

63.3

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

11.2%

303 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

2 coaches
2023
Mel Tucker
Michigan State
2025
Jonathan Smith
Michigan State
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Mel Tucker → Jonathan Smith. 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.

HometownTyrone, GA
Height6'2"
Weight239 lb
Class3
PositionLB
Jersey4

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 Michigan State LB3 #12351 #12400 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten
2023 Miami LB3 #10461 #10244 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | ACC

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Michigan State Big Ten LB 3 No. 4 | 6-2 | 239 lb | Tyrone, GA
2024 Michigan State Big Ten LB 3 No. 4 | 6-2 | 239 lb | Tyrone, GA
2023 Miami ACC LB 3 No. 4 | 6-2 | 239 lb | Tyrone, GA