#45

Malachi Hood

Redshirt senior linebacker for West Virginia. 2025: 44 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack.

LB · West Virginia · R-Sr. · #45

6′2″ · 228 lb · Plainfield, IL · Joliet Catholic

CFB Index 35 · #418 of 583 LBsHigh confidenceTransferred Illinois → West Virginia for 2026

via wvusports.com ↗

Next upSat Sep 19 · 7:30 pm ETvs VirginiaBank of America Stadium (neutral site)Virginia by 10

The numbers

tackles · 2025

1.5 TFL · 1 sacks · 1 PBU

Best game: 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sacks, vs Tennessee

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 linebacker for West Virginia. 2025: 44 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Illinois in 2022.
Transferred from Illinois to West Virginia in 2026.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles.

Solo tackles: 79th percentile.

The full scouting read

Malachi Hood

LB · West Virginia · Sr · #45

Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles. He got to West Virginia by way of Illinois. The receipt: 6 tackles, 0.5 TFL against Northwestern — Week 14, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
portal record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2 seasons under Bret Bielema — 19-7 over that span.

2024Illinois10-3HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2025Illinois9-4HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

35Below cohort / limited sample #418 of 583?

High confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: qb hurries (22nd percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Solo tackles#608 / 2975 · 79th pct

Tackles#756 / 2975 · 74th pct

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct

1.0

Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct

Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct

Tackles for loss#1711 / 2975 · 39th pct

1.5

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home8g	4.0	0.2	0.1	0.0
Road5g	2.4	0.0	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-78g	3.6	0.1	0.1	0.1
Weeks 8+5g	3.0	0.1	0.0	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Rich Rodriguez

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

35 · #418 of 583 LBs

Three-star recruit. Now #418 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Illinois	44	28	1.5	1.0	1	--	--
2024	Illinois	14	8	2.0	2.0	1	--	--
Career		58	36	3.5	3.0	2	--	--

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 52-3vs Western Illinois	4	4	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 2	W 45-19@ Duke	4	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 3	W 38-0vs Western Michigan	6	4	0.0	0.0	—	0	Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 4	L 10-63@ Indiana	3	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	W 34-32vs USC	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	W 43-27@ Purdue	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 7	L 16-34vs Ohio State	5	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 9	L 25-42@ Washington	3	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 10	W 35-13vs Rutgers	3	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 12	W 24-6vs Maryland	2	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 13	L 10-27@ Wisconsin	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 14	W 20-13vs Northwestern	6	2	0.5	0.0	—	0
Bowl	W 30-28vs Tennessee	5	2	1.0	1.0	—	0
Total		44	28	1.5	1.0	—	1

How he plays

Play style

Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

13 games

44Tackles

28Solo

1.5TFL

1Sacks

1Pass def.

0INT

44 tackles. 1 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1.5 TFL.

Week 11 sack
Week 61 PD

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.

DNA match

Player DNA

Sideline-to-Sideline

Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Cody Moon’s 2021 season.

Cody Moon

84%match

New Mexico · 2021

Marvin Ham II

Colorado · 2023

83%

Lance Dixon

West Virginia · 2021

80%

Nikhai Hill-Green

Michigan · 2021

80%

Chase Jones

Wake Forest · 2021

79%

Matches Cody on

Tackle volume

PD rate

Sack rate

Differs from Cody on

Hurry rate (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Lavain Scruggs's sophomore season at Maryland (2024).

Lavain Scruggs

80%match

Maryland · 2024

Stone Blanton

South Carolina · 2023

79%

Cody Jones

Massachusetts · 2021

79%

Craig McDonald

Iowa State · 2021

78%

Brenyen Scott

Temple · 2023

78%

Matches Lavain on

Weight

PD rate

Sack rate

Player DNA

Players who play like Malachi Hood

Jahsiah Galvan

Stanford · 2025

79%

Thaxton Gallagher

Jacksonville State · 2025

79%

Kendrick Blackshire

UTSA · 2025

78%

Background

2025 (r-Jr.) – Illinois Played linebacker, appearing in 13 games with eight starts Earned Academic All-Big Ten honors Finished fifth on the team with 44 tackles, including 28 solos, one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss Produced one pass breakup, one forced fumble and had one fumble recovery on the y...

via wvusports.com ↗

The linebacker corps · West Virginia

#14Tyler StolskyLB · R-Sr.86 tackles · 2025
#16Isaiah PattersonLB · R-So.46 tackles · 2025
#45Malachi HoodLB · R-Sr.44 tackles · 2025
#15Ben CutterLB · Sr.38 tackles · 2025
#33Ashton WoodsLB · Jr.15 tackles · 2025

6 more on the roster · West Virginia team page

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

2022

2026

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Sideline-to-Sideline

Players who play like Malachi Hood

Background

The linebacker corps · West Virginia