CFB Zeitgeist Score
25
Below cohort in the position cohort. Carried by receptions at the 63rd percentile.
Rod Gainey Jr.
Filling the Shoesas of 2026-06-22
Rod Gainey Jr. steps into Cartevious Norton's shoes — the gap is the story.
260RUSH YDS1RUSH TD74CARRIES
RUSHING VALUE · WEPA
-0.01
via your WEPA model · 2025 · 60 plays
Read the story so far
AI narrative · updated 2026-06-22 · compiled from CFB Zeitgeist data
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to LSU
2025Charlotte
2026LSU
RB · CHARLOTTE · AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Rod Gainey Jr.
- 1
- #6
- 6-0 | 185 lb
- Tampa, FL
Heisman Heat
#3886
<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 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Development Trajectory · rushing yards
2024–2025+665%
Up 665% from first season to most-recent.
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Charlotte
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3-star | 0.8706 | No. 894 recruit | HighSchool |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Charlotte -> LSU | 3-star | 0.8500 | TBD |
| 2025 | Charlotte -> -- | 3-star | Withdrawn |
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
0.8706
#894 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 Rod Gainey Jr.
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 Rod Gainey Jr.
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 rushing totals stand
Through 11g
260Rush yards
74Carries
1Rush TDs
Per game
23.6Rush yards
7Carries
0Rush TDs
Projected (13g)
307.3Rush yards
87Carries
1Rush TDs
To hit 750-yard season (currently 260): needs 245/game over remaining 2.
To hit 1,000-yard season (currently 260): needs 370/game over remaining 2.
To hit 1,500-yard season (currently 260): needs 620/game over remaining 2.
To hit 10 rushing TDs (currently 1): needs 4.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 15 rushing TDs (currently 1): needs 7/game over remaining 2.
To hit 20 rushing TDs (currently 1): needs 9.5/game over remaining 2.
What made this player interesting
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Rod Gainey Jr.'s story is about how role and output meet each other. For Charlotte, 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
RB 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?
Passing-game back against FBS RB peers.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Rushing
CAR
74 69th
YDS
260 61st
YPC
3.5 22nd
TD
1 56th
Receiving
REC
16 77th
YDS
44 46th
YPR
2.8 9th
TD
0 70th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 11-34vs App State | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| Wk 2 | L 3-20vs North Carolina | 6 | 15 | 2.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| Wk 3 | W 42-35vs Monmouth | 15 | 74 | 4.9 | 1 | 11 | Season-high 74 yds |
| Wk 4 | L 17-28vs Rice | 8 | 51 | 6.4 | 0 | 37 | |
| Wk 7 | L 7-24@ Army | 19 | 51 | 2.7 | 0 | 10 | |
| Wk 8 | L 14-49vs Temple | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Wk 9 | L 20-54vs North Texas | 4 | 14 | 3.5 | 0 | 10 | |
| Wk 11 | L 22-48@ East Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 7-28vs UTSA | 5 | 16 | 3.2 | 0 | 7 | |
| Wk 13 | L 3-35@ Georgia | 6 | 25 | 4.2 | 0 | 8 | |
| Wk 14 | L 0-27@ Tulane | 7 | 4 | 0.6 | 0 | 10 | |
| Total | 74 | 260 | 3.2 | 1 | 37 |
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
2024Charlotte5-7HC: Biff Poggi · Balanced, slow tempo
2025Charlotte1-11HC: Tim Albin · Balanced, slow tempo
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
Opponent-adjusted rushing value. It helps separate empty volume from carries that actually move the scoreboard.
