CFB Zeitgeist Score
52
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by rec tds at the 66th percentile.
Michael Masunas
On Trialas of 2026-06-22
Michael Masunas is on trial in Michigan State's fan jury — the eye test against the résumé.
232REC YDS19REC3REC TD
Michigan State fans are litigating his worthiness — the eye test against the résumé.
medium confidence3 sources
Minority viewA vocal minority sees it the other way.
Read the story so far
AI narrative · updated 2026-06-22 · compiled from CFB Zeitgeist data
2026 Outlook
Returning to Michigan State for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Tight end · Michigan State
Returning around him
- 69% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- 2 Michigan State players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -18 net (28 in / 46 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Michigan State · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #38 · 2026 recruiting class #57
TE · MICHIGAN STATE · BIG TEN
Michael Masunas
- 3
- #81
- 6-5 | 259 lb
- Chandler, AZ
Heisman Heat
#3323
<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 TE AWARD
Mackey
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Development Trajectory · receiving yards
2023–2025+23100%
Up 23100% from first season to most-recent.
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Michigan State
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3-star | 0.8585 | No. 1046 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
0.8585
#1046 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 Michael Masunas
Fan sentiment ·
Belief Meter
61
Mixed Sentiment
Top Take
“”
Trajectory
Per-cohort trajectory lands when historical bucket data is aggregated.
Cohort divergence map
- Own fans · n=10
- Rivals · n=2
Rival Radar
How rival fanbases talk about Michael Masunas
Only 2 rival mention(s) — below the 4-mention floor for a defensible read.
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 receiving totals stand
Through 10g
232Rec yards
19Receptions
3Rec TDs
Per game
23.2Rec yards
2Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
301.6Rec yards
25Receptions
4Rec TDs
To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 232): needs 156/game over remaining 3.
To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 232): needs 256/game over remaining 3.
To hit 60-catch season (currently 19): needs 13.7/game over remaining 3.
To hit 80-catch season (currently 19): needs 20.3/game over remaining 3.
To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 3): needs 1.7/game over remaining 3.
To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 3): needs 2.3/game over remaining 3.
What made this player interesting
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Michael Masunas's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Michigan State, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.
2025 Season · Final
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
TE 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?
Receiving weapon against FBS receiving peers.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Receiving
REC
19 76th
YDS
232 81st
YPR
12.2 76th
TD
3 91st
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 10 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-6vs Western Michigan | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 | 14 | |
| Wk 2 | W 42-40vs Boston College | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 1 | 19 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-24vs Youngstown State | 1 | 28 | 28.0 | 1 | 28 | |
| Wk 4 | L 31-45@ USC | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | 13 | |
| Wk 7 | L 13-38vs UCLA | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 | 7 | |
| Wk 8 | L 13-38@ Indiana | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 8 | |
| Wk 9 | L 20-31vs Michigan | 1 | 21 | 21.0 | 1 | 21 | |
| Wk 12 | L 10-28vs Penn State | 3 | 29 | 9.7 | 0 | 14 | |
| Wk 13 | L 17-20@ Iowa | 3 | 47 | 15.7 | 0 | 20 | Season-high 47 yds |
| Wk 14 | W 38-28vs Maryland | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 14 | |
| Total | 19 | 232 | 13.3 | 3 | 28 |
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
2023Michigan State4-8HC: Mel Tucker · Balanced
2025Michigan State4-8HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Michigan State | 19 | 232 | 12.2 | 3 | -- |
| 2023 | Michigan State | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 20 | 233 | 11.7 | 3 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.
A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Receptions | 19 | #114/475 | 76th pct | Volumevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving yards | 232 | #91/475 | 81st pct | Volumevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving TD | 3 | #45/475 | 91st pct | Scoringvs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Yards / catch | 12.2 | #114/475 | 76th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Pass share | 6.7% | #198/468 | 58th pct | Air-game usagevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving LONG | 28 | #149/475 | 69th pct | Metricvs FBS TE |
| Usage | 2nd-down usage | 5.7% | #75/468 | 84th pct | Middle-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Role share | 3.6% | #159/468 | 66th pct | Share of team offensevs FBS TE |
| Usage | Standard-down usage | 3.6% | #157/468 | 67th pct | Base-situation sharevs FBS TE |
| Usage | Passing-down usage | 3.5% | #232/468 | 51st pct | Known-passing sharevs FBS TE |
| Usage | 1st-down usage | 3.2% | #198/468 | 58th pct | Early-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | 3rd-down usage | 2.0% | #301/468 | 36th pct | Money-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Rush share | 0.0% | #58/468 | 88th pct | Ground-game usagevs FBS TE |
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 Mackey 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 vs Road
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.0 | 23.4 | 13.8 | 0.4 |
| Road3g | 1.7 | 22.7 | 12.2 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 2.0 | 25.2 | 14.8 | 0.5 |
| Losses6g | 1.8 | 21.8 | 12.3 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 1.8 | 21.4 | 13.8 | 0.4 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 2.0 | 25.0 | 12.9 | 0.2 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort
52Mid-pack
Production sits in the middle of the position cohort across the board.
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · TE · 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
Michael MasunasMichigan StateLuke LindenmeyerNebraska· 78% simDecker DeGraafWashington· 75% simEthan ConnerTroy· 74% sim
Yards / catch
Rec TDs
Rec yards
Receptions
Long catch
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Red-Zone Weapon
The first name called near the goal line. Blocking is secondary.
TE
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Markeston Douglas’s 2022 season.
Markeston Douglas
76%match
#2
Thomas Odukoya
All-MAC
73%
#3
Markeston Douglas
73%
#4
Easton Dean
73%
#5
Mason Williams
72%
Matches Markeston on
Total EPA (college ability)
Yards / reception
TD rate
Differs from Markeston on
Weight (lower)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Tony Livingston's junior season at Florida (2025).
Tony Livingston
81%match
#2
Justyn Reid
76%
#3
Mason Williams
75%
#4
Matthew Hibner
NFL Rd 4
75%
#5
Thomas Yassmin
74%
Matches Tony on
Total EPA (college ability)
TD rate
Reception volume
Differs from Tony on
Recruiting rating (lower)
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
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 coaches2023
Mel Tucker
Michigan State
2025era →
Jonathan Smith
Michigan State
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.
HometownChandler, AZ
Height6'5"
Weight259 lb
Class3
PositionTE
Jersey81
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamMichigan State
ConferenceBig Ten
Joined2025
Career arc4 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 | Michigan State | TE3 | #3323 | #3387 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2023 | Michigan State | TE3 | #4566 | #4894 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Big Ten |
| 2022 | Michigan State | TE3 | #3952 | #4038 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Big Ten |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Michigan State | Big Ten | TE | 3 | No. 81 | 6-5 | 259 lb | Chandler, AZ |
| 2024 | Michigan State | Big Ten | TE | 3 | No. 81 | 6-5 | 259 lb | Chandler, AZ |
| 2023 | Michigan State | Big Ten | TE | 3 | No. 81 | 6-5 | 259 lb | Chandler, AZ |
| 2022 | Michigan State | Big Ten | TE | 3 | No. 81 | 6-5 | 259 lb | Chandler, AZ |