cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Nate Palmer /TCU

Nate Palmer

RB · TCU · Fr · #21

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

139 RUSH YDS · 0 RUSH TD · 30 CARRIES

2026 TRANSFERTransferred TCU → Wisconsin for 2026

Where He Ended Up · Transfer

Transferred to Wisconsin

2025TCU
2026Wisconsin

RB · TCU · BIG 12

Nate Palmer

  • 1
  • #21
  • 6-0 | 190 lb
  • Decatur, TX

CFB Zeitgeist Score

12

Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by yards / carry at the 37th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#1718

<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 RB AWARD

Doak Walker

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R06 · Starter

Starter. A locked-in starting role.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Development Trajectory · rushing yards

2024–2025
25.02024
1392025

+456%

Up 456% from first season to most-recent.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#506 national
CFB
College
TCU
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionRB
Class1
Jersey21
Measurements6-0 | 190 lb
HometownDecatur, TX
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. 506 recruit
Composite rating 0.8878 HighSchool
Signed with TCU 2024
Origin Decatur Decatur, TX, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8878 No. 506 recruit | HighSchool | TCU

Transfer Arc

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

Portal moves 1 Programs changed on file
Latest destination Wisconsin 2026
Transfer stars 3-star CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility Immediate Jan 8, 2026
Season Move Context
2026 TCU -> Wisconsin 3-star | 0.8500 | 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#1718Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#1951Where 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

0.8878

#506 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 Nate Palmer

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 Nate Palmer

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 rushing totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 7g
139Rush yards
30Carries
0Rush TDs
Per game
19.9Rush yards
4Carries
0Rush TDs
Projected (13g)
258.1Rush yards
56Carries
0Rush TDs

To hit 750-yard season (currently 139): needs 101.8/game over remaining 6.

To hit 1,000-yard season (currently 139): needs 143.5/game over remaining 6.

To hit 1,500-yard season (currently 139): needs 226.8/game over remaining 6.

To hit 10 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 1.7/game over remaining 6.

To hit 15 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 2.5/game over remaining 6.

To hit 20 rushing TDs (currently 0): needs 3.3/game over remaining 6.

What made this player interesting

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

Nate Palmer's story is about how role and output meet each other. For TCU, 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.

Current place #1718 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 8.1% Overall usage share
Profile quirk Development arc The card should explain why this profile stands out

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

RB season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Scrimmage yards 140 139 rush | 1 rec | #387/735 (47th pct)
Rush TD 0 30 carries | #447/739 (40th pct)
Yards/carry 4.6 Per-rush efficiency | #364/735 (51st pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Backfield contributor against FBS RB peers.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Rushing

CAR
30 48th
YDS
139 47th
YPC
4.6 51st
TD
0 40th

Receiving

REC
1 16th
YDS
1 3rd
YPR
1.0 4th
TD
0 70th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 7 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppCARYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1W 48-14@ North Carolina7618.7026Season-high 61 yds
Wk 3W 42-21vs Abilene Christian6274.5010
Wk 4W 35-24vs SMU221.002
Wk 5L 24-27@ Arizona State
Wk 6W 35-21vs Colorado331.003
Wk 12L 13-44@ BYU4133.304
Wk 14W 45-23vs Cincinnati8334.107
Total301393.8026
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

2024TCU9-4HC: Sonny Dykes · Pass-leaning
2025TCU9-4HC: Sonny Dykes · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025TCU301394.60--
2024TCU11252.30--
Career2 loaded seasons411644.00--
SeasonTeam
2025TCU111.00--
2024TCU----------
Career2 loaded seasons111.00--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Rushing WEPA

Opponent-adjusted rushing value. It helps separate empty volume from carries that actually move the scoreboard.

Role share

How much of the team's offense flows through this back once rushing work and receiving work are combined.

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.

Receiving work 1 1 rec yds | #467/552 (16th pct)
Usage 8.1% 14.2% rush share | #386/738 (48th pct)
Rushing WEPA -- Adjusted value feed still loading
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Rushing Rushing yards 139 #387/735 47th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Rushing Rush TD 0 #447/739 40th pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Rushing Yards / carry 4.6 #364/735 51st pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receptions 1 #467/552 16th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving yards 1 #531/548 3rd pct Volumevs FBS RB
Usage Role share 8.1% #386/738 48th pct Share of team offensevs FBS RB
Rushing Carries 30 #385/739 48th pct Volumevs FBS RB
Rushing Rushing LONG 26 #327/733 56th pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving LONG 1 #533/540 1st pct Metricvs FBS RB
Receiving Yards / catch 1.0 #526/548 4th pct Efficiencyvs FBS RB
Receiving Receiving TD 0 #169/552 70th pct Scoringvs FBS RB
Usage Rush share 14.2% #372/738 50th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS RB
Usage Standard-down usage 9.8% #355/738 52nd pct Base-situation sharevs FBS RB
Usage 2nd-down usage 9.2% #375/738 49th pct Middle-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage 1st-down usage 8.2% #412/738 44th pct Early-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Passing-down usage 4.1% #516/738 30th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS RB
Usage 3rd-down usage 3.8% #507/738 31st pct Money-down loadvs FBS RB
Usage Pass share 1.5% #451/738 39th pct Air-game usagevs FBS RB

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

Heisman model tracks the top FBS contenders weekly; this player hasn't entered the watch list yet.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 7 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Home4g16.22.60.0
Road3g24.76.00.0

Win vs Loss

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Wins5g25.23.90.0
Losses2g6.53.30.0

First half vs Second half

YDS/gYPCTD/g
Weeks 1-75g18.63.80.0
Weeks 8+2g23.03.70.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

12Below cohort
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: carries (0th).

Yards / carry#213 / 349 · 37th pct
4.6rush
Long run#267 / 349 · 23rd pct
26rush
Rush TDs#326 / 349 · 3rd pct
0rush
Receptions#327 / 338 · 2nd pct
1rece
Rush yards#345 / 349 · 1st pct
139rush
Rec yards#337 / 338 · 0th pct
1rece
Carries#350 / 349 · 0th pct
30rush

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · RB · 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
Nate PalmerTCUJordan BrunsonMiami (OH)· 49% simChavon WrightNorthern Illinois· 46% simTae MeadowsTroy· 45% sim
Yards / carry
37
Palmer
41
Brunson
33
Wright
29
Meadows
Long run
23
Palmer
73
Brunson
49
Wright
53
Meadows
Rush TDs
3
Palmer
50
Brunson
62
Wright
72
Meadows
Receptions
2
Palmer
2
Brunson
32
Wright
45
Meadows
Rush yards
1
Palmer
80
Brunson
84
Wright
74
Meadows
Rec yards
0
Palmer
3
Brunson
10
Wright
38
Meadows
Carries
0
Palmer
85
Brunson
92
Wright
84
Meadows

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

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 · 2024–2025

1 coach
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.

HometownDecatur, TX
Height6'0"
Weight190 lb
Class1
PositionRB
Jersey21

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 RB1 #1718 #1951 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big 12

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 TCU Big 12 RB 1 No. 21 | 6-0 | 190 lb | Decatur, TX
2024 TCU Big 12 RB 1 No. 21 | 6-0 | 190 lb | Decatur, TX