espn_cfb_player: *ESPN College Football Player Endpoint Overview*

In cfbfastR: Access College Football Play by Play Data

ESPN College Football Player Endpoint Overview

Description

• 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). Minimum value accepted: 2004
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.

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.

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.

See Also

Other ESPN CFB Functions: espn_cfb_award(), espn_cfb_awards(), espn_cfb_clear_cache(), espn_cfb_coach(), espn_cfb_coach_record(), espn_cfb_coaches(), espn_cfb_franchise(), espn_cfb_franchises(), espn_cfb_futures(), espn_cfb_game_broadcasts(), espn_cfb_game_drive_plays(), espn_cfb_game_drives(), espn_cfb_game_leaders(), espn_cfb_game_odds(), espn_cfb_game_pbp(), espn_cfb_game_play(), espn_cfb_game_player_box(), espn_cfb_game_player_statistics(), espn_cfb_game_powerindex(), espn_cfb_game_predictor(), espn_cfb_game_probabilities(), espn_cfb_game_situation(), espn_cfb_game_status(), espn_cfb_game_team_leaders(), espn_cfb_game_team_linescores(), espn_cfb_game_team_records(), espn_cfb_game_team_roster(), espn_cfb_game_team_statistics(), espn_cfb_game_teams(), espn_cfb_groups(), espn_cfb_pbp_v2(), espn_cfb_player_career_stats(), espn_cfb_player_eventlog(), espn_cfb_player_gamelog(), espn_cfb_player_overview(), espn_cfb_player_seasons(), espn_cfb_player_splits(), espn_cfb_player_stats_v3(), espn_cfb_players(), espn_cfb_position(), espn_cfb_positions(), espn_cfb_powerindex(), espn_cfb_qbr(), espn_cfb_rankings(), espn_cfb_recruits(), espn_cfb_season_info(), espn_cfb_season_types(), espn_cfb_season_weeks(), espn_cfb_seasons(), espn_cfb_standings(), espn_cfb_team(), espn_cfb_team_ats(), espn_cfb_team_awards(), espn_cfb_team_coaches(), espn_cfb_team_events(), espn_cfb_team_leaders(), espn_cfb_team_powerindex(), espn_cfb_team_ranks(), espn_cfb_team_record(), espn_cfb_team_roster(), espn_cfb_team_schedule(), espn_cfb_teams(), espn_cfb_unnest_plays(), espn_cfb_venue(), espn_cfb_venues(), espn_cfb_week_rankings()

Examples

  try(espn_cfb_player(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024))
  try(espn_cfb_player(athlete_id = 102597, year = 2024,
                      team_detail = FALSE, position_detail = FALSE))

cfbfastR documentation built on Aug. 24, 2026, 5:13 p.m.