ESPN College Football Player Endpoint Overview

espn_cfb_player(): Get the full ESPN record for a single college football player in a given season – bio, measurements, position, team, status, and $ref URLs to nested resources.
espn_cfb_players(): Get a paginated index of ESPN college football players for a season (id + $ref rows; dereference with espn_cfb_player()).
espn_cfb_player_eventlog(): Get the per-game event log for a single college football player in a season – one row per game, with $ref URLs to each game's event, competition, and per-game statistics.
espn_cfb_player_gamelog(): Get a single college football player's game-by-game statistical log for a season – stat line joined to opponent, score, and result metadata.
espn_cfb_player_overview(): Get the season-by-season statistics overview ESPN shows on a college football player's page – one row per season, with the headline stat line for each.
espn_cfb_player_seasons(): Get the list of seasons a single college football player has a statistical record for on ESPN, with $ref URLs to each season's statistics.
espn_cfb_player_splits(): Get a single college football player's statistical splits for a season – stat lines broken out by month, quarter, down, field position, and more.
espn_cfb_player_career_stats(): Get a single college football player's full season statistics from ESPN – every published stat across every category, in long format (one row per stat).
espn_cfb_player_stats(): Get ESPN college football player season stats (legacy wide-format wrapper covering all categories and athlete / team detail columns).
espn_cfb_recruits(): Get the ESPN recruiting-class catalog for a college football signing class – one row per recruit, with identity, position, measurements, grade, rankings, and committed school.

Get the full ESPN record for a single college football player in a given season – biographical fields, physical measurements, position, team, status, and the $ref URLs to the player's nested resources (statistics, event log, college).

Usage

espn_cfb_player(
  athlete_id = NULL,
  year = NULL,
  team_detail = TRUE,
  position_detail = TRUE
)

Arguments

athlete_id: (Character/Integer required): ESPN athlete id.
year: (Integer required): Season, 4 digit format (YYYY).
team_detail: (Logical): when TRUE (default), fetch the ESPN team catalog once and join friendly team fields next to the team_id column (see Details). Set FALSE to skip the catalog fetch and the join.
position_detail: (Logical): when TRUE (default), fetch the ESPN position catalog once and join it onto position_id, appending the position_display_name / position_leaf / position_parent_id detail columns. A catalog failure degrades to NA rather than erroring the wrapper. Set FALSE to skip the extra fetch and the join.

Value

A one-row data frame describing the player:

col_name	types	description
athlete_id	character	ESPN athlete id.
season	integer	Season (4-digit year).
uid	character	ESPN athlete UID.
guid	character	ESPN athlete GUID.
first_name	character	Player first name.
last_name	character	Player last name.
full_name	character	Player full name.
display_name	character	Player display name.
short_name	character	Player short name.
weight	numeric	Listed weight (lbs).
display_weight	character	Display-formatted weight.
height	numeric	Listed height (inches).
display_height	character	Display-formatted height.
jersey	character	Jersey number.
slug	character	ESPN athlete URL slug.
active	logical	Whether the player is currently active.
date_of_birth	character	Player date of birth (if published).
birth_city	character	Birthplace city.
birth_state	character	Birthplace state.
birth_country	character	Birthplace country.
position_id	character	ESPN position id.
position_name	character	Position name.
position_abbreviation	character	Position abbreviation.
position_display_name	character	Human-readable position name; `position_detail = TRUE` only.
position_leaf	logical	`TRUE` for a most-specific (leaf) position; `position_detail = TRUE` only.
position_parent_id	character	ESPN id of the parent position; `position_detail = TRUE` only.
experience_years	integer	Years of experience.
status_id	character	ESPN status id.
status_name	character	Status name (e.g. `Active`).
status_type	character	Status type.
headshot_href	character	URL of the player headshot image.
team_id	character	ESPN team id for the season (from `team_ref`).
team_name	character	Team nickname; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_abbreviation	character	Team abbreviation; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_location	character	Team location / school name; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_display_name	character	Full team display name; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_short_display_name	character	Short team display name; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_nickname	character	Team nickname label; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_color	character	Primary team color; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_alternate_color	character	Alternate team color; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_logo_href	character	Default team logo URL; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_logo_dark_href	character	Dark-variant team logo URL; `team_detail = TRUE` only.
team_ref	character	`$ref` URL to the team-in-season resource.
statistics_ref	character	`$ref` URL to the player statistics resource.
eventlog_ref	character	`$ref` URL to the player event log resource.
college_ref	character	`$ref` URL to the player college resource.

