Tanner Heckel
Illinois Fighting Illini
88
Great

Tanner Heckel

Illinois Fighting IlliniAverage
LCBDefenseGreat
Projected Starter

Is Tanner Heckel starting?

Tanner Heckel is the projected starter at LCB for Illinois Fighting Illini.

Junior · #16 · 5'11", 195 lbs

See full Illinois Fighting Illini depth chart ›
Play Dynasty as Coach IllinoisFree. You call every play.

Depth at LCB · Illinois Fighting Illini

  1. 11688Tanner HeckelStarter
  2. 2567Jakwon Morris

Illinois Starting Lineup

Full Illinois depth chart ›

Top defensive backs in the Big Ten

Zach LutmerIowa · FSJavan RobinsonWisconsin · LCBTa'Shawn JamesUCLA · FS

Up next for Illinois

Illinois plays Nebraska at home on Fri, Nov 6. The listed kickoff time is 08:00 PM ET.

The Story

Making His Case

A 3-star recruit out of Lyndon, ranked #1,576 nationally coming out of high school. In 2025: 36 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PBU. That's 5% of the team's production at his spot — good for a 88 overall (Great tier).

Recruit3★ · #1,576 Natl2-Yr Total39 tacklesTeam Share5%
Lyndon, KS
Jersey
#16
Class
JR
Height
5'11"
Weight
195 lbs

Career Stats

SeasonTklINTPD
20253612
2024300

Regular-season totals from public sources. Derived splits (completion %, yards per carry, catch rate) aren't available in our current dataset.

Recruiting Profile

Stars
★★★☆☆3-star
Composite
0.8506
National Rank
#1576
High School
Lyndon
Hometown
Lyndon, KS

Why this rating?

On a 82-rated defense; 78th-percentile production (×0.92 for competition level) put them +6 vs unit starters → 88.

Team defense (SP+)
82
Rating basis
On-field stats
On-field production
Outperforms 78% of peers
Recruiting pedigree
Top 50% recruit
Strength of schedule
Faces easier competition — rating adjusted down (×0.92)
Depth-chart adjustment
+6 for role

2026 projection — based on SP+ (a respected team-efficiency metric; 2026 not published yet, using 2025), 2025 production, recruiting, and the 2026 transfer portal; capped to depth-chart order.

2026 Game Log

Oct 31WMDTKL 4
TKL
4
SOLO
3
SACK
0
INT
1
PD
0

Final W 20-17

Oct 24WORETKL 5
TKL
5
SOLO
4
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 21-10

Oct 10WMSUTKL 7
TKL
7
SOLO
4
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 38-37 OT

Oct 3LPURTKL 2
TKL
2
SOLO
1
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
1

Final L 24-17

Sep 26LOSUTKL 1
TKL
1
SOLO
0
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final L 42-19

Sep 19WSIUTKL 4
TKL
4
SOLO
3
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 48-10

Sep 12LDUKETKL 1
TKL
1
SOLO
1
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final L 31-27

Tanner Heckel's 2026 game-by-game stat log.

The People's Ratings

Is our 88 OVR fair?
88
Great
Vote to see what thousands of fans think

Team Role

36 tkl · 2 PD · 1 INT
Usage / Involvement63%
DAILY PICKSMake your picks.Today's games. No account needed.

Overall ratings blend team strength (SP+), on-field production, and recruiting. Higher = more impactful.