Malik Shorts: DB · Southern Miss · #9.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Malik Shorts
Plays like an extra linebacker near the line. The four seasons at Southern Miss span three head coaches: Jay Hopson, Scotty Walden and Will Hall. All-Sun Belt in 2022 made it three straight seasons on the honors list. A game that shows it: 13 tackles against Miami — Week 2, 2022.
Play style
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
91 tackles. 3 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 1.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
SuperTalk Mississippi Media Oct 23Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Southern Miss | 91 | 50 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 3 | 2 |
| 2021 | Southern Miss | 89 | 54 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 7 | 2 |
| 2020 | Southern Miss | 81 | 39 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2019 | Southern Miss | 17 | 13 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | 1 |
| Career | 278 | 156 | 6.5 | 0.0 | 13 | 6 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2022 season · 12 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 27-29vs Liberty | 12 | 11 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 7-30@ No. 15 Miami | 13 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 13 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 64-10vs Northwestern State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 27-24@ Tulane | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 10-27@ Troy | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 20-19vs Arkansas State | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 20-14@ Texas State | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 39-24vs Louisiana | 11 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 10 | L 14-42vs Georgia State | 7 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 23-26@ Coastal Carolina | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 20-27vs South Alabama | 11 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 20-10@ UL Monroe | 6 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 91 | 50 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 3 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
3%3 pass breakupsInterceptions
2interceptionsTackle volume
91tackles this seasonTFL rate
2%2 TFL91 tackles · 1.5 for loss · 3 pass breakups · 2 interceptions.
Splits · Per-game
2022 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 8.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road6g | 7.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 7.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 7.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Will Hall
Pass share
42.8%
346 pass / 463 run
Plays / game
62.2
13 games
Team sack rate
8.6%
382 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2022
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
How it ended
Four seasons at Southern Miss, 278 tackles — the college career is complete.
A stat line in 39 games over four seasons.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-SUN BELT
All-Sun Belt mention (2022)
Coaching lineage · 2019–2022
4 coachesPlayed under 4 different head coaches: Jay Hopson, Tim Billings, Scotty Walden, and Will Hall. Multi-era developmental context.
