CFB Zeitgeist Score
69
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 91st percentile.
Tawfiq Byard
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
78 TACKLES · 0.5 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to Texas A&M
2025Colorado
2026Texas A&M
S · COLORADO · BIG 12
Tawfiq Byard
- 2
- #9
- 6-1 | 195 lb
- Hyattsville, MD
Heisman Heat
#14242
<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 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3-star | 0.8492 | No. 1437 recruit | HighSchool | South Florida |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Colorado -> Texas A&M | 3-star | 0.8800 | Immediate |
| 2025 | South Florida -> Colorado | 3-star | 0.8600 | 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 South Florida
Composite
0.8492
#1437 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 Tawfiq Byard
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 Tawfiq Byard
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
78Tackles
7.5Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
0.6Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
84Tackles
8.1Tackles for loss
0.5Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 78): needs 2/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 78): needs 22/game over remaining 1.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 5.5/game over remaining 1.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0.5): needs 9.5/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.
Tawfiq Byard is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Colorado's defense, with 0.5 sacks, 7.5 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 | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
78 97th
SOLO
58 99th
TFL
7.5 95th
SACK
0.5 70th
QBH
1 44th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
4 84th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 20-27vs Georgia Tech | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 31-7vs Delaware | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 20-36@ Houston | 14 | 8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 1 | Season-high 14 tackles |
| Wk 4 | W 37-20vs Wyoming | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 21-24vs BYU | 10 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 21-35@ TCU | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 24-17vs Iowa State | 7 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 7-53@ Utah | 10 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 10 | L 17-52vs Arizona | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 22-29@ West Virginia | 9 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | L 17-42vs Arizona State | 6 | 5 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 14-24@ Kansas State | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 78 | 58 | 7.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 4 |
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
2023South Florida7-6HC: Alex Golesh · Run-leaning, fast tempo
2025Colorado3-9HC: Deion Sanders · Run-leaning
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Colorado | 78 | 58 | 7.5 | 0.5 | 4 | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | South Florida | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasons | 83 | 61 | 7.5 | 0.5 | 4 | 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 | 78 | #167/4942 | 97th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 7.5 | #234/4972 | 95th 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 | 4 | #340/2184 | 84th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 1 | #1051/1878 | 44th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 58 | #29/4584 | 99th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 18.0 | #236/578 | 59th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 18 | #327/578 | 44th pct | Takeawaysvs 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 | 5.6 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 7.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins3g | 5.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Losses9g | 6.9 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 6.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 6.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the S cohort
69Solid starter
Elite: solo tackles (98th). Strength: tackles (94th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · S · 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
Tawfiq ByardColoradoKeaton ThomasBaylor· 94% simBaron HopsonKennesaw State· 92% simRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 89% sim
Solo tackles
Tackles
Tackles for loss
Passes defended
QB hurries
Sacks
Interceptions
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 Jamel Johnson’s 2024 season.
Jamel Johnson
89%match
#2
Tao Johnson
87%
#3
Kal-El Pascal
85%
#4
Xavier Smith
81%
#5
Koi Perich
All-Big Ten
83%
Matches Jamel on
Height
Class year
Tackle volume
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Wylan Free's junior season at Georgia Southern (2022).
Wylan Free
79%match
#2
Zechariah Poyser
All-Conference USA
76%
#3
Rashad Torrence II
76%
#4
Derrell Farrar
75%
#5
Maki Carabin
74%
Matches Wylan on
Tackle volume
PD rate
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Deion Sanders
Pass share
45.6%
356 pass / 424 run
Plays / game
65.0
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
12.5%
320 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coach2023
Deion Sanders
Colorado
2025
Deion Sanders
Colorado
Played his entire career under Deion Sanders.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownHyattsville, MD
Height6'1"
Weight195 lb
Class2
PositionS
Jersey9
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamColorado
ConferenceBig 12
Joined2025
Career arc3 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 | South Florida | S2 | #14242 | #14272 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | American Athletic |
| 2023 | South Florida | S2 | #14673 | #14621 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | American Athletic |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Colorado | Big 12 | S | 2 | No. 9 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Hyattsville, MD |
| 2024 | South Florida | American Athletic | S | 2 | No. 9 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Hyattsville, MD |
| 2023 | South Florida | American Athletic | S | 2 | No. 9 | 6-1 | 195 lb | Hyattsville, MD |