#12

Malik McClain

Senior wide receiver for Arizona State. 2025: 31 catches, 441 receiving yards, 1 TD.

WR · Arizona State · Sr. · #12

6′5″ · 205 lb · Daphne, AL

CFB Index 42 · #295 of 485 WRsHigh confidenceReturning to Arizona State for 2026

The numbers

441

receiving yards · 2025

31 catches · 1 TD · 14.2 per catch

Backed by 7 rec · 159 yds -- top 1% receiving yards game.

Swing playSwung Arizona State from 41% to 70% to win.Arizona State at Duke · 42-39

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 wide receiver for Arizona State. 2025: 31 catches, 441 receiving yards, 1 TD.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Florida State in 2021.
Transferred from Penn State to Arizona State in 2024.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Moves the chains on third down.

Yards / catch: 78th percentile.

The full scouting read

Malik McClain

WR · Arizona State · Sr · #12

Moves the chains on third down. Three head coaches in five seasons, at three different programs. 2021 brought the first one: ACC Rookie Player of the Week. The receipt: 159 rec yds, 7 receptions against Houston — Week 9, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Florida State5-7HC: Mike Norvell · Run-heavy, slow tempo

2022Florida State10-3HC: Mike Norvell · Run-leaning

2023Penn State10-3HC: James Franklin · Run-leaning

2024Arizona State11-3HC: Kenny Dillingham · Run-leaning

2025Arizona State8-5HC: Kenny Dillingham · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

42Rotational starter #295 of 485?

High confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: catch rate (2nd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#174 / 798 · 78th pct

14.2

Explosive rate#199 / 798 · 75th pct

14.1%

EPA / target#622 / 798 · 22nd pct

0.20

TD rate#507 / 798 · 18th pct

0.0%

Catch rate#779 / 798 · 2nd pct

46.9%

Box-score rates (5)

Yards / catch#186 / 558 · 66th pct

14.2

Rec yards#262 / 558 · 53rd pct

441

Receptions#268 / 558 · 51st pct

Rec TDs#373 / 558 · 24th pct

Long catch#425 / 558 · 23rd pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

23%15 of his 64 targets came on third down · Receiver median is 24%

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	2.8	46.8	13.5	0.0
Road5g	2.8	32.0	15.9	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.5	19.0	9.2	0.2
Weeks 8+5g	3.2	65.4	21.0	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Kenny Dillingham

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

42 · #295 of 485 WRs

Former four-star. Now #295 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Big 12

Based on 2025: #33 of 55 Big 12 WRs

How the All-Big 12 estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Arizona State	31	441	14.2	1	--
2024	Arizona State	2	85	42.5	1	--
2023	Penn State	6	71	11.8	1	--
2022	Florida State	17	206	12.1	3	--
2021	Florida State	16	190	11.9	2	--
Career		72	993	13.8	8	--

Season	Team
2025	Arizona State	--	--	--	--	--
2024	Arizona State	--	--	--	--	--
2023	Penn State	--	--	--	--	--
2022	Florida State	1	6	--	--	--
2021	Florida State	--	--	--	--	--
Career		1	6	--	--	--

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · Houston · 2&17 · Q2 · EPA +3.58(01:08) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 S.Leavitt pass complete deep right to #12 M.McClain caught at UH 49, for 33 yards to the UH 47 (#1 L.McCutchin Sr.), 1ST DOWN
Week 9 · Houston · 2&10 · Q4 · EPA +3.51(12:00) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 S.Leavitt pass complete deep left to #12 M.McClain caught at UH 44, for 36 yards to the UH 30 (#9 C.Platt Jr.), 1ST DOWN
Week 13 · Colorado · 3&8 · Q2 · EPA +3.32(14:51) No Huddle-Shotgun #2 J.Sims pass complete short right to #12 M.McClain caught at ASU41, for 25 yards to the COLO48 (#29 I.Yates), 1ST DOWN
Week 1 · Northern Arizona · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +3.13Sam Leavitt pass complete to Malik McClain for 20 yds to the NAU 42 for a 1ST down
Week 12 · West Virginia · 3&8 · Q2 · EPA +2.93(14:25) No Huddle-Shotgun #2 J.Sims pass complete deep left to #12 M.McClain caught at ASU46, for 24 yards to the ASU46 (#6 J.Scruggs), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 1 · Duke · 2&6 · Q4 · EPA +2.53Shotgun #2 J.Sims pass complete short left to #12 M.McClain caught at DUKE00, for 6 yards to the DUKE00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:31 #35 J.Gomez kick attempt good (H: #31 K.Floyd, LS: #39 T.Wigglesworth)
Week 10 · Iowa State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.46(12:04) No Huddle-Shotgun #2 J.Sims pass complete short right to #12 M.McClain caught at ASU32, for 28 yards to the ISU46 (#36 C.Van Dinter), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 7 · Utah · 2&12 · Q3 · EPA +2.37Jeff Sims pass complete to Malik McClain for 12 yds to the UTAH 44 for a 1ST down
Week 9 · Houston · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.24(10:29) Shotgun #10 S.Leavitt pass complete short right to #12 M.McClain caught at ASU42, for 25 yards to the ASU50 (#8 K.Webb), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 14 · Arizona · 2&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.22(00:42) No Huddle-Shotgun #2 J.Sims pass complete short middle to #12 M.McClain caught at ASU34, for 17 yards to the ASU42 (#9 A.Garnes), 1ST DOWN

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 38-19vs Northern Arizona	2	5	2.5	0	7
Wk 3	W 34-15vs Texas State	1	8	8.0	0	8
Wk 4	W 27-24@ Baylor	1	11	11.0	0	11
Wk 5	W 27-24vs TCU	1	15	15.0	0	15
Wk 7	L 10-42@ Utah	1	12	12.0	0	12
Wk 9	L 16-24vs Houston	7	159	22.7	0	36	Season-high 159 yds
Wk 10	W 24-19@ Iowa State	2	49	24.5	0	28
Wk 12	W 25-23vs West Virginia	2	37	18.5	0	24
Wk 13	W 42-17@ Colorado	1	25	25.0	0	25
Wk 14	L 7-23vs Arizona	4	57	14.3	0	25
Bowl	L 39-42@ Duke	9	63	7.0	1	15
Total		31	441	14.6	1	36

How he plays

Play style

Reliable target who converts on critical downs. Not flashy; consistently productive.

CFB Index positional classification

Money down · 3rd-down role

Catch rate says one thing, EPA says another

checked · no story

5/153rd-down conversions

0.563rd-down EPA/target

0.14Other-downs EPA/target

6 of 15 caught on third down (40.0%) — EPA/target 0.56 vs 0.14 elsewhere (5 conversions).

Catch rate is disclosed context only, never the gate — conversions and EPA/target are. Interception targets carry no attribution row at any source, so EPA/target here is unfixably, slightly inflated.

2026 Outlook

Arizona State

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Wide receiver · Arizona State

Returning around him