Player Dossier

2016-2021

East Carolina

D.J. Ford

S • 6'3" • 215 lbs • Ashland, AL, USA

Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile

D.J. Ford shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 18.8 disruption score.

Usage / Role

1%

Rotational defensive role

lowfeatured

Impact Production

10

Developing production for a safety

lowelite

Reliability

10

Sporadic game-to-game production

lowhigh

Star Power

19

Limited ceiling signals so far

limitedstar

Career Arc

Value trend by season

Best season by Season Value: 2019 Regular Season · North Carolina

161718192021

Snapshot

Career Teams
2
Unique Seasons
6
Program Path
North Carolina • East Carolina
Peak Game
Peak game by takeover score: Virginia

Player Story

D.J. Ford built his college career from 2016 through 2021 as a safety from Ashland, AL wearing No. 9, spending time with East Carolina and North Carolina. The clearest part of D.J. Ford's career was his defensive...

Read the story
3★

Recruit Profile

Class 2016 · Rating 0.8117

Clay Central · Lineville, AL

Committed To
North Carolina
Commit Date
Jan 1, 2016

D.J. Ford, S. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2019 Regular Season · North Carolina. D.J. Ford shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 18.8 disruption score.

Stat Footprint

Career production snapshot

Tackles
104
TFL
5
Sacks
1
QB hurries
2
Passes defended
7

Quick Answers

D.J. Ford quick answers

Latest team and position
East Carolina · S
Career Tackles
104
Tracked sample
6 unique seasons · 6 entries · 31 games
Best season
2019 Regular Season · North Carolina
Top game
Virginia
Recruit profile
3-star · Clay Central · North Carolina
High school pipeline
Clay Central · 4 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
Latest roster
No. 9 · Senior
2021 Tackles rank
32 tackles · S 187th (top 37%) · American Athletic 112th (top 23%) · National 1,291st (top 22%)

Season Ledger

Crawlable season-by-season stats

SeasonTeamGamesTacklesTFLSacksQB HurPDTDOverall
2016 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina23-0--037.9
2017 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina00-0--0-
2018 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina815-0-2013.6
2019 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina11542.5122057.6
2020 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina00-0--0-
2021 Regular SeasonEast Carolina10322.50-3040

Related Context

D.J. Ford played S for North Carolina and East Carolina. Across 6 tracked seasons, D.J. Ford recorded 104 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2019 with North Carolina.

Player insights

Lead takeaway

Best season by value score: 2019 Regular Season

North Carolina paired 8.5 primary output with 28.2 efficiency.

Supporting note

2016 Regular Season role shape

impact-led usage with 6.3 efficiency.

Supporting note

Career value is trending up

2021 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.

Supporting note

Multi-stop career journey

Production spans 2 team stops, with role shifts visible across North Carolina, East Carolina.

Supporting note

Peak game by takeover score: James Madison

Win with 0 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.

2016 Regular Season · North Carolina

Games

2

Havoc Plays / G

0

Efficiency

6.3

Usage

0.9

Consistency

100

Best Game by takeover score

James Madison

Not enough games exist for the full explorer. The summary cards stay available so the season still reads clearly.

Active game

Hover over a point

Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.

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.

12

Chronological game order.

Game by game trend chart. Illinois: 0. James Madison: 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.

Scatter view is hidden because this season does not have enough game-to-game variety yet.

Split Comparison

Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.

First Half0 · Games = 1 · +0 vs Second Half
Second Half0 · Games = 1 · +0 vs First Half

Game Log

Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.

2 games

Featured metric

Havoc Plays

Top game by takeover score

James Madison

Best efficiency game

8.3 vs James Madison

Result
Sat 9/17vs James MadisonW 56-2821000
Sat 9/10@ IllinoisW 48-2310000

Player Story

D.J. Ford story

D.J. Ford built his college career from 2016 through 2021 as a safety from Ashland, AL wearing No. 9, spending time with East Carolina and North Carolina. The clearest part of D.J. Ford's career was his defensive production: 104 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 interception across 31 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2019 with North Carolina. 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 D.J. Ford's production has multiple signals. With 31 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across East Carolina and North Carolina.

The arc is straightforward: D.J. Ford 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. 1

    North Carolina

    2016-2020

    Opening stop

  2. 2

    East Carolina

    2021

    Final stop

Season Value Progression

201620172018201920202021
SeasonTeamPrimaryEfficiencyUsageDelta
2016 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina06.30.9
2017 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina00
2018 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina210.31.52
2019 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina8.528.25.86.5
2020 Regular SeasonNorth Carolina0-8.5
2021 Regular SeasonEast Carolina5.518.83.55.5

Signature Performances

Top Games

#1 Featured game

vs Virginia

Week 10 · L 31-38 · Conference game

Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

2

Havoc Plays

80.3 takeover

2 disruption/tackle impact with 80.3 takeover score.

#2

vs South Carolina

Week 1 · W 24-20

2

Havoc Plays

77.2 takeover

Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

2 disruption/tackle impact with 77.2 takeover score.

#3

@ Marshall

Week 3 · W 42-38

1.5

Havoc Plays

63.3 takeover

Win with 1.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

1.5 disruption/tackle impact with 63.3 takeover score.

#4

vs South Carolina

Week 2 · L 17-20

1

Havoc Plays

60.3 takeover

Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

1 disruption/tackle impact with 60.3 takeover score.

#5

@ Duke

Week 11 · L 35-42 · Conference game

1

Havoc Plays

53.6 takeover

Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

1 disruption/tackle impact with 53.6 takeover score.

Top Seasons

#1 Season by Season Value

2019 Regular Season · North Carolina

8.5 primary output · 28.2 efficiency · 5.8 usage

57.6

#2

2021 Regular Season · East Carolina

40

5.5 primary · 18.8 efficiency · 3.5 usage

#3

2016 Regular Season · North Carolina

37.9

0 primary · 6.3 efficiency · 0.9 usage

Milestones

4

Impact games

2

Splash games

1

10+ tackle games