cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON

Tyson Lee

DL · Western Michigan · Sr · #58

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

15 TACKLES · 3 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Western Michigan for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Western Michigan for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · Western Michigan

Returning around him

  • 100% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +1 net (14 in / 13 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Western Michigan · Last season: 10-4 · Talent rank #105 · 2026 recruiting class #104

DL · WESTERN MICHIGAN · MID-AMERICAN

Tyson Lee

  • 4
  • #58
  • 6-2 | 270 lb
  • South Bend, IN

CFB Zeitgeist Score

53

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 89th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#14533

<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 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#2480 national
CFB
College
Western Michigan
2021–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionDL
Class4
Jersey58
Measurements6-2 | 270 lb
HometownSouth Bend, IN
Primary teamWestern Michigan

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 3-star No. 2480 recruit
Composite rating 0.7974 HighSchool
Signed with Western Michigan 2021
Origin Riley South Bend, IN, USA
Class Profile Context
2021 3-star | 0.7974 No. 2480 recruit | HighSchool | Western Michigan

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
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 16
Current nowcast#14533Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#14615Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman 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 Western Michigan

Composite

0.7974

#2480 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

PENDING

The 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 Tyson Lee

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 Tyson Lee

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.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 9g
15Tackles
3Tackles for loss
3Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.3Tackles for loss
0.3Sacks
Projected (13g)
22Tackles
4.3Tackles for loss
4.3Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 15): needs 16.2/game over remaining 4.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 15): needs 21.2/game over remaining 4.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 3): needs 0.8/game over remaining 4.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 3): needs 1.8/game over remaining 4.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Tyson Lee is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Western Michigan's defense, with 3.0 sacks, 3.0 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.

Current place #14533 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Defensive rarity 3.0 sacks | 3.0 TFL

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
Total tackles 15 8 solo | #2386/4942 (52nd pct)
TFL 3.0 Backfield disruption | #1006/4972 (80th pct)
Sacks 3.0 Pass-rush finish | #292/4972 (94th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defender

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
15 52nd
SOLO
8 50th
TFL
3.0 80th
SACK
3.0 94th
QBH
3 75th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 6-23@ Michigan State000.00.00
Wk 2L 30-33vs North Texas110.00.00
Wk 4W 14-13vs Toledo210.00.00
Wk 6W 21-3@ Massachusetts111.01.00
Wk 7W 42-0vs Ball State100.50.50
Wk 12W 17-13vs Ohio430.00.00Season-high 4 tackles
Wk 14W 31-21@ Eastern Michigan110.00.00
Wk 15W 23-13vs Miami (OH)100.50.50
BowlW 41-6vs Kennesaw State411.01.00
Total1583.03.00
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2021Western Michigan7-5HC: Tim Lester · Run-heavy, fast tempo
2022Western Michigan5-7HC: Tim Lester · Run-leaning
2023Western Michigan4-8HC: Lance Taylor · Run-leaning
2025Western Michigan10-4HC: Lance Taylor · Run-heavy
SeasonTeam
2025Western Michigan1583.03.0------
2023Western Michigan1692.00.0------
2022Western Michigan431.01.01----
2021Western Michigan1--0.00.0------
Career4 loaded seasons36206.04.01----
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

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.

Traditional first

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.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 0 Coverage disruption
QB pressures 3 Quarterback hurries | #462/1878 (75th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 15 #2386/4942 52nd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 3.0 #1006/4972 80th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 3.0 #292/4972 94th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 3 #462/1878 75th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 8 #2283/4584 50th pct Volumevs 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

StatusAwaiting 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 · 9 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g2.20.30.30.0
Road3g0.70.30.30.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g2.00.40.40.0
Losses2g0.50.00.00.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g1.50.40.40.0
Weeks 8+3g2.00.20.20.0

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DL cohort

53Mid-pack
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sacks (88th). Strength: qb hurries (81st). Concern: passes defended (17th).

Sacks#291 / 2975 · 89th pct
3.0defe
QB hurries#457 / 2975 · 82nd pct
3defe
Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct
3.0defe
Solo tackles#2282 / 2975 · 21st pct
8defe
Tackles#2386 / 2975 · 18th pct
15defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

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
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

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

3 peers · 6 metrics
Tyson LeeWestern MichiganMarcAnthony ParkerNavy· 54% simEthan WesloskiNorth Texas· 52% simMicah DaveyUTEP· 52% sim
Sacks
89
Lee
80
Parker
74
Wesloski
63
Davey
QB hurries
82
Lee
88
Parker
95
Wesloski
82
Davey
Tackles for loss
63
Lee
87
Parker
95
Wesloski
91
Davey
Solo tackles
21
Lee
96
Parker
99
Wesloski
99
Davey
Tackles
18
Lee
98
Parker
99
Wesloski
99
Davey
Passes defended
18
Lee
18
Parker
18
Wesloski
18
Davey

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 EJ Ane’s 2021 season.

EJ Ane

82%match

San José State · 2021

#2

John Morgan

Pittsburgh · 2021

80%
#3

Datona Jackson

UCLA · 2021

77%
#4

Devin Grant

West Virginia · 2025

77%
#5

Christopher Boti

Liberty · 2023

77%

Matches EJ on

TFL rate
Weight
Height

Differs from EJ on

Sack rate (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Justin Wodtly's graduate season at Arizona State (2025).

Justin Wodtly

74%match

Arizona State · 2025

#2

Jared Harrison-Hunte

SMU · 2024

70%
#3

Jasiyah Robinson

East Carolina · 2025

70%
#4

Dominic Bailey

Tennessee · 2025

67%
#5

Elijah Alston

Miami · 2024

All-Sun Belt
67%

Matches Justin on

Class year
Height
Weight

Differs from Justin on

Sack rate (higher)

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Lance Taylor

Pass share

33.3%

304 pass / 609 run

Plays / game

65.2

14 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.3%

248 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025

2 coaches
2021
Tim Lester
Western Michigan
2022
Tim Lester
Western Michigan
2023
Lance Taylor
Western Michigan
era →
2025
Lance Taylor
Western Michigan

Coaching transition mid-career: Tim Lester → Lance Taylor. 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.

HometownSouth Bend, IN
Height6'2"
Weight270 lb
Class4
PositionDL
Jersey58

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

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 Western Michigan DL4 #14533 #14615 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Mid-American
2023 Western Michigan DL4 #13797 #14035 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Mid-American
2022 Western Michigan DL4 #12303 #12402 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Mid-American
2021 Western Michigan DL4 #11915 #11776 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W20 snapshot | Mid-American

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Western Michigan Mid-American DL 4 No. 58 | 6-2 | 270 lb | South Bend, IN
2024 Western Michigan Mid-American DL 4 No. 58 | 6-2 | 270 lb | South Bend, IN
2023 Western Michigan Mid-American DL 4 No. 58 | 6-2 | 270 lb | South Bend, IN
2022 Western Michigan Mid-American DL 4 No. 58 | 6-2 | 270 lb | South Bend, IN
2021 Western Michigan Mid-American DL 4 No. 58 | 6-2 | 270 lb | South Bend, IN