Player Dossier

2021-2023

Iowa State

Ben Nikkel

DB • 6'1" • 210 lbs • Mcpherson, KS, USA

Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile

Ben Nikkel shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 18.8 disruption score.

Usage / Role

2%

Rotational defensive role

lowfeatured

Impact Production

7

Developing production for a defensive back

lowelite

Reliability

15

Sporadic game-to-game production

lowhigh

Star Power

15

Limited ceiling signals so far

limitedstar

Career Arc

Value trend by season

Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Iowa State

21222323

Snapshot

Career Teams
1
Unique Seasons
3
Program Path
Iowa State
Peak Game
Peak game by takeover score: Ohio

Player Story

Ben Nikkel built his college career from 2021 through 2023 as a defensive back from Mcpherson, KS wearing No. 18, spending time with Iowa State. The clearest part of Ben Nikkel's career was his defensive production:...

Read the story

Ben Nikkel, DB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Iowa State. Ben Nikkel shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 18.8 disruption score.

Stat Footprint

Career production snapshot

Tackles
43
TFL
1
Passes defended
3

Quick Answers

Ben Nikkel quick answers

Latest team and position
Iowa State · DB
Career Tackles
43
Tracked sample
3 unique seasons · 4 entries · 14 games
Best season
2023 Postseason · Iowa State
Top game
Ohio
Latest roster
No. 18 · Senior
2023 Tackles rank
40 tackles · DB 194th (top 21%) · Big 12 85th (top 14%) · National 868th (top 15%)

Season Ledger

Crawlable season-by-season stats

SeasonTeamGamesTacklesTFLSacksQB HurPDTDOverall
2021 Regular SeasonIowa State00-0--0-
2022 Regular SeasonIowa State33-0--037
2023 PostseasonIowa State115-0--038.3
2023 Regular SeasonIowa State113510-3038.3

Related Context

Ben Nikkel played DB for Iowa State. Across 3 tracked seasons, Ben Nikkel recorded 43 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2023 with Iowa State.

Player insights

Lead takeaway

Best season by value score: 2023 Postseason

Iowa State paired 4 primary output with 18.8 efficiency.

Supporting note

2022 Regular Season role shape

impact-led usage with 4.2 efficiency.

Supporting note

Career value stayed steady

2023 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.

Supporting note

Peak game by takeover score: West Virginia

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.

2022 Regular Season · Iowa State

Games

3

Havoc Plays / G

0

Efficiency

4.2

Usage

0.8

Consistency

100

Best Game by takeover score

West Virginia

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.

123

Chronological game order.

Game by game trend chart. Ohio: 0. Baylor: 0. West Virginia: 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. Ohio: 1 by 4.2. Baylor: 1 by 4.2. West Virginia: 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

West Virginia

Best efficiency game

4.2 vs West Virginia

Result
Sat 11/5vs West VirginiaW 31-1410000
Sat 9/24vs BaylorL 24-3111000
Sat 9/17vs OhioW 43-1010000

Player Story

Ben Nikkel story

Ben Nikkel built his college career from 2021 through 2023 as a defensive back from Mcpherson, KS wearing No. 18, spending time with Iowa State. The clearest part of Ben Nikkel's career was his defensive production: 43 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 3 passes defended across 14 career games in the available record. His career also includes 5 return yards, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. That gives Ben Nikkel'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. 1

    Iowa State

    2021-2023

    Opening stop

Season Value Progression

2021202220232023
SeasonTeamPrimaryEfficiencyUsageDelta
2021 Regular SeasonIowa State0
2022 Regular SeasonIowa State04.20.80
2023 PostseasonIowa State418.834
2023 Regular SeasonIowa State418.830

Signature Performances

Top Games

#1 Featured game

@ Ohio

Week 3 · L 7-10

Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

1

Havoc Plays

52.2 takeover

1 disruption/tackle impact with 52.2 takeover score.

#2

vs Northern Iowa

Week 1 · W 30-9

2

Havoc Plays

46.9 takeover

Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

2 disruption/tackle impact with 46.9 takeover score.

#3

@ Oklahoma

Week 5 · L 20-50 · Conference game

1

Havoc Plays

32.5 takeover

Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

1 disruption/tackle impact with 32.5 takeover score.

#4

vs Oklahoma State

Week 4 · W 34-27 · Conference game

0

Havoc Plays

24.4 takeover

Win with 0 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

0 disruption/tackle impact with 24.4 takeover score.

#5

vs Memphis

Week 1 · L 26-36 · Postseason

0

Havoc Plays

19.4 takeover

Loss with 0 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.

0 disruption/tackle impact with 19.4 takeover score.

Top Seasons

#1 Season by Season Value

2023 Postseason · Iowa State

4 primary output · 18.8 efficiency · 3 usage

38.3

#2

2023 Regular Season · Iowa State

38.3

4 primary · 18.8 efficiency · 3 usage

#3

2022 Regular Season · Iowa State

37

0 primary · 4.2 efficiency · 0.8 usage

Milestones

0

Impact games

1

Splash games

0

10+ tackle games