Malik McDowell: DL · Michigan State · #4.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Malik McDowell
Disrupts the pocket from the interior. Two seasons in the Michigan State defensive front to date. All-Big Ten in 2016 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. One game to point at: 11 tackles and 2 tackles for loss against Northwestern — Week 7, 2016.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
34 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 7 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.
The Detroit News Oct 27
Detroit Free Press Oct 24
Lansing State Journal Oct 23Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Michigan State | 34 | 20 | 7.0 | 1.5 | -- |
| 2015 | Michigan State | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
| Career | 34 | 20 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 1 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2016 season · 9 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 28-13vs Furman | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 36-28@ No. 18 Notre Dame | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 6-30vs No. 11 Wisconsin | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 21-24@ Indiana | 5 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 14-31vs BYU | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 40-54vs Northwestern | 11 | 7 | 2.0 | 0.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 11 tackles |
| Wk 8 | L 17-28@ Maryland | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 23-32vs No. 2 Michigan | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 27-31@ Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 34 | 20 | 7.0 | 1.5 | — | 0 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
21%7 TFLSack rate
4%2 sacksHurry rate
15%5 hurries34 tackles · 7 for loss · 1.5 sacks.
2 seasons under Mark Dantonio, all run-leaning offenses — 15-11 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2016 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 3.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 4.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+3g | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mark Dantonio
Pass share
44.5%
369 pass / 461 run
Plays / game
69.2
12 games
Team sack rate
6.2%
402 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2016
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
How it ended
Two seasons at Michigan State, 2 sacks — drafted at #35 overall by the Seattle Seahawks.
Honored in a first season.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-BIG TEN · 2ND TEAM
All-Big Ten 2nd team (2016)
Coaching lineage · 2014–2016
1 coachPlayed every college season under Mark Dantonio.
Next stop · NFL
Seattle SeahawksEntering 10th NFL season
Seattle SeahawksEntering 10th NFL season
