#24

Malachi Thomas

Senior running back for Purdue. 2025: 243 rushing yards, 11 catches.

RB · Purdue · Sr. · #24

6′0″ · 220 lb · Hartwell, GA

CFB Index 38 · #243 of 326 RBsHigh confidenceReturning to Purdue for 2026

The numbers

243

rushing yards · 2025

4.6 per carry · 11 catches

Backed by 21 car · 151 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing TDs game. -- Best game: 62 rush yds, 50 rec yds, vs Rutgers

The play that turned itSwung Virginia Tech from 59% to 90% to win.Syracuse at Virginia Tech · 41-36

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for Purdue. 2025: 243 rushing yards, 11 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Virginia Tech in 2021.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Just keeps getting the ball, series after series.

Yards / carry: 34th percentile.

The full scouting read

Malachi Thomas

RB · Purdue · Sr · #24

Just keeps getting the ball, series after series. Three head coaches in five seasons, at two different programs. The receipt: 68 rush yds, 2 receptions against Michigan — Week 10, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Virginia Tech6-7HC: J.C. Price · Run-heavy

2022Virginia Tech3-8HC: Brent Pry · Balanced

2023Virginia Tech7-6HC: Brent Pry · Run-leaning

2024Virginia Tech6-7HC: Brent Pry · Run-leaning

2025Purdue2-10HC: Barry Odom · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

38Below cohort / limited sample #243 of 326?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: td rate (6th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / carry#303 / 456 · 34th pct

4.6

Success rate#391 / 456 · 14th pct

35.8%

EPA / carry#401 / 456 · 12th pct

-0.06

Explosive rate#423 / 456 · 7th pct

1.9%

TD rate#400 / 456 · 6th pct

0.0%

Box-score rates (7)

Long run#107 / 349 · 68th pct

Rec yards#154 / 338 · 54th pct

Receptions#179 / 338 · 45th pct

Yards / carry#213 / 349 · 37th pct

4.6

Carries#302 / 349 · 13th pct

Rush yards#306 / 349 · 12th pct

243

Rush TDs#326 / 349 · 3rd pct

Season trend

EPA / carry— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Yards / carry— first qualifying season

TD rate— 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).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home7g	14.9	5.3	0.0
Road4g	34.8	4.3	0.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-75g	8.4	2.8	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	33.5	6.4	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Barry Odom

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

38 · #243 of 326 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #243 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Big Ten

Based on 2025: #38 of 44 Big Ten RBs

How the All-Big Ten 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	Purdue	53	243	4.6	0	--
2024	Virginia Tech	43	165	3.8	1	--
2023	Virginia Tech	83	381	4.6	2	--
2022	Virginia Tech	37	146	3.9	1	--
2021	Virginia Tech	93	440	4.7	3	--
Career		309	1,375	4.4	7	--

Season	Team
2025	Purdue	11	99	9.0	2	--
2024	Virginia Tech	4	25	6.2	0	--
2023	Virginia Tech	9	49	5.4	0	--
2022	Virginia Tech	13	91	7.0	1	--
2021	Virginia Tech	2	33	16.5	0	--
Career		39	297	7.6	3	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2025

W 34–17

vs Southern Illinois

14 rush yds (6 car)

With R. Browne — 170 yds · 2 TD · 1 INT · QBR 79.5 · 50 rush yds (9 car) · D. Mockobee — 126 rush yds (32 car) · 2 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · Rutgers · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +3.49(02:32) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 R.Browne pass complete deep left to #24 M.Thomas caught at RUT32, for 44 yards to the RUT08 (#9 J.Elad), 1ST DOWN, PENALTY RUT Holding declined
Week 9 · Rutgers · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.92(11:08) No Huddle-Shotgun #24 M.Thomas rush left for 57 yards gain to the RUT08 (#10 J.Henderson), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 10 · Michigan · 3&5 · Q4 · EPA +2.76Malachi Thomas 5 Yd pass from Ryan Browne (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed)
Week 9 · Rutgers · 2&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.68(10:28) #3 M.Singleton pass complete short right to #24 M.Thomas caught at RUT04, for 8 yards to the RUT00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 10:24 #35 S.Porath kick attempt good (H: #38 J.McCallister, LS: #46 L.Raab)
Week 10 · Michigan · 3&3 · Q2 · EPA +1.95(14:34) No Huddle-Shotgun #24 M.Thomas rush right for 8 yards gain to the PUR50 (#3 J.Mangham), 1ST DOWN
Week 2 · Southern Illinois · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA -1.66Malachi Thomas run for a loss of 5 yards to the SIU 40
Week 9 · Rutgers · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA -1.46No Huddle-Shotgun #15 R.Browne pass complete short middle to #24 M.Thomas caught at RUT39, for 2 yards loss to the RUT39 (#10 J.Henderson)
Week 6 · Illinois · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +1.42Ryan Browne pass complete to Malachi Thomas for 16 yds to the PUR 41 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Michigan · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +1.38(09:55) No Huddle-Shotgun #24 M.Thomas rush right for 9 yards gain to the PUR42 (#15 E.Hausmann)
Week 14 · Indiana · 2&8 · Q2 · EPA -1.38(08:58) Shotgun #15 R.Browne pass complete short left to #24 M.Thomas caught at PUR35, for 5 yards loss to the PUR35 (#1 A.Ferrell)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 31-0vs Ball State	2	2	1.0	0	2
Wk 2	W 34-17vs Southern Illinois	6	14	2.3	0	7
Wk 3	L 17-33vs USC	2	5	2.5	0	5
Wk 6	L 27-43vs Illinois	—	—	—	—	—
Wk 7	L 20-27@ Minnesota	4	21	5.3	0	14
Wk 8	L 0-19@ Northwestern	7	34	4.9	0	10
Wk 9	L 24-27vs Rutgers	3	62	20.7	0	57
Wk 10	L 16-21@ Michigan	15	68	4.5	0	14	Season-high 68 yds
Wk 11	L 10-34vs Ohio State	4	15	3.8	0	12
Wk 12	L 13-49@ Washington	6	16	2.7	0	6
Wk 14	L 3-56vs Indiana	4	6	1.5	0	2
Total		53	243	4.9	0	57

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

Malachi Thomas

20219 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Workhorse

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