College football · 2026

Season grade leaderboard

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

Qualified: played in at least half of their team's games against FBS teams. Show everyone

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

#PlayerGrade
1Anthony PalanoBoston College98.9
2Kaleb SpencerVirginia Tech97.3
3Vincent FirenzeWake Forest96.9
4Matt RoseStanford96.6
5Sammy BrownClemson92.8
6Aiden HallWake Forest89.8
7Chris D'AppoloniaSyracuse87.8
8Tevarua TafitiStanford87.0
9Braylan LovelacePittsburgh87.0
10Antoine DeslauriersSyracuse86.3
11Alex Sanford Jr.Pittsburgh86.3
12Brandon BookerSMU85.6
13Derek McDonaldNorth Carolina85.6
14Popo AguirreNC State85.6
15Chris JonesFlorida State84.6
16Noah ChambersVirginia Tech83.4
17Jeremiah AlexanderClemson81.9
18T.J. CapersLouisville81.9
19Stanquan ClarkLouisville79.8
20Frank CusanoWake Forest79.8
21Kyle EffordGeorgia Tech75.9
22Alexander KilgoreSMU75.9
23Gabe KaminskiStanford73.6
24Sam MattinglyStanford72.0
25DeMarco WardPittsburgh72.0
26Jeremiah MarcelinPittsburgh70.1
27Kemori DixonBoston College67.0
28AJ TuiteleCalifornia67.0
29Keon WylieVirginia Tech67.0
30E.J. LightseyGeorgia Tech65.5
31Jahsiah GalvanStanford65.5
32Peyton SeelmannNorth Carolina64.1
33Kamar MothudiCalifornia63.0
34Nick Morris Jr.Duke61.8
35Benjamin PerryLouisville60.5
36Jamal AndersonSMU60.5
37Harvey Dyson IIINC State59.3
38Mikai GbayorFlorida State57.8
39Maddox MarcellusVirginia57.8
40Kam RobinsonVirginia55.9
41Omar Graham Jr.Florida State55.9
42Cayman SpauldingGeorgia Tech54.0
43Bradley GompersDuke49.6
44Zach JohnsonStanford49.6
45Gary Bryant IIISyracuse49.6
46Keyshawn JohnsonSyracuse49.6
47Jayden WayneCalifornia49.6
48Landon DanleyVirginia47.7
49Tristan JerniganCalifornia47.7
50Brandon MiyazonoSMU45.3

Top 50 of 90. 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.