cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Namdi Obiazor /TCU

Namdi Obiazor

LB · TCU · Sr · #4

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

88 TACKLES · 2 SACKS

2026 NFL DRAFTDrafted by New England — Rd 6, Pick 31, #212 overall

Where He Ended Up · NFL

New England2026 NFL rookie season

#212Rd 6 · Pick 31
New England2026 NFL rookie season

LB · TCU · BIG 12

Namdi Obiazor

  • 4
  • #4
  • 6-3 | 220 lb
  • Eden Prairie, MN

CFB Zeitgeist Score

74

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 80th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#8413

<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 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#39 national
CFB
College
TCU
2022–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
R6 &middot; #212
New England &middot; 2026

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionLB
Class4
Jersey4
Measurements6-3 | 220 lb
HometownEden Prairie, MN
Primary teamTCU

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 39 recruit
Composite rating 0.8489 JUCO
Signed with TCU 2022
Origin Iowa Western C.C. Eden Prairie, MN, USA
Class Profile Context
2022 3-star | 0.8489 No. 39 recruit | JUCO | TCU

Transfer Arc

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

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
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 16
Current nowcast#8413Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#9069Where 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 TCU

Composite

0.8489

#39 national

NFL Draft

2026 · Rd 6, Pick 31

#212 overall · New England

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 Namdi Obiazor

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 Namdi Obiazor

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

final
Through 13g
88Tackles
4Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
7Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Final
88Tackles
4Tackles for loss
2Sacks

✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 88.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Namdi Obiazor is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on TCU's defense, with 2.0 sacks, 4.0 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.

Current place #8413 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 2.0 sacks | 4.0 TFL

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 88 46 solo | #97/4942 (98th pct)
TFL 4.0 Backfield disruption | #738/4972 (85th pct)
Sacks 2.0 Pass-rush finish | #491/4972 (90th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderCoverage splashHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
88 98th
SOLO
46 98th
TFL
4.0 85th
SACK
2.0 90th
QBH
1 44th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
1 43rd
INT
2 87th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 48-14@ North Carolina330.00.00
Wk 3W 42-21vs Abilene Christian931.01.00
Wk 4W 35-24vs SMU530.00.00
Wk 5L 24-27@ Arizona State720.00.00
Wk 6W 35-21vs Colorado1051.01.011
Wk 7L 28-41@ Kansas State1180.00.00Season-high 11 tackles
Wk 8W 42-36vs Baylor1160.00.010
Wk 9W 23-17@ West Virginia300.00.00
Wk 11L 17-20vs Iowa State410.00.00
Wk 12L 13-44@ BYU431.00.00
Wk 13W 17-14@ Houston1090.00.00
Wk 14W 45-23vs Cincinnati421.00.00
BowlW 30-27vs USC710.00.00
Total88464.02.021
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

2022TCU13-2HC: Sonny Dykes · Run-leaning
2023TCU5-7HC: Sonny Dykes · Pass-leaning, fast tempo
2024TCU9-4HC: Sonny Dykes · Pass-leaning
2025TCU9-4HC: Sonny Dykes · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025TCU88464.02.012--
2024TCU81416.52.511--
2023TCU75446.04.02----
2022TCU44280.50.02----
Career4 loaded seasons28815917.08.563--
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 2 0 pick-six TD | #114/869 (87th pct)
Pass breakups 1 Coverage disruption | #1241/2184 (43rd pct)
QB pressures 1 Quarterback hurries | #1051/1878 (44th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 88 #97/4942 98th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 4.0 #738/4972 85th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 2.0 #491/4972 90th 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 QB hurries 1 #1051/1878 44th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 46 #113/4584 98th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense INT return yards 28 #232/578 60th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense INT return avg 14.0 #292/578 50th pct Takeawaysvs 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 · 13 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home7g7.10.40.30.1
Road6g6.30.20.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins9g6.90.30.20.1
Losses4g6.50.20.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-77g7.40.30.30.1
Weeks 8+6g6.00.30.00.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

74Solid starter
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles (96th). Strength: solo tackles (95th).

Tackles#97 / 2975 · 97th pct
88defe
Solo tackles#113 / 2975 · 96th pct
46defe
Sacks#487 / 2975 · 80th pct
2.0defe
Interceptions#114 / 817 · 75th pct
2inte
Tackles for loss#736 / 2975 · 73rd pct
4.0defe
QB hurries#1007 / 2975 · 55th pct
1defe
Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct
1defe

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 · 7 metrics
Namdi ObiazorTCUJohnny Chaney Jr.Florida International· 92% simTJ DotteryOle Miss· 91% simJackson KuwatchMiami (OH)· 88% sim
Tackles
97
Obiazor
99
Jr.
98
Dottery
98
Kuwatch
Solo tackles
96
Obiazor
100
Jr.
97
Dottery
95
Kuwatch
Sacks
80
Obiazor
89
Jr.
74
Dottery
96
Kuwatch
Interceptions
75
Obiazor
Tackles for loss
73
Obiazor
91
Jr.
83
Dottery
96
Kuwatch
QB hurries
55
Obiazor
55
Jr.
55
Dottery
55
Kuwatch
Passes defended
48
Obiazor
48
Jr.
67
Dottery
48
Kuwatch

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

Player DNA

The Every-Down Linebacker

Leads the team in tackles and rarely leaves the field.

LB

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jermaine Johnson’s 2021 season.

Jermaine Johnson

83%match

Massachusetts · 2021

#2

Namdi Obiazor

TCU · 2024

NFL Rd 6
80%
#3

Max Tooley

BYU · 2023

80%
#4

James Camden

Western Michigan · 2025

79%
#5

Derrick Smith

Western Kentucky · 2022

79%

Matches Jermaine on

Weight
TFL rate
Tackle volume

Differs from Jermaine on

Class year (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Shae Suiaunoa's senior season at Wyoming (2023).

Shae Suiaunoa

92%match

Wyoming · 2023

All-Mountain West
#2

Kolbi Fuqua

Jacksonville State · 2023

90%
#3

Max Tooley

BYU · 2023

86%
#4

Alec Mock

Air Force · 2023

All-Mountain West
85%
#5

AJ Vongphachanh

BYU · 2023

85%

Matches Shae on

Tackle volume
TFL rate
Sack rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Sonny Dykes

Pass share

51.9%

460 pass / 426 run

Plays / game

68.2

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

5.6%

340 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

1 coach
2022
Sonny Dykes
TCU
2023
Sonny Dykes
TCU
2024
Sonny Dykes
TCU
2025
Sonny Dykes
TCU

Played his entire career under Sonny Dykes.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownEden Prairie, MN
Height6'3"
Weight220 lb
Class4
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 TCU LB4 #8413 #9069 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big 12
2023 TCU LB4 #9436 #10174 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big 12
2022 TCU LB4 #5921 #5772 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Big 12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 TCU Big 12 LB 4 No. 4 | 6-3 | 220 lb | Eden Prairie, MN
2024 TCU Big 12 LB 4 No. 4 | 6-3 | 220 lb | Eden Prairie, MN
2023 TCU Big 12 LB 4 No. 4 | 6-3 | 220 lb | Eden Prairie, MN
2022 TCU Big 12 LB 4 No. 4 | 6-3 | 220 lb | Eden Prairie, MN