CFB Zeitgeist Score
43
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by qb hurries at the 88th percentile.
Skyler Gill-Howard
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
13 TACKLES · 0.5 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · NFL
Detroit2026 NFL rookie season
#205Rd 6 · Pick 24
Detroit2026 NFL rookie season
DL · TEXAS TECH · BIG 12
Skyler Gill-Howard
- 4
- 6-1 | 290 lb
- Milwaukee, WI
Heisman Heat
#11439
<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 1 · 2-deepR04 · Rotational
Rotational. Earning real snaps in the rotation.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
2 teams
NFL
NFL Draft
R6 · #205
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No recruiting profile is on file for this player. | ||
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Illinois -> Texas Tech | 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
NFL Draft
2026 · Rd 6, Pick 24
#205 overall · Detroit
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 Skyler Gill-Howard
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 Skyler Gill-Howard
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 5g
13Tackles
1.5Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
34Tackles
3.9Tackles for loss
1.3Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 13): needs 8.4/game over remaining 8.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 13): needs 10.9/game over remaining 8.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 0.7/game over remaining 8.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 1.2/game over remaining 8.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Skyler Gill-Howard is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Texas Tech's defense, with 0.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1 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
13 48th
SOLO
9 54th
TFL
1.5 64th
SACK
0.5 70th
QBH
4 85th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
1 43rd
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 5 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 67-7vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 62-14vs Kent State | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | Season-high 4 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 45-14vs Oregon State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 34-10@ Utah | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | W 35-11@ Houston | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 13 | 9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 |
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
2023Northern Illinois7-6HC: Thomas Hammock · Run-leaning
2025Texas Tech12-2HC: Joey McGuire · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Texas Tech | 13 | 9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | 21 | 13 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 1 | -- | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 34 | 22 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
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 | 13 | #2550/4942 | 48th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 1.5 | #1771/4972 | 64th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.5 | #1501/4972 | 70th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 1 | #308/869 | 65th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 1 | #1241/2184 | 43rd pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 4 | #291/1878 | 85th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 55.0 | #23/578 | 96th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 55 | #93/578 | 84th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 9 | #2127/4584 | 54th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Defensive TD | 1 | #23/200 | 89th pct | Scoringvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pick-six TD | 1 | #13/119 | 90th pct | Scoringvs 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 · 5 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 2.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins5g | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort
43Mid-pack
Elite: qb hurries (87th). Concern: tackles (12th).
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
Skyler Gill-HowardTexas TechBlake FletcherAir Force· 53% simTrey FieldsNorth Texas· 53% simDaniel WingateMaryland· 52% sim
QB hurries
Sacks
Passes defended
Tackles for loss
Interceptions
Solo tackles
Tackles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Two-Gap Base
Stout at the point of attack; controls his gap and stacks blocks.
IDL
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jalen Satchell’s 2022 season.
Jalen Satchell
90%match
#2
Keenan Stewart
90%
#3
Carlos Allen
89%
#4
Howard Cross III
88%
#5
Jacques Bristol
88%
Matches Jalen on
Weight
Sack rate
Height
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Jacques Bristol's junior season at Central Michigan (2022).
Jacques Bristol
92%match
All-MAC
#2
Quent Titre
90%
#3
Carlos Allen
90%
#4
Keenan Stewart
90%
#5
Kelton Moss
89%
Matches Jacques on
Class year
Height
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Joey McGuire
Pass share
47.6%
484 pass / 532 run
Plays / game
72.6
14 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.5%
336 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coach2023
Joey McGuire
Texas Tech
2025
Joey McGuire
Texas Tech
Played his entire career under Joey McGuire.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownMilwaukee, WI
Height6'1"
Weight290 lb
Class4
PositionDL
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamTexas Tech
ConferenceBig 12
Joined2025
Career arc3 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🎖
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2024)
All-MAC
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-MAC | all_conference | Northern Illinois | MAC | DL |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Northern Illinois | DL4 | #11439 | #11376 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Mid-American |
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | DL4 | #11236 | #11274 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Mid-American |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Texas Tech | Big 12 | DL | 4 | 6-1 | 290 lb | Milwaukee, WI |
| 2024 | Northern Illinois | Mid-American | DL | 4 | 6-1 | 290 lb | Milwaukee, WI |
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | Mid-American | DL | 4 | 6-1 | 290 lb | Milwaukee, WI |