Usage / Role
30%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2016-2021East 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.
Impact Production
41
Developing production for a safety
lowelite
Reliability
43
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
54
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 story3★
- 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
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 Regular Season | North Carolina | 2 | 3 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 37.9 |
| 2017 Regular Season | North Carolina | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2018 Regular Season | North Carolina | 8 | 15 | - | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | 13.6 |
| 2019 Regular Season | North Carolina | 11 | 54 | 2.5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 57.6 |
| 2020 Regular Season | North Carolina | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2021 Regular Season | East Carolina | 10 | 32 | 2.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | 40 |
Related Context
Keep exploring D.J. Ford
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
2021 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 18.8 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: Marshall
Win with 1.5 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.
2021 Regular Season · East Carolina
Games
10
Havoc Plays / G
0.6
Efficiency
18.8
Usage
3.5
Consistency
47
Best Game by takeover score
Marshall
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
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. App State: 1. South Carolina: 1. Marshall: 1.5. Charleston Southern: 1. Tulane: 0. UCF: 0. Houston: 1. South Florida: 0. Memphis: 0. Cincinnati: 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. App State: 4 by 26.7. South Carolina: 6 by 35. Marshall: 6 by 40. Charleston Southern: 5 by 30.8. Tulane: 1 by 4.2. UCF: 3 by 12.5. Houston: 2 by 18.3. South Florida: 1 by 4.2. Memphis: 1 by 4.2. Cincinnati: 3 by 12.5
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0.5 · Games = 5 · -0.1 vs Losses
Losses0.6 · Games = 5 · +0.1 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
10 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Marshall
Best efficiency game
40 vs Marshall
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 11/26 | vs Cincinnati | L 13-35 | 3 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/13 | @ Memphis | W 30-29 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Thu 10/28 | vs South Florida | W 29-14 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/23 | @ Houston | L 24-31 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 10/9 | @ UCF | L 16-20 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/2 | vs Tulane | W 52-29 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/25 | vs Charleston Southern | W 31-28 | 5 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 9/18 | @ Marshall | W 42-38 | 6 | 3 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 9/11 | vs South Carolina | L 17-20 | 6 | 4 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Thu 9/2 | @ App State | L 19-33 | 4 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
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
North Carolina
2016-2020
Opening stop
- 2
East Carolina
2021
Final stop
Season Value Progression
201620172018201920202021
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 Regular Season | North Carolina | 0 | 6.3 | 0.9 | — |
| 2017 Regular Season | North Carolina | 0 | — | — | 0 |
| 2018 Regular Season | North Carolina | 2 | 10.3 | 1.5 | 2 |
| 2019 Regular Season | North Carolina | 8.5 | 28.2 | 5.8 | 6.5 |
| 2020 Regular Season | North Carolina | 0 | — | — | -8.5 |
| 2021 Regular Season | East Carolina | 5.5 | 18.8 | 3.5 | 5.5 |
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
Next best actions
Keep exploring D.J. Ford
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