Details

ESPN College Football Player Detail

espn_cfb_player(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024)

ESPN College Football Players Index

espn_cfb_players(year = 2024, page = 1, max_pages = 1)

ESPN College Football Player Event Log

espn_cfb_player_eventlog(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024)

ESPN College Football Player Game Log

espn_cfb_player_gamelog(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024)

ESPN College Football Player Statistics Overview

espn_cfb_player_overview(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024)

ESPN College Football Player Seasons

espn_cfb_player_seasons(athlete_id = 102597)

ESPN College Football Player Statistical Splits

espn_cfb_player_splits(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024)

ESPN College Football Player Season Statistics (Long Format)

espn_cfb_player_career_stats(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024)

Get ESPN college football player stats data

espn_cfb_player_stats(athlete_id = 530308, year = 2013)

ESPN College Football Recruits

espn_cfb_recruits(year = 2024, max_results = 25)

Wraps the ESPN core-v2 endpoint sports.core.api.espn.com/v2/sports/football/leagues/college-football/seasons/{year}/athletes/{athlete_id}. The season-scoped path is used so the returned team_id reflects the team the player was on that season. The wrapper returns a single-row tibble: scalar bio fields are flattened inline, nested objects (position, status, birthPlace, experience) are flattened with a prefix, and the nested $ref URLs are surfaced as *_ref columns rather than auto-dereferenced. Harvest athlete ids from espn_cfb_players().

When team_detail = TRUE (the default) the ESPN team catalog (espn_cfb_teams()) is fetched once and friendly team fields are joined in next to the team_id column – team_name, team_abbreviation, team_location, team_display_name, team_short_display_name, team_nickname, team_color, team_alternate_color, team_logo_href, and team_logo_dark_href, inserted immediately after team_id. A catalog failure degrades to NA rather than erroring the wrapper. Set team_detail = FALSE to skip the catalog fetch and the join.

When position_detail = TRUE (the default) the ESPN position catalog (espn_cfb_positions()) is fetched once and joined onto position_id, appending position_display_name, position_leaf, and position_parent_id (the existing position_name / position_abbreviation columns are left in place). A catalog failure degrades to NA rather than erroring the wrapper. Set position_detail = FALSE to skip the catalog fetch and the join.

Examples

# \donttest{
  try(espn_cfb_player(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024))
#> ── Player detail from ESPN ─────────────────────────────────── cfbfastR 2.3.0 ──
#> ℹ Data updated: 2026-06-09 07:56:46 UTC
#> # A tibble: 1 × 46
#>   athlete_id season uid        guid  first_name last_name full_name display_name
#>   <chr>       <int> <chr>      <chr> <chr>      <chr>     <chr>     <chr>       
#> 1 102597       2024 s:20~l:23… b084… Will       Rogers    Will Rog… Will Rogers 
#> # ℹ 38 more variables: short_name <chr>, weight <dbl>, display_weight <chr>,
#> #   height <dbl>, display_height <chr>, jersey <chr>, slug <chr>, active <lgl>,
#> #   date_of_birth <chr>, birth_city <chr>, birth_state <chr>,
#> #   birth_country <chr>, position_id <chr>, position_name <chr>,
#> #   position_abbreviation <chr>, experience_years <int>, status_id <chr>,
#> #   status_name <chr>, status_type <chr>, headshot_href <chr>, team_id <chr>,
#> #   team_name <chr>, team_abbreviation <chr>, team_location <chr>, …
  try(espn_cfb_player(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024,
                      team_detail = FALSE, position_detail = FALSE))
#> ── Player detail from ESPN ─────────────────────────────────── cfbfastR 2.3.0 ──
#> ℹ Data updated: 2026-06-09 07:56:46 UTC
#> # A tibble: 1 × 33
#>   athlete_id season uid        guid  first_name last_name full_name display_name
#>   <chr>       <int> <chr>      <chr> <chr>      <chr>     <chr>     <chr>       
#> 1 102597       2024 s:20~l:23… b084… Will       Rogers    Will Rog… Will Rogers 
#> # ℹ 25 more variables: short_name <chr>, weight <dbl>, display_weight <chr>,
#> #   height <dbl>, display_height <chr>, jersey <chr>, slug <chr>, active <lgl>,
#> #   date_of_birth <chr>, birth_city <chr>, birth_state <chr>,
#> #   birth_country <chr>, position_id <chr>, position_name <chr>,
#> #   position_abbreviation <chr>, experience_years <int>, status_id <chr>,
#> #   status_name <chr>, status_type <chr>, headshot_href <chr>, team_id <chr>,
#> #   team_ref <chr>, statistics_ref <chr>, eventlog_ref <chr>, …
# }