How much of the team's offense flows through this back once rushing work and receiving work are combined.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rushing | Rushing yards | 260 | #291/735 | 61st pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Rush TD | 1 | #323/739 | 56th pct | Scoringvs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Yards / carry | 3.5 | #577/735 | 22nd pct | Efficiencyvs FBS RB |
| Receiving | Receptions | 16 | #127/552 | 77th pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Receiving | Receiving yards | 44 | #298/548 | 46th pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Value | Rushing WEPA | -0.01 | #352/362 | 3rd pct | Opponent-adjusted rushing value | 60 weighted playsvs FBS RB |
| Usage | Role share | 14.3% | #194/738 | 74th pct | Share of team offensevs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Carries | 74 | #230/739 | 69th pct | Volumevs FBS RB |
| Rushing | Rushing LONG | 37 | #253/733 | 66th pct | Metricvs FBS RB |
| Receiving | Receiving LONG | 14 | #323/540 | 40th pct | Metricvs FBS RB |
| Receiving | Yards / catch | 2.8 | #502/548 | 9th pct | Efficiencyvs FBS RB |
| Receiving | Receiving TD | 0 | #169/552 | 70th pct | Scoringvs FBS RB |
| Usage | Rush share | 26.3% | #164/738 | 78th pct | Ground-game usagevs FBS RB |
| Usage | Standard-down usage | 17.3% | #180/738 | 76th pct | Base-situation sharevs FBS RB |
| Usage | 1st-down usage | 17.1% | #186/738 | 75th pct | Early-down loadvs FBS RB |
| Usage | 2nd-down usage | 15.1% | #176/738 | 76th pct | Middle-down loadvs FBS RB |
| Usage | 3rd-down usage | 9.3% | #224/738 | 70th pct | Money-down loadvs FBS RB |
| Usage | Passing-down usage | 8.9% | #247/738 | 67th pct | Known-passing sharevs FBS RB |
| Usage | Pass share | 4.9% | #165/738 | 78th pct | Air-game usagevs FBS RB |
| Ball Security | Fumbles lost | 1 | #78/256 | 70th pct | Turnoversvs 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
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 · 11 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 25.7 | 4.0 | 0.1 |
| Road4g | 20.0 | 1.9 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins1g | 74.0 | 4.9 | 1.0 |
| Losses10g | 18.6 | 3.1 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 39.2 | 3.8 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 10.7 | 2.8 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort
25Below cohort
Concern: yards / carry (4th).
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
Advanced Savant
Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.
wepa_rushing-0.01Below (<p25) (n=178)
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
Rod Gainey Jr.CharlotteTae MeadowsTroy· 64% simChavon WrightNorthern Illinois· 61% simJordan BrunsonMiami (OH)· 57% sim
Receptions
Fumbles lost
Long run
Carries
Rec yards
Rush yards
Rush TDs
Yards / carry
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Satellite Back
Deployed as a receiver as much as a runner. Value is in space, not between the tackles.
RB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jaiden Credle’s 2022 season.
Jaiden Credle
73%match
#2
Blake Hester
66%
#3
C.J. Hester
62%
#4
Viron Ellison Jr.
61%
#5
Duke Watson
60%
Matches Jaiden on
Total rush EPA (college ability)
Class year
Yards / carry
Differs from Jaiden on
Weight (lower)
Through 2 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Harry Trotter’s path through Kansas State.
Harry Trotter
94%match
#2
Josh Johnson
94%
#3
Bryant Barr
92%
#4
Anthony Williams Jr.
90%
#5
Justin Henderson
All-Conference USA
89%
Matches Harry on
Yards per carry
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to DJ Butler's sophomore season at Houston (2025).
DJ Butler
63%match
#2
C.J. Hester
62%
#3
Duke Watson
62%
#4
Clay Ash
61%
#5
Viron Ellison Jr.
61%
Matches DJ on
Yards / carry
Weight
Differs from DJ on
Yards / reception (lower)
Class year (lower)
Receiving share (higher)
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Tim Albin
Pass share
51.4%
379 pass / 358 run
Plays / game
61.4
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
8.9%
302 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025
2 coaches2024
Biff Poggi
Charlotte
2025era →
Tim Albin
Charlotte
Coaching transition mid-career: Biff Poggi → Tim Albin. 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.
HometownTampa, FL
Height6'0"
Weight185 lb
Class1
PositionRB
Jersey6
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamCharlotte
ConferenceAmerican Athletic
Joined2025
Career arc2 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 | Charlotte | RB1 | #3886 | #4416 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | American Athletic |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.