Usage / Role
49%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2023-2025Texas
Jelani McDonald
DB • 6'2" • 199 lbs • Waco, TX, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Jelani McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 33.5 disruption score.
Impact Production
49
Developing production for a defensive back
lowelite
Reliability
70
Reliable weekly contributor
lowhigh
Star Power
45
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2025 Postseason · Texas
2324242525
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 3
- Program Path
- Texas
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Kentucky
Player Story
Jelani McDonald built his college career from 2023 through 2025 as a defensive back from Waco, TX wearing No. 4, spending time with Texas. The clearest part of Jelani McDonald's career was his defensive production:...
Read the story4★
- Committed To
- Texas
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2023
Jelani McDonald, DB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2025 Postseason · Texas. Jelani McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 33.5 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 115
- TFL
- 5
- QB hurries
- 1
- Passes defended
- 4
Quick Answers
Jelani McDonald quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Texas · DB
- Career Tackles
- 115
- Tracked sample
- 3 unique seasons · 5 entries · 26 games
- Best season
- 2025 Postseason · Texas
- Top game
- Kentucky
- Recruit profile
- 4-star · Connally · Texas
- High school pipeline
- Connally · 4 FBS recruits · 1 drafted player
- Latest roster
- No. 4 · Junior
- 2025 Tackles rank
- 80 tackles · DB 20th (top 3%) · SEC 12th (top 2%) · National 151st (top 3%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Regular Season | Texas | 1 | 2 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 42.5 |
| 2024 Postseason | Texas | 12 | 9 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 18.9 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Texas | 12 | 24 | 1 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 18.9 |
| 2025 Postseason | Texas | 13 | 7 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 59.1 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Texas | 13 | 73 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 59.1 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Jelani McDonald
Jelani McDonald played DB for Texas. Across 3 tracked seasons, Jelani McDonald recorded 115 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2025 with Texas.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2025 Postseason
Texas paired 11 primary output with 33.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
2025 Postseason role shape
impact-led usage with 33.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2025 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Kentucky
Win with 2 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 Postseason · Texas
Games
13
Havoc Plays / G
0.8
Efficiency
33.5
Usage
6.2
Consistency
51.3
Best Game by takeover score
Kentucky
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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. Michigan: 0. Ohio State: 0. San José State: 1. UTEP: 1. Sam Houston: 2. Florida: 0. Oklahoma: 2. Kentucky: 2. Mississippi State: 1. Vanderbilt: 0. Georgia: 0. Arkansas: 2. Texas A&M: 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. Michigan: 7 by 29.2. Ohio State: 3 by 12.5. San José State: 2 by 18.3. UTEP: 6 by 35. Sam Houston: 2 by 28.3. Florida: 8 by 33.3. Oklahoma: 8 by 53.3. Kentucky: 9 by 57.5. Mississippi State: 14 by 60. Vanderbilt: 3 by 12.5. Georgia: 4 by 16.7. Arkansas: 5 by 40.8. Texas A&M: 9 by 37.5
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.1 · Games = 10 · +1.1 vs Losses
Losses0 · Games = 3 · -1.1 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
13 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Kentucky
Best efficiency game
60 vs Mississippi State
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 12/31 | vs Michigan | W 41-27 | 7 | 6 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/29 | vs Texas A&M | W 27-17 | 9 | 6 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/22 | vs ArkansasSplash game | W 52-37 | 5 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 11/16 | @ Georgia | L 10-35 | 4 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/1 | vs Vanderbilt | W 34-31 | 3 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/25 | @ Mississippi State10+ tackles | W 45-38 | 14 | 5 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/18 | @ KentuckySplash game | W 16-13 | 9 | 9 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/11 | vs OklahomaSplash game | W 23-6 | 8 | 5 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sat 10/4 | @ Florida | L 21-29 | 8 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 9/21 | vs Sam HoustonSplash game | W 55-0 | 2 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/13 | vs UTEP | W 27-10 | 6 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/6 | vs San José State | W 38-7 | 2 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 8/30 | @ Ohio State | L 7-14 | 3 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Jelani McDonald story
Jelani McDonald built his college career from 2023 through 2025 as a defensive back from Waco, TX wearing No. 4, spending time with Texas. The clearest part of Jelani McDonald's career was his defensive production: 115 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, and 4 passes defended across 26 career games in the available record. That gives Jelani 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
Texas
2023-2025
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
20232024202420252025
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Regular Season | Texas | 0 | 8.3 | 2.3 | — |
| 2024 Postseason | Texas | 3 | 14.8 | 3 | 3 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Texas | 3 | 14.8 | 3 | 0 |
| 2025 Postseason | Texas | 11 | 33.5 | 6.2 | 8 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Texas | 11 | 33.5 | 6.2 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ No. 66 Kentucky
Week 8 · W 16-13 · Conference game
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2
Havoc Plays
81.9 takeover
2 disruption/tackle impact with 81.9 takeover score.
#2
@ Vanderbilt
Week 9 · W 27-24 · 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 No. 53 Arkansas
Week 13 · W 52-37 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
75.5 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 75.5 takeover score.
#4
vs No. 14 Oklahoma
Week 7 · W 23-6 · Conference game · Ranked opponent
2
Havoc Plays
69.4 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 69.4 takeover score.
#5
vs No. 135 Sam Houston
Week 4 · W 55-0
2
Havoc Plays
66.7 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 66.7 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2025 Postseason · Texas
11 primary output · 33.5 efficiency · 6.2 usage
59.1
#2
2025 Regular Season · Texas
59.1
11 primary · 33.5 efficiency · 6.2 usage
#3
2023 Regular Season · Texas
42.5
0 primary · 8.3 efficiency · 2.3 usage
Milestones
6
Impact games
4
Splash games
1
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Jelani McDonald
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