CFB Zeitgeist Score
58
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 91st percentile.
Tahj Ra-El
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
110 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Purdue for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive back · Purdue
Returning around him
- 54% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- Transfer portal: +5 net (29 in / 24 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Purdue · Last season: 2-10 · Talent rank #54 · 2026 recruiting class #99
DB · PURDUE · BIG TEN
Tahj Ra-El
- 4
- #21
- 6-2 | 208 lb
- Charlotte, NC
Heisman Heat
#10440
<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 DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
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
3 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2-star | 0.7967 | No. 2485 recruit | HighSchool | Old Dominion |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| 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 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 Old Dominion
Composite
0.7967
#2485 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 Tahj Ra-El
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 Tahj Ra-El
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 12g
110Tackles
2.5Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
9Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
119Tackles
2.7Tackles for loss
0Sacks
✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 110.
✓ Hit 100-tackle season · finished with 110.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 6/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 10/game over remaining 1.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Tahj Ra-El is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Purdue's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 2.5 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?
Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
110 99th
SOLO
63 100th
TFL
2.5 75th
SACK
0.0 65th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
5 90th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 31-0vs Ball State | 7 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 34-17vs Southern Illinois | 7 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 17-33vs USC | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 30-56@ Notre Dame | 9 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 27-43vs Illinois | 9 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 20-27@ Minnesota | 7 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | L 0-19@ Northwestern | 11 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 3 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-27vs Rutgers | 15 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 15 tackles |
| Wk 10 | L 16-21@ Michigan | 13 | 11 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 10-34vs Ohio State | 10 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | L 13-49@ Washington | 7 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 3-56vs Indiana | 12 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 110 | 63 | 2.5 | 0.0 | — | 5 |
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
2021Old Dominion6-6HC: Ricky Rahne · Run-leaning, fast tempo
2022Old Dominion3-9HC: Ricky Rahne · Pass-leaning, slow tempo
2023Old Dominion6-7HC: Ricky Rahne · Run-leaning
2024Memphis11-2HC: Ryan Silverfield · Balanced, fast tempo
2025Purdue2-10HC: Barry Odom · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Purdue | 110 | 63 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 5 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Memphis | 18 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | Old Dominion | 84 | 41 | 5.5 | 0.0 | 6 | 1 | -- |
| 2022 | Old Dominion | 40 | 20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | Old Dominion | 8 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| Career | 5 loaded seasons | 260 | 132 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 12 | 2 | -- |
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 | 110 | #26/4942 | 99th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.5 | #1236/4972 | 75th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 5 | #218/2184 | 90th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 63 | #12/4584 | 100th 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 Thorpe 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 · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 9.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Road5g | 9.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins2g | 7.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Losses10g | 9.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 7.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 11.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DB cohort
58Solid starter
Elite: solo tackles (99th). Strength: tackles (99th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DB · 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
Tahj Ra-ElPurdueTyler MartinMassachusetts· 89% simDalton JohnsonArizona· 85% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 84% sim
Solo tackles
Tackles
Passes defended
Tackles for loss
Forced fumbles
Sacks
QB hurries
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Box Safety
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Devin Lafayette’s 2025 season.
Devin Lafayette
93%match
All-Sun Belt
#2
Tra Fluellen
79%
#3
Jonas Sanker
All-ACCNFL Rd 3 · Pk 29
79%
#4
Ty Benefield
All-Mountain West
78%
#5
Beau Freyler
77%
Matches Devin on
Class year
Height
PD rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Eli Blakey's graduate season at Miami (OH) (2025).
Eli Blakey
80%match
All-MAC
#2
John Miller
76%
#3
Jordan Stringer
76%
#4
Maxen Hook
All-MAC
75%
#5
Jacob Rodriguez
NagurskiBednarikButkusNFL Rd 2 · Pk 11
74%
Matches Eli on
Class year
Height
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Barry Odom
Pass share
52.0%
404 pass / 373 run
Plays / game
64.8
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
4.9%
348 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
3 coaches2021
Jeff Brohm
Purdue
2022
Jeff Brohm
Purdue
2023era →
Ryan Walters
Purdue
2024
Ryan Walters
Purdue
2025era →
Barry Odom
Purdue
Played under 3 different head coaches: Jeff Brohm, Ryan Walters, and Barry Odom. Multi-era developmental context.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownCharlotte, NC
Height6'2"
Weight208 lb
Class4
PositionDB
Jersey21
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamPurdue
ConferenceBig Ten
Joined2025
Career arc5 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 | Memphis | DB4 | #10440 | #10531 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | American Athletic |
| 2023 | Old Dominion | DB4 | #10983 | #11213 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Sun Belt |
| 2022 | Old Dominion | DB4 | #14137 | #14212 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Sun Belt |
| 2021 | Old Dominion | DB4 | #12287 | #12296 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Conference USA |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Purdue | Big Ten | DB | 4 | No. 21 | 6-2 | 208 lb | Charlotte, NC |
| 2024 | Memphis | American Athletic | DB | 4 | No. 21 | 6-2 | 208 lb | Charlotte, NC |
| 2023 | Old Dominion | Sun Belt | DB | 4 | No. 21 | 6-2 | 208 lb | Charlotte, NC |
| 2022 | Old Dominion | Sun Belt | DB | 4 | No. 21 | 6-2 | 208 lb | Charlotte, NC |
| 2021 | Old Dominion | Conference USA | DB | 4 | No. 21 | 6-2 | 208 lb | Charlotte, NC |