CFB Zeitgeist Score
53
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 96th percentile.
Zach Williams
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
73 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Tulsa for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Safety · Tulsa
Returning around him
- 99% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
- Transfer portal: -1 net (21 in / 22 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Tulsa · Last season: 4-8 · Talent rank #85 · 2026 recruiting class #109
S · TULSA · AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Zach Williams
- 2
- #18
- 6-1 | 200 lb
- Tyler, TX
Heisman Heat
#14758
<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
Tulsa
NFL
NFL Draft
—
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
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 Zach 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 Zach 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 12g
73Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
6Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
79Tackles
1.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 73): needs 7/game over remaining 1.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 73): needs 27/game over remaining 1.
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.
Zach Williams is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Tulsa's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 1.0 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?
Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
73 95th
SOLO
39 95th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.0 65th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
7 96th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 35-7vs Abilene Christian | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-21@ New Mexico State | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 3 | L 23-42vs Navy | 11 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 11 tackles |
| Wk 4 | W 19-12@ Oklahoma State | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | L 14-31vs Tulane | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 6 | L 7-45@ Memphis | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 27-41@ East Carolina | 11 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 37-38vs Temple | 10 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 21-40@ Florida Atlantic | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 31-14vs Oregon State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 13 | W 26-25@ Army | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 24-31vs UAB | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 73 | 39 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 7 |
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
2024Tulsa3-9HC: Kevin Wilson · Balanced
2025Tulsa4-8HC: Tre Lamb · Run-leaning
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 | 73 | #227/4942 | 95th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 1.0 | #2051/4972 | 59th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 7 | #85/2184 | 96th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 39 | #237/4584 | 95th 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
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 7.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Road6g | 5.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 4.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| Losses8g | 6.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 6.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 6.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the S cohort
53Mid-pack
Elite: passes defended (96th). Strength: tackles (92nd). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
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
Zach WilliamsTulsaTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 88% simDalton JohnsonArizona· 82% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 81% sim
Passes defended
Tackles
Solo tackles
Tackles for loss
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 Zach Lutmer’s 2025 season.
Zach Lutmer
82%match
All-Big Ten
#2
Cooper DeJean
All-Big TenNFL Rd 2 · Pk 8
81%
#3
Jalen Pitre
Consensus All-AmericanNFL Rd 2 · Pk 5
81%
#4
Lewis Cine
1st-team All-AmericanNFL Rd 1 · Pk 32
81%
#5
Chris Bracy
80%
Matches Zach on
Class year
PD rate
Tackle volume
Differs from Zach on
Height (higher)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Zach Lutmer's sophomore season at Iowa (2025).
Zach Lutmer
87%match
All-Big Ten
#2
Ja'Marley Riddle
82%
#3
Nick Cross
NFL Rd 3 · Pk 32
82%
#4
Daxton Hill
All-Big TenNFL Rd 1 · Pk 31
82%
#5
KJ Bolden
All-SEC
76%
Matches Zach on
Class year
PD rate
Tackle volume
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Tre Lamb
Pass share
45.9%
407 pass / 480 run
Plays / game
73.9
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.2%
357 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025
2 coaches2024
Kevin Wilson
Tulsa
2025era →
Tre Lamb
Tulsa
Coaching transition mid-career: Kevin Wilson → Tre Lamb. 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.
HometownTyler, TX
Height6'1"
Weight200 lb
Class2
PositionS
Jersey18
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamTulsa
ConferenceAmerican Athletic
Joined2025
Career arc2 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 | Tulsa | S2 | #14758 | #14951 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | American Athletic |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.