College football · 2026

Season grade leaderboard

Every FBS player judged play by play against FBS opponents, updated after every game. How is this calculated?

Showing every graded player. Qualified only

Defensive grades use box-score stats, not play-level attribution, so they carry lower confidence than offense grades. Why?

#PlayerGrade
1Princewill UmanmielenLSU99.9
2Colin SimmonsTexas99.9
3Boubacar TraoreNotre Dame99.8
4Thomas DavisTulsa99.7
5Daeden HopkinsMissouri99.6
6Marques WhiteSMU99.5
7Langston HardyWake Forest99.4
8Ibrahim DiawaraCoastal Carolina99.3
9Wendell GregoryKansas State99.2
10Xavier LewisNorth Carolina99.1
11Will HeldtClemson99.1
12Gabe KirschkeWake Forest98.9
13Mi'Quise Humphrey-GraceKentucky98.9
14Myles BradleyBowling Green98.9
15Kyran DuhonTulsa98.7
16Elijah KinslerMemphis98.5
17Eli CoenenMichigan State98.5
18Andrew ZockToledo98.3
19Amaree WilliamsMississippi State98.3
20Bryce YoungNotre Dame98.2
21TJ Bush Jr.Minnesota98.1
22Jordan RossLSU97.9
23Devan ThompkinsAlabama97.9
24Dylan LaBarberaNevada97.9
25E'Lla BoykinBoston College97.8
26Elisha BaldridgeFlorida International97.6
27Khalil LaufauHouston97.6
28Dominic NicholsMichigan97.4
29Cortez HarrisVirginia Tech97.4
30Tawfiq ThomasGeorgia Tech97.2
31Anas LuqmanUConn97.2
32Aycen StevensVirginia Tech97.2
33Miles CapersVanderbilt96.9
34Marquise LightfootMiami96.9
35John Henry DaleyMichigan96.9
36Leroy Harris IIIKansas96.7
37Isaiah NixonUCF96.6
38Kenny Soares Jr.Michigan State96.6
39Will WhitsonMississippi State96.6
40DeeJay Holmes Jr.Florida International96.1
41Quincy ByasEastern Michigan96.1
42Cody SiglerAuburn96.1
43Nick JamesPittsburgh96.1
44Josh HoughCincinnati96.1
45Bryce DavisDuke96.1
46AJ BrownRice96.1
47Clev LubinLouisville95.7
48Darren AguNew Mexico95.7
49Tobi OsunsanmiIndiana95.4
50Aakil WashingtonSMU95.4

Top 50 of 1408. Pick a conference to see more.

How college grades work

College grades use the same method as the NFL: every play's expected points added, adjusted for how good the defense was, ranked against every other player at the position. The play data comes from CollegeFootballData.com, with ESPN's play feed saying who threw, ran and caught the ball. Four things are different.

  • Only games against FBS teams count. A power-conference offense against an FCS defense tells us little about either, so those games show in the game log but aren't graded.
  • Garbage time is left out: plays with a lead of more than 38 points in the 2nd quarter, 28 in the 3rd, or 22 in the 4th. Blowouts are common in college, and backups piling up numbers against backups would otherwise count like starters.
  • No win probability or completion-percentage data. The college play feed doesn't have them, so grades rest on opponent-adjusted EPA and success rate (the share of plays with positive EPA).
  • Grades and leaderboards use a minimum workload: every grade is a percentile among the players who meet it, so a few plays can't skew anyone else's. Per game against FBS teams, 14 dropbacks for quarterbacks, 10 touches for running backs, 5 targets for receivers and 3 for tight ends, counted over at least two games. Defenders need to have played in half their team's games.

Defensive grades use the same box-score impact score as the NFL's, minus forced fumbles, which the college box score doesn't record.