Usage / Role
100%
Featured defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2016-2019Iowa State
Marcel Spears Jr.
LB • 6'1" • 218 lbs • Olathe, KS, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Marcel Spears Jr. shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 45.3 disruption score.
Impact Production
100
Top-tier box-score impact for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
100
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
80
High-upside career profile
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2018 Postseason · Iowa State
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Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Iowa State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Northern Iowa
Player Story
Marcel Spears Jr. built his college career from 2016 through 2019 as a linebacker from Olathe, KS wearing No. 42, spending time with Iowa State. The clearest part of Marcel Spears Jr.'s career was his defensive...
Read the story4★
- Committed To
- Texas Tech
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2023
Marcel Spears Jr., LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2018 Postseason · Iowa State. Marcel Spears Jr. shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 45.3 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 272
- TFL
- 24.5
- Sacks
- 6
- QB hurries
- 9
- Passes defended
- 13
- Touchdowns
- 4
Quick Answers
Marcel Spears Jr. quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Iowa State · LB
- Career Tackles
- 272
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 7 entries · 42 games
- Best season
- 2018 Postseason · Iowa State
- Top game
- Northern Iowa
- Recruit profile
- 4-star · Mansfield Timberview · Texas Tech
- High school pipeline
- Mansfield Timberview · 29 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 42 · Senior
- 2019 Tackles rank
- 92 tackles · LB 80th (top 7%) · Big 12 7th (top 2%) · National 103rd (top 2%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 Regular Season | Iowa State | 3 | 4 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 37.4 |
| 2017 Postseason | Iowa State | 13 | 11 | 2.5 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 65.1 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Iowa State | 13 | 96 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 65.1 |
| 2018 Postseason | Iowa State | 13 | 9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | - | - | 0 | 69.4 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Iowa State | 13 | 60 | 6.5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 69.4 |
| 2019 Postseason | Iowa State | 13 | 7 | - | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | 65.3 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Iowa State | 13 | 85 | 8 | 2.5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 65.3 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Marcel Spears Jr.
Marcel Spears Jr. played LB for Iowa State. Across 4 tracked seasons, Marcel Spears Jr. recorded 272 tackles and 4 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2017 with Iowa State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2018 Postseason
Iowa State paired 20.5 primary output with 37.9 efficiency.
Supporting note
2019 Postseason role shape
impact-led usage with 45.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2019 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Northern Iowa
Win with 5 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.
2019 Postseason · Iowa State
Games
13
Havoc Plays / G
1.6
Efficiency
45.3
Usage
9
Consistency
41.2
Best Game by takeover score
Northern Iowa
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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. Notre Dame: 2. Northern Iowa: 5. Iowa: 1. UL Monroe: 2. Baylor: 3. TCU: 1. West Virginia: 0. Texas Tech: 2. Oklahoma State: 1. Oklahoma: 2.5. Texas: 0. Kansas: 1. Kansas State: 0
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. Notre Dame: 7 by 49.2. Northern Iowa: 9 by 87.5. Iowa: 8 by 43.3. UL Monroe: 6 by 45. Baylor: 6 by 55. TCU: 8 by 43.3. West Virginia: 6 by 25. Texas Tech: 12 by 70. Oklahoma State: 5 by 30.8. Oklahoma: 10 by 66.7. Texas: 3 by 12.5. Kansas: 7 by 39.2. Kansas State: 5 by 20.8
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.6 · Games = 7 · -0.0 vs Losses
Losses1.6 · Games = 6 · +0.0 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
13 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Northern Iowa
Best efficiency game
87.5 vs Northern Iowa
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 12/28 | vs Notre DameSplash game | L 9-33 | 7 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sun 12/1 | @ Kansas State | L 17-27 | 5 | 5 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/23 | vs Kansas | W 41-31 | 7 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 11/16 | vs Texas | W 23-21 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 11/10 | @ Oklahoma10+ tackles · Splash game | L 41-42 | 10 | 6 | — | 1.50 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/26 | vs Oklahoma State | L 27-34 | 5 | 5 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/19 | @ Texas Tech10+ tackles · Splash game | W 34-24 | 12 | 11 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 10/12 | @ West Virginia | W 38-14 | 6 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/5 | vs TCU | W 49-24 | 8 | 4 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/28 | @ BaylorSplash game | L 21-23 | 6 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 9/21 | vs UL MonroeSplash game | W 72-20 | 6 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 9/14 | vs Iowa | L 17-18 | 8 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 8/31 | vs Northern IowaSplash game | W 29-26 | 9 | 5 | — | 1.50 | 0.50 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Marcel Spears Jr. story
Marcel Spears Jr. built his college career from 2016 through 2019 as a linebacker from Olathe, KS wearing No. 42, spending time with Iowa State. The clearest part of Marcel Spears Jr.'s career was his defensive production: 272 tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, and 4 interceptions across 42 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2017 with Iowa State. 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 Marcel Spears Jr.'s production has multiple signals. With 42 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Iowa State.
The arc is straightforward: Marcel Spears Jr. 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
Iowa State
2016-2019
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2016201720172018201820192019
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 Regular Season | Iowa State | 0 | 5.6 | 0.8 | — |
| 2017 Postseason | Iowa State | 15.5 | 44 | 10.5 | 15.5 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Iowa State | 15.5 | 44 | 10.5 | 0 |
| 2018 Postseason | Iowa State | 20.5 | 37.9 | 9.1 | 5 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Iowa State | 20.5 | 37.9 | 9.1 | 0 |
| 2019 Postseason | Iowa State | 20.5 | 45.3 | 9 | 0 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Iowa State | 20.5 | 45.3 | 9 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Northern Iowa
Week 1 · W 29-26
Win with 5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
5
Havoc Plays
95.8 takeover
5 disruption/tackle impact with 95.8 takeover score.
#2
@ Memphis
Week 1 · W 21-20 · Postseason
3.5
Havoc Plays
93.6 takeover
Win with 3.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3.5 disruption/tackle impact with 93.6 takeover score.
#3
vs Texas Tech
Week 9 · W 40-31 · Conference game
3.5
Havoc Plays
83.9 takeover
Win with 3.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3.5 disruption/tackle impact with 83.9 takeover score.
#4
@ Oklahoma
Week 11 · L 41-42 · Conference game
2.5
Havoc Plays
72.2 takeover
Loss with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2.5 disruption/tackle impact with 72.2 takeover score.
#5
vs TCU
Week 9 · W 14-7 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
71.5 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 71.5 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2018 Postseason · Iowa State
20.5 primary output · 37.9 efficiency · 9.1 usage
69.4
#2
2018 Regular Season · Iowa State
69.4
20.5 primary · 37.9 efficiency · 9.1 usage
#3
2019 Postseason · Iowa State
65.3
20.5 primary · 45.3 efficiency · 9 usage
Milestones
13
Impact games
18
Splash games
6
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Marcel Spears Jr.
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