Usage / Role
100%
Featured defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2014-2018Hawai'i
Jahlani Tavai
LB • 6'4" • 245 lbs • Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Jahlani Tavai shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 53.2 disruption score.
Impact Production
100
Top-tier box-score impact for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
83
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
91
Blue-chip, NFL-level ceiling
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2016 Postseason · Hawai'i
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Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- Hawai'i
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: San José State
Player Story
Jahlani Tavai built his college career from 2014 through 2018 as a linebacker from Redondo Beach, CA wearing No. 31, spending time with Hawai'i. The clearest part of Jahlani Tavai's career was his defensive...
Read the story2★
- Committed To
- Hawai'i
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2014
NFL Draft
- Draft Year
- 2019
- Selection
- Round 2 · Pick 11
- Overall
- No. 43
- NFL Team
- Detroit Lions
Jahlani Tavai, LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2016 Postseason · Hawai'i. Jahlani Tavai shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 53.2 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 334
- TFL
- 36
- Sacks
- 14.5
- QB hurries
- 10
- Passes defended
- 5
Quick Answers
Jahlani Tavai quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Hawai'i · LB
- Career Tackles
- 334
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 6 entries · 35 games
- Best season
- 2016 Postseason · Hawai'i
- Top game
- San José State
- Recruit profile
- 2-star · Mira Costa · Hawai'i
- High school pipeline
- Mira Costa · 3 FBS recruits · 1 drafted player
- NFL Draft
- 2019 · Round 2 · Pick 11 · Detroit Lions
- Latest roster
- No. 31 · Senior
- 2018 Tackles rank
- 82 tackles · LB 115th (top 10%) · Mountain West 23rd (top 5%) · National 164th (top 3%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2015 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 1 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 50 |
| 2016 Postseason | Hawai'i | 14 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | 0 | 79.7 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 14 | 117 | 17.5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 79.7 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 12 | 124 | 11 | 5.5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 70.5 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 8 | 82 | 5.5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 51.9 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Jahlani Tavai
Jahlani Tavai played LB for Hawai'i. Across 5 tracked seasons, Jahlani Tavai recorded 334 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2017 with Hawai'i.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2016 Postseason
Hawai'i paired 33.5 primary output with 60.8 efficiency.
Supporting note
2017 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 59.9 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value cooled off
2018 Regular Season fell back from the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Fresno State
Loss with 4 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2017 Regular Season · Hawai'i
Games
12
Havoc Plays / G
2.0
Efficiency
59.9
Usage
19.2
Consistency
51.8
Best Game by takeover score
Fresno State
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Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Western Carolina: 1. Massachusetts: 4. UCLA: 0. Wyoming: 4. Colorado State: 1. Nevada: 1. San José State: 2. San Diego State: 1. UNLV: 2. Fresno State: 4. Utah State: 0.5. BYU: 3
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Western Carolina: 10 by 51.7. Massachusetts: 13 by 90. UCLA: 4 by 16.7. Wyoming: 10 by 81.7. Colorado State: 14 by 60. Nevada: 2 by 18.3. San José State: 8 by 53.3. San Diego State: 10 by 51.7. UNLV: 13 by 70. Fresno State: 14 by 90. Utah State: 13 by 55. BYU: 13 by 80
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins2.3 · Games = 3 · +0.5 vs Losses
Losses1.8 · Games = 9 · -0.5 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
12 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Fresno State
Best efficiency game
90 vs Fresno State
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 11/26 | vs BYU10+ tackles · Splash game | L 20-30 | 13 | 7 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/18 | @ Utah State10+ tackles | L 0-38 | 13 | 4 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 11/12 | vs Fresno State10+ tackles · Splash game | L 21-31 | 14 | 7 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 11/4 | @ UNLV10+ tackles · Splash game | L 23-31 | 13 | 6 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/29 | vs San Diego State10+ tackles | L 7-28 | 10 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/15 | vs San José StateSplash game | W 37-26 | 8 | 6 | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/8 | @ Nevada | L 21-35 | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/1 | vs Colorado State10+ tackles | L 21-51 | 14 | 7 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 9/24 | @ Wyoming10+ tackles · Splash game | L 21-28 | 10 | 7 | — | 2.50 | 1.50 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/9 | @ UCLA | L 23-56 | 4 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 9/3 | vs Western Carolina10+ tackles | W 41-18 | 10 | 8 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 8/26 | @ Massachusetts10+ tackles · 2+ sacks | W 38-35 | 13 | 6 | — | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Jahlani Tavai story
Jahlani Tavai built his college career from 2014 through 2018 as a linebacker from Redondo Beach, CA wearing No. 31, spending time with Hawai'i. The clearest part of Jahlani Tavai's career was his defensive production: 334 tackles, 36 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, and 2 interceptions across 35 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2016 with Hawai'i. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
Defensive careers can be hard to read from one number, but Jahlani Tavai's production has multiple signals. With 35 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Hawai'i.
The arc is straightforward: Jahlani Tavai moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Hawai'i
2014-2018
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
201420152016201620172018
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2015 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| 2016 Postseason | Hawai'i | 33.5 | 60.8 | 17.2 | 33.5 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 33.5 | 60.8 | 17.2 | 0 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 23.5 | 59.9 | 19.2 | -10 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Hawai'i | 10.5 | 53.2 | 11 | -13 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ San José State
Week 5 · W 44-41 · Conference game
Win with 5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
5
Havoc Plays
100 takeover
5 disruption/tackle impact with 100 takeover score.
#2
vs Fresno State
Week 11 · L 21-31 · Conference game
4
Havoc Plays
96.7 takeover
Loss with 4 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
4 disruption/tackle impact with 96.7 takeover score.
#3
@ Massachusetts
Week 1 · W 38-35
4
Havoc Plays
96.7 takeover
Win with backfield disruption leading the way.
4 disruption/tackle impact with 96.7 takeover score.
#4
@ San José State
Week 6 · W 34-17 · Conference game
5
Havoc Plays
94.2 takeover
Win with backfield disruption leading the way.
5 disruption/tackle impact with 94.2 takeover score.
#5
@ Wyoming
Week 4 · L 21-28 · Conference game
4
Havoc Plays
93.9 takeover
Loss with 4 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
4 disruption/tackle impact with 93.9 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2016 Postseason · Hawai'i
33.5 primary output · 60.8 efficiency · 17.2 usage
79.7
#2
2016 Regular Season · Hawai'i
79.7
33.5 primary · 60.8 efficiency · 17.2 usage
#3
2017 Regular Season · Hawai'i
70.5
23.5 primary · 59.9 efficiency · 19.2 usage
Milestones
17
Impact games
17
Splash games
22
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Jahlani Tavai
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