Malik Willis

Former quarterback at Liberty. 2021: 2,857 passing yards, 27 TD, 12 INT.

QB · Liberty · Jr. · #7

6′1″ · 215 lb · Atlanta, GA

CFB Index 63 · #34 of 126 QBsHigh confidenceTennessee — drafted 2022, Rd 3, Pick 22, #86 overall

The story

Former quarterback at Liberty. 2021: 2,857 passing yards, 27 TD, 12 INT.

Drafted round 3 by the Tennessee in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Liberty, 5,178 passing yards — drafted at #86 overall by Tennessee.

His career

He was on the field for 4 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

2022

Drafted by Tennesseeround 3, pick 86

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

2 teams

2017–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

R3 · #86

Tennessee · 2022

Coaching lineage · 2017–2021

2 coaches

2017

—

Liberty

2018

Turner Gill

Liberty

era →

2020–2021

Hugh Freeze

Liberty

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Turner Gill → Hugh Freeze. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

TennesseeEntering 5th NFL season

#86Rd 3 · Pick 22

TennesseeEntering 5th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2017Auburn10-4HC: Gus Malzahn · Run-heavy

2018Auburn8-5HC: Gus Malzahn · Run-leaning

2020Liberty10-1HC: Hugh Freeze · Run-heavy, fast tempo

2021Liberty8-5HC: Hugh Freeze · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

63Quality starter #34 of 126?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: explosive rate (89th percentile). Strength: rush yards (99th percentile). Concern: sack rate (1st percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#19 / 167 · 89th pct

13.2%

EPA / dropback#98 / 167 · 42nd pct

0.24

Success rate#111 / 167 · 34th pct

43.5%

Interception rate#144 / 167 · 14th pct

3.3%

Sack rate#166 / 167 · 1st pct

13.4%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush yards#2 / 169 · 99th pct

878

Rush TDs#3 / 169 · 98th pct

Pass TDs#18 / 169 · 88th pct

Yards / att#35 / 169 · 78th pct

8.4

Pass yards#45 / 169 · 74th pct

2857

Fumbles lost#23 / 159 · 68th pct

Completion %#90 / 169 · 47th pct

61.1%

Interceptions#156 / 169 · 6th pct

Season trend

EPA / dropback— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Success rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Explosive rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Sack rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Interception rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

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).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

184/306 (60.1%) · 27 TD · 12 INT

306 of 339 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

6.7792 of 204 QBs

Sack rate

13.1%200 of 204 QBs

Sacked on 13.1% of dropbacks (200 of 204) — and still 92 of 204 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

55%of completions

101 comp5.2 yds avg7 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

23%of completions

42 comp13.9 yds avg2 TD

Deep

20+ yds

22%of completions

41 comp31.6 yds avg13 TD

Overall 60.1% completion on 306 attempts · 41 deep completions averaging 31.6 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2021 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home6g	242	2.3	8.0	1.0
Road6g	195	1.7	9.7	1.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	209	2.0	9.2	0.9
Weeks 8+5g	233	2.0	8.4	1.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jamey Chadwell

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

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Impact starter

Producing measurably more than a replacement-level starter.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

63 · #34 of 126 QBs

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	Liberty	207	339	61.1%	2,857	8.4	27	12	151.1	28	--	--
2020	Liberty	169	264	64.0%	2,252	8.5	20	6	156.1	67	--	--
2018	Auburn	5	7	71.4%	24	3.4	0	0	100.2	--	--	--
2017	Auburn	6	7	85.7%	45	6.4	1	0	186.9	--	--	--
Career		387	617	62.7%	5,178	8.4	48	18	153.1	45	--	--

Season	Team
2021	Liberty	197	878	4.5	13	--
2020	Liberty	141	944	6.7	14	--
2018	Auburn	12	88	7.3	1	--
2017	Auburn	16	221	13.8	1	--
Career		366	2,131	5.8	29	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 5 · 2021

W 36–12

at UAB

287 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 96.7 · 144 rush yds (15 car) · 2 TD

Dominant 24-point win on the road against UAB.

With M. Morgan — 42 AVG · 3 IN 20 · 48 LONG · D. Douglas — 4 rec · 128 yds

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · Massachusetts · 3&9 · Q1 · EPA +6.57Malik Willis pass complete to DJ Stubbs for 60 yds for a TD, (Brayden Beck KICK)
Week 7 · UL Monroe · 3&3 · Q4 · EPA +5.35Malik Willis run for 53 yds for a TD, (Brayden Beck KICK)
Week 12 · Louisiana · 3&18 · Q2 · EPA +4.94Malik Willis pass complete to Kevin Shaa for 29 yds for a TD (Brayden Beck KICK)
Week 10 · Ole Miss · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA -4.43Malik Willis pass intercepted, touchback. AJ Finley return for no gain
Week 8 · North Texas · 3&7 · Q4 · EPA +4.39Malik Willis pass complete to Shedro Louis for 37 yds for a TD (Brayden Beck KICK)
Week 3 · Old Dominion · 3&5 · Q1 · EPA +4.29Malik Willis run for 56 yds to the ODU 18 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Eastern Michigan · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.18DJ Stubbs 54 Yd pass from Malik Willis (Brayden Beck Kick)
Week 4 · Syracuse · 4&2 · Q4 · EPA -4.15Malik Willis run for a loss of 1 yard to the Syrac 3
Week 13 · Army · 4&8 · Q4 · EPA +3.96Malik Willis pass complete to CJ Daniels for 27 yds to the Army 25 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Ole Miss · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA -3.85Malik Willis pass intercepted AJ Finley return for 19 yds to the Miss 30

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 48-7vs Campbell	15/23	217	1	0	9.4	88.0
Wk 2	W 21-13@ Troy	13/18	154	2	0	8.6	86.0
Wk 3	W 45-17vs Old Dominion	21/28	242	4	0	8.6	98.1	4 TD passes
Wk 4	L 21-24@ Syracuse	14/19	205	3	0	10.8	75.7	3 TD passes
Wk 5	W 36-12@ UAB	13/19	287	1	0	15.1	96.7
Wk 6	W 41-13vs Middle Tennessee	17/30	222	2	3	7.4	67.1	3 INTs — rough day
Wk 7	L 28-31@ UL Monroe	16/28	135	1	3	4.8	55.4	3 INTs — rough day
Wk 8	W 35-26@ North Texas	12/18	217	3	0	12.1	60.1	3 TD passes
Wk 9	W 62-17vs Massachusetts	19/27	307	4	0	11.4	71.8	Season-high 307 yds
Wk 10	L 14-27@ Ole Miss	16/25	173	0	3	6.9	29.6	3 INTs — rough day
Wk 12	L 14-42vs Louisiana	14/34	162	2	2	4.8	19.8
Wk 13	L 16-31vs Army	24/46	305	1	1	6.6	32.7
Total		194/315	2626	24	12	8.9	65.1

How he plays

Play style

Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

37.9%Completion %

14.6%Conversion/dropback

45.5%Land short of sticks

0INTs

37.9% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 14.6% conversion-per-dropback — 45.5% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design