CFB Zeitgeist Score
74
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by tackles for loss at the 93rd percentile.
Wesley Williams
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
43 TACKLES · 2 SACKS
Where He Ended Up · NFL
Jacksonville2026 NFL rookie season
#119Rd 4 · Pick 19
Jacksonville2026 NFL rookie season
DE · DUKE · ACC
Wesley Williams
- 3
- #97
- 6-3 | 265 lb
- Gainesville, VA
Heisman Heat
#3887
<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
Duke
NFL
NFL Draft
R4 · #119
Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds
#21 in market ▼ from #18 · 6 books
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 | 0.8648 | No. 888 recruit | HighSchool | Duke |
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 Duke
Composite
0.8648
#888 national
NFL Draft
2026 · Rd 4, Pick 19
#119 overall · Jacksonville
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 Wesley Williams
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 Wesley Williams
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 14g
43Tackles
8Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Per game
3Tackles
0.6Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Final
43Tackles
8Tackles for loss
2Sacks
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Wesley Williams is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Duke's defense, with 2.0 sacks, 8.0 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.
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 | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
43 84th
SOLO
21 79th
TFL
8.0 96th
SACK
2.0 90th
QBH
16 100th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
1 43rd
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 14 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-17vs Elon | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 19-45vs Illinois | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 27-34@ Tulane | 4 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 45-33vs NC State | 3 | 0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 38-3@ Syracuse | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 45-21@ California | 9 | 4 | 3.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 9 tackles |
| Wk 8 | L 18-27vs Georgia Tech | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 46-45@ Clemson | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 34-37@ UConn | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 17-34vs Virginia | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 32-25@ North Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-32vs Wake Forest | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 15 | W 27-20@ Virginia | 5 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Bowl | W 42-39vs Arizona State | 3 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 21 | 8.0 | 2.0 | — | 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
2023Duke8-5HC: Trooper Taylor · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2024Duke9-4HC: Manny Diaz · Pass-leaning
2025Duke9-5HC: Manny Diaz · Balanced
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 | 43 | #804/4942 | 84th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 8.0 | #198/4972 | 96th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 2.0 | #491/4972 | 90th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 1 | #1241/2184 | 43rd pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 16 | #1/1878 | 100th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 21 | #959/4584 | 79th 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 · 14 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Road7g | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins9g | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Losses5g | 3.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the DE cohort
74Solid starter
Elite: qb hurries (99th). Strength: tackles for loss (92nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · DE · 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
Wesley WilliamsDukeAmare CampbellPenn State· 83% simTrey FieldsNorth Texas· 82% simRay ConeyTulsa· 82% sim
QB hurries
Tackles for loss
Sacks
Tackles
Solo tackles
Passes defended
Forced fumbles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Versatile End
Holds up against run and pass without a single dominant trait.
EDGE
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Pierce Oppong’s 2021 season.
Pierce Oppong
87%match
#2
Michael Reese
81%
#3
Dennard Flowers
80%
#4
Shane Irwin
80%
#5
Nick Tarburton
80%
Matches Pierce on
Sack rate
TFL rate
Weight
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to C.J. Madden's junior season at Purdue (2025).
C.J. Madden
84%match
#2
Emmanuel Waller
82%
#3
Kieran Davis
81%
#4
Brenton Cox
80%
#5
Kobie McKinzie
75%
Matches C.J. on
Class year
TFL rate
Sack rate
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Manny Diaz
Pass share
53.3%
506 pass / 444 run
Plays / game
67.9
14 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.7%
358 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
2 coaches2023
Trooper Taylor
Duke
2024era →
Manny Diaz
Duke
2025
Manny Diaz
Duke
Coaching transition mid-career: Trooper Taylor → Manny Diaz. 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.
HometownGainesville, VA
Height6'3"
Weight265 lb
Class3
PositionDE
Jersey97
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamDuke
ConferenceACC
Joined2025
Career arc4 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.
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.