CFB Zeitgeist Score
65
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 95th percentile.
Santana Hopper
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
25 TACKLES · 4.5 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to Colorado
2025Tulane
2026Colorado
DL · TULANE · AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Santana Hopper
- 3
- #29
- 6-2 | 265 lb
- Shelby, NC
Heisman Heat
#15064
<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 DEFENSE AWARD
Nagurski
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
2 teams
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 | 0.8826 | No. 522 recruit | HighSchool | App State |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Tulane -> Colorado | 3-star | 0.8700 | Immediate |
| 2025 | App State -> Tulane | 3-star | 0.8800 | 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 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 App State
Composite
0.8826
#522 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 Santana Hopper
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 Santana Hopper
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 defensive totals stand
Through 11g
25Tackles
8.5Tackles for loss
4.5Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.8Tackles for loss
0.4Sacks
Projected (13g)
30Tackles
10Tackles for loss
5.3Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 25): needs 27.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 25): needs 37.5/game over remaining 2.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 4.5): needs 0.8/game over remaining 2.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 4.5): needs 2.8/game over remaining 2.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Santana Hopper is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Tulane's defense, with 4.5 sacks, 8.5 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
25 66th
SOLO
13 65th
TFL
8.5 97th
SACK
4.5 97th
QBH
4 85th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-3vs Northwestern | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 33-31@ South Alabama | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 34-27vs Duke | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 10-45@ Ole Miss | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 31-14@ Tulsa | 6 | 3 | 4.0 | 1.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 24-17vs Army | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 35-24vs Florida Atlantic | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 37-13@ Temple | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 27-0vs Charlotte | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 15 | W 34-21vs North Texas | 4 | 3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Bowl | L 10-41@ Ole Miss | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 25 | 13 | 8.5 | 4.5 | — | 0 |
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
2022App State6-6HC: Shawn Clark · Run-leaning
2023App State9-5HC: Shawn Clark · Balanced
2025Tulane11-3HC: Jon Sumrall · Run-leaning
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 25 | #1667/4942 | 66th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 8.5 | #175/4972 | 97th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 4.5 | #136/4972 | 97th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 4 | #291/1878 | 85th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 13 | #1622/4584 | 65th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Fumbles recovered | 1 | #103/736 | 86th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Ball Security | Fumbles lost | 0 | #1/773 | 100th pct | Turnoversvs 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Lombardi 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 · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Losses2g | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort
65Solid starter
Elite: sacks (94th). Strength: tackles for loss (93rd). Concern: passes defended (17th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DL · 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
Santana HopperTulaneMarcAnthony ParkerNavy· 71% simEthan WesloskiNorth Texas· 69% simAmare CampbellPenn State· 68% sim
Sacks
Tackles for loss
QB hurries
Forced fumbles
Solo tackles
Tackles
Passes defended
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The 3-Tech Penetrator
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
IDL
His 2025 production profile sits closest to D'Anthony Jones’s 2022 season.
D'Anthony Jones
82%match
All-AAC
#2
Trumane Bell
82%
#3
De'Jon Benton
All-Mountain West
81%
#4
Mikail Kamara
All-Sun Belt
79%
#5
Keviyan Huddleston
79%
Matches D'Anthony on
Weight
Height
Sack rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Jalen Thornton's senior season at West Virginia (2023).
Jalen Thornton
79%match
#2
Grayson Murphy
75%
#3
Tobi Osunsanmi
74%
#4
Joshua Burnham
73%
#5
Harvey Dyson III
72%
Matches Jalen on
Class year
Height
TFL rate
Differs from Jalen on
Sack rate (lower)
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jon Sumrall
Pass share
45.8%
424 pass / 501 run
Plays / game
66.1
14 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
3.4%
294 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025
3 coaches2022
Willie Fritz
Tulane
2023era →
Slade Nagle
Tulane
2025era →
Jon Sumrall
Tulane
Played under 3 different head coaches: Willie Fritz, Slade Nagle, and Jon Sumrall. Multi-era developmental context.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownShelby, NC
Height6'2"
Weight265 lb
Class3
PositionDL
Jersey29
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamTulane
ConferenceAmerican Athletic
Joined2025
Career arc4 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🎖
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2024)
All-Sun Belt
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
1 all-conference honor
Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.
Honors Timeline
Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.
| Season | Honor | Scope | Team / Selector | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | All-Sun Belt | all_conference | Sun Belt | DL |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.