Usage / Role
63%
Regular defensive contributor
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2018-2021Iowa State
Zach Petersen
DE • 6'5" • 275 lbs • Long Grove, IA, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Zach Petersen shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 22.8 disruption score.
Impact Production
89
Top-tier box-score impact for an edge defender
lowelite
Reliability
100
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
67
Useful peak profile
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2019 Regular Season · Iowa State
18181920202121
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Iowa State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Iowa
Player Story
Zach Petersen built his college career from 2018 through 2021 as a defensive end from Long Grove, IA wearing No. 55, spending time with Iowa State. The clearest part of Zach Petersen's career was his defensive...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- Iowa State
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2018
Zach Petersen, DE. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2019 Regular Season · Iowa State. Zach Petersen shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 22.8 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 107
- TFL
- 12.5
- Sacks
- 3.5
- QB hurries
- 6
- Passes defended
- 2
Quick Answers
Zach Petersen quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Iowa State · DE
- Career Tackles
- 107
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 7 entries · 37 games
- Best season
- 2019 Regular Season · Iowa State
- Top game
- Iowa
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · North Scott · Iowa State
- High school pipeline
- North Scott · 3 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 55 · Senior
- 2021 Tackles rank
- 43 tackles · DE 37th (top 14%) · Big 12 63rd (top 14%) · National 844th (top 15%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Postseason | Iowa State | 3 | 2 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 38 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Iowa State | 3 | 2 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 38 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Iowa State | 12 | 41 | 5.5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 54.1 |
| 2020 Postseason | Iowa State | 10 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 18.9 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Iowa State | 10 | 18 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 18.9 |
| 2021 Postseason | Iowa State | 12 | 7 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 46.5 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Iowa State | 12 | 36 | 4 | 0.5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 46.5 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Zach Petersen
Zach Petersen played DE for Iowa State. Across 4 tracked seasons, Zach Petersen recorded 107 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2019 with Iowa State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2019 Regular Season
Iowa State paired 11.5 primary output with 23.8 efficiency.
Supporting note
2021 Postseason role shape
impact-led usage with 22.8 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2021 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Iowa
Loss with 3.5 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 Postseason · Iowa State
Games
12
Havoc Plays / G
0.8
Efficiency
22.8
Usage
5.5
Consistency
34.9
Best Game by takeover score
Iowa
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
Hover over a point
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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. Clemson: 1. Iowa: 3.5. UNLV: 0. Baylor: 0.5. Kansas: 0.5. Kansas State: 0. Oklahoma State: 0. West Virginia: 1. Texas: 1. Texas Tech: 0.5. Oklahoma: 0.5. TCU: 1
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.
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High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Clemson: 7 by 39.2. Iowa: 7 by 64.2. UNLV: 2 by 8.3. Baylor: 6 by 30. Kansas: 6 by 30. Kansas State: 2 by 8.3. Oklahoma State: 2 by 8.3. West Virginia: 2 by 18.3. Texas: 3 by 22.5. Texas Tech: 3 by 17.5. Oklahoma: 1 by 9.2. TCU: 2 by 18.3
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0.4 · Games = 6 · -0.8 vs Losses
Losses1.2 · Games = 6 · +0.8 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
Iowa
Best efficiency game
64.2 vs Iowa
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 12/29 | vs Clemson | L 13-20 | 7 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Fri 11/26 | vs TCU | W 48-14 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/20 | @ Oklahoma | L 21-28 | 1 | 0 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/13 | @ Texas Tech | L 38-41 | 3 | 1 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/6 | vs Texas | W 30-7 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/30 | @ West Virginia | L 31-38 | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 10/23 | vs Oklahoma State | W 24-21 | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/16 | @ Kansas State | W 33-20 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/2 | vs Kansas | W 59-7 | 6 | 5 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/25 | @ Baylor | L 29-31 | 6 | 3 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 9/19 | @ UNLV | W 48-3 | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/11 | vs IowaSplash game | L 17-27 | 7 | 1 | — | 2 | 0.50 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Zach Petersen story
Zach Petersen built his college career from 2018 through 2021 as a defensive end from Long Grove, IA wearing No. 55, spending time with Iowa State. The clearest part of Zach Petersen's career was his defensive production: 107 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and 2 passes defended across 37 career games in the available record. That gives Zach Petersen's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Iowa State
2018-2021
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2018201820192020202020212021
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Postseason | Iowa State | 0 | 5.6 | 1 | — |
| 2018 Regular Season | Iowa State | 0 | 5.6 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Iowa State | 11.5 | 23.8 | 6 | 11.5 |
| 2020 Postseason | Iowa State | 3 | 10.9 | 3.4 | -8.5 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Iowa State | 3 | 10.9 | 3.4 | 0 |
| 2021 Postseason | Iowa State | 9.5 | 22.8 | 5.5 | 6.5 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Iowa State | 9.5 | 22.8 | 5.5 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Iowa
Week 2 · L 17-27
Loss with 3.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3.5
Havoc Plays
88.1 takeover
3.5 disruption/tackle impact with 88.1 takeover score.
#2
@ West Virginia
Week 7 · W 38-14 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
83.6 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 83.6 takeover score.
#3
vs Texas Tech
Week 6 · W 31-15 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
76.1 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 76.1 takeover score.
#4
vs TCU
Week 6 · W 49-24 · Conference game
2.5
Havoc Plays
72.5 takeover
Win with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2.5 disruption/tackle impact with 72.5 takeover score.
#5
@ Oklahoma
Week 11 · L 41-42 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
60.3 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 60.3 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2019 Regular Season · Iowa State
11.5 primary output · 23.8 efficiency · 6 usage
54.1
#2
2021 Postseason · Iowa State
46.5
9.5 primary · 22.8 efficiency · 5.5 usage
#3
2021 Regular Season · Iowa State
46.5
9.5 primary · 22.8 efficiency · 5.5 usage
Milestones
5
Impact games
5
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Zach Petersen
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