Usage / Role
14%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2021-2025UCF
Jayden McDonald
LB • 6'4" • 232 lbs • Salem, VA, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Jayden McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 11.8 disruption score.
Impact Production
31
Developing production for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
23
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
45
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2022 Regular Season · Virginia Tech
212223232425
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 2
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- Virginia Tech • UCF
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: NC State
Player Story
Jayden McDonald built his college career from 2021 through 2025 as a linebacker from Salem, VA wearing No. 38, spending time with UCF and Virginia Tech. The clearest part of Jayden McDonald's career was his defensive...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- Virginia Tech
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2021
Jayden McDonald, LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2022 Regular Season · Virginia Tech. Jayden McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 11.8 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 60
- TFL
- 4
- Sacks
- 1
- QB hurries
- 2
- Passes defended
- 2
Quick Answers
Jayden McDonald quick answers
- Latest team and position
- UCF · LB
- Career Tackles
- 60
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 6 entries · 24 games
- Best season
- 2022 Regular Season · Virginia Tech
- Top game
- NC State
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Salem · Virginia Tech
- High school pipeline
- Salem · 9 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 38 · Senior
- 2025 Tackles rank
- 15 tackles · LB 653rd (top 52%) · Big 12 291st (top 40%) · National 2,443rd (top 40%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2022 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 7 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | 0 | 49.6 |
| 2023 Postseason | Virginia Tech | 10 | 2 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 26.6 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 10 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26.6 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2025 Regular Season | UCF | 7 | 15 | - | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 19.9 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Jayden McDonald
Transfer Portal History
Matched portal movement
| Season | Path | Movement | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Virginia Tech to UCF | P4 to P4 | 79.8 | May 1, 2025 |
Jayden McDonald played LB for Virginia Tech and UCF. Across 5 tracked seasons, Jayden McDonald recorded 60 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2023 with Virginia Tech.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2022 Regular Season
Virginia Tech paired 5 primary output with 18.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
2025 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 11.8 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2025 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 Virginia Tech, UCF.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: North Carolina A&T
Win with 1 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 · UCF
Games
7
Havoc Plays / G
0.3
Efficiency
11.8
Usage
2.2
Consistency
9.5
Best Game by takeover score
North Carolina A&T
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. Jacksonville State: 0. North Carolina A&T: 1. Kansas: 0. Cincinnati: 0. West Virginia: 1. Baylor: 0. Houston: 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. Jacksonville State: 3 by 12.5. North Carolina A&T: 1 by 14.2. Kansas: 4 by 16.7. Cincinnati: 1 by 4.2. West Virginia: 1 by 14.2. Baylor: 2 by 8.3. Houston: 3 by 12.5
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0.7 · Games = 3 · +0.7 vs Losses
Losses0 · Games = 4 · -0.7 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
7 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
North Carolina A&T
Best efficiency game
16.7 vs Kansas
Player Story
Jayden McDonald story
Jayden McDonald built his college career from 2021 through 2025 as a linebacker from Salem, VA wearing No. 38, spending time with UCF and Virginia Tech. The clearest part of Jayden McDonald's career was his defensive production: 60 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 interception across 24 career games in the available record. That gives Jayden 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
Virginia Tech
2021-2024
Opening stop
- 2
UCF
2025
Final stop
Season Value Progression
202120222023202320242025
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2022 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 5 | 18.5 | 4.7 | 5 |
| 2023 Postseason | Virginia Tech | 3 | 13.8 | 2.7 | -2 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 3 | 13.8 | 2.7 | 0 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Virginia Tech | 0 | — | — | -3 |
| 2025 Regular Season | UCF | 2 | 11.8 | 2.2 | 2 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs NC State
Week 12 · L 28-35 · Conference game
Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1
Havoc Plays
69.4 takeover
1 disruption/tackle impact with 69.4 takeover score.
#2
@ Pittsburgh
Week 6 · L 29-45 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
68.6 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 68.6 takeover score.
#3
@ Virginia
Week 13 · W 55-17 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
55.3 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 55.3 takeover score.
#4
vs North Carolina A&T
Week 2 · W 68-7
1
Havoc Plays
48.3 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 48.3 takeover score.
#5
vs Wake Forest
Week 7 · W 30-13 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
46.7 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 46.7 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2022 Regular Season · Virginia Tech
5 primary output · 18.5 efficiency · 4.7 usage
49.6
#2
2023 Postseason · Virginia Tech
26.6
3 primary · 13.8 efficiency · 2.7 usage
#3
2023 Regular Season · Virginia Tech
26.6
3 primary · 13.8 efficiency · 2.7 usage
Milestones
2
Impact games
1
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Jayden McDonald
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