Usage / Role
4%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2022-2025Syracuse
Derek McDonald
LB • 6'4" • 230 lbs • Atlanta, GA, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Derek McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 8.3 disruption score.
Impact Production
14
Developing production for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
9
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
22
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Syracuse
222323242425
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Syracuse
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: NC State
Player Story
Derek McDonald built his college career from 2022 through 2025 as a linebacker from Atlanta, GA wearing No. 15, spending time with Syracuse. The clearest part of Derek McDonald's career was his defensive production:...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- Syracuse
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2021
Derek McDonald, LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Syracuse. Derek McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 8.3 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 158
- TFL
- 6.5
- Sacks
- 3.5
- QB hurries
- 9
- Passes defended
- 3
Quick Answers
Derek McDonald quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Syracuse · LB
- Career Tackles
- 158
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 6 entries · 37 games
- Best season
- 2023 Postseason · Syracuse
- Top game
- NC State
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Marist School · Syracuse
- High school pipeline
- Marist School · 24 FBS recruits · 2 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 15 · Senior
- 2025 Tackles rank
- 6 tackles · LB 869th (top 69%) · ACC 434th (top 55%) · National 3,432nd (top 56%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Regular Season | Syracuse | 9 | 41 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 53.3 |
| 2023 Postseason | Syracuse | 13 | 6 | - | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 65.4 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Syracuse | 13 | 55 | 4 | 2.5 | 4 | - | 0 | 65.4 |
| 2024 Postseason | Syracuse | 12 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 23.3 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Syracuse | 12 | 49 | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | - | 0 | 23.3 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Syracuse | 3 | 6 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 40.6 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Derek McDonald
Transfer Portal History
Matched portal movement
| Season | Path | Movement | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Syracuse to North Carolina | P4 to P4 | 78.4 | Jan 10, 2026 |
Derek McDonald played LB for Syracuse. Across 4 tracked seasons, Derek McDonald recorded 158 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2023 with Syracuse.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2023 Postseason
Syracuse paired 11.5 primary output with 28.4 efficiency.
Supporting note
2025 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 8.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2025 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: UConn
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.
2025 Regular Season · Syracuse
Games
3
Havoc Plays / G
0
Efficiency
8.3
Usage
1.6
Consistency
100
Best Game by takeover score
UConn
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. Tennessee: 0. UConn: 0. Colgate: 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. Tennessee: 2 by 8.3. UConn: 3 by 12.5. Colgate: 1 by 4.2
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0 · Games = 2 · +0 vs Losses
Losses0 · Games = 1 · +0 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
3 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
UConn
Best efficiency game
12.5 vs UConn
Player Story
Derek McDonald story
Derek McDonald built his college career from 2022 through 2025 as a linebacker from Atlanta, GA wearing No. 15, spending time with Syracuse. The clearest part of Derek McDonald's career was his defensive production: 158 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and 1 interception across 37 career games in the available record. That gives Derek McDonald'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
Syracuse
2022-2025
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
202220232023202420242025
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Regular Season | Syracuse | 9 | 29 | 6.4 | — |
| 2023 Postseason | Syracuse | 11.5 | 28.4 | 8.1 | 2.5 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Syracuse | 11.5 | 28.4 | 8.1 | 0 |
| 2024 Postseason | Syracuse | 2.5 | 19.5 | 5.2 | -9 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Syracuse | 2.5 | 19.5 | 5.2 | 0 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Syracuse | 0 | 8.3 | 1.6 | -2.5 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ NC State
Week 7 · W 24-17 · Conference game
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1
Havoc Plays
79.7 takeover
1 disruption/tackle impact with 79.7 takeover score.
#2
vs Georgia Tech
Week 2 · W 31-28 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
79.7 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 79.7 takeover score.
#3
vs Colgate
Week 1 · W 65-0
2
Havoc Plays
79.5 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 79.5 takeover score.
#4
vs Florida State
Week 11 · L 3-38 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
73.1 takeover
Loss with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 73.1 takeover score.
#5
vs NC State
Week 7 · W 24-9 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
71.1 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 71.1 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2023 Postseason · Syracuse
11.5 primary output · 28.4 efficiency · 8.1 usage
65.4
#2
2023 Regular Season · Syracuse
65.4
11.5 primary · 28.4 efficiency · 8.1 usage
#3
2022 Regular Season · Syracuse
53.3
9 primary · 29 efficiency · 6.4 usage
Milestones
8
Impact games
4
Splash games
1
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Derek McDonald
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