Malik Phillips

#11 · WR · Sr. · Sam Houston5′9″ · 170 lb · Clovis, NM

Malik Phillips is a wide receiver who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Sam Houston.

Phillips moves the chains on third down. Played for two head coaches in three seasons at Sam Houston. On tape: 44 receiving yards and 5 receptions against New Mexico State, Week 6, 2025.

Style of play

Play style

Reliable target who converts on critical downs. Not flashy; consistently productive.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Devin MaddoxToledo · 2023 · 86% season match
Tiaquelin MimsSouthern Miss · 2024 · 84% season match
Jaylon RobinsonTCU · 2023 · 83% season match
Ahmarean BrownSouth Carolina · 2023 · 82% season match
Reagan EalyArkansas State · 2023 · 80% season match

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	Sam Houston	18	174	9.7	1	26
2024	Sam Houston	2	25	12.5	0	13
2023	Sam Houston	35	430	12.3	1	41
Career		55	629	11.4	2	41

Season	Team
2025	Sam Houston	--	--	283
2024	Sam Houston	1	4	70
2023	Sam Houston	3	9	368
Career		4	13	721

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 21-38vs UNLV	3	28	9.3	0	16
Wk 2	L 20-37@ Hawai'i	3	32	10.7	0	22
Wk 6	L 10-37@ New Mexico State	5	44	8.8	0	26	Season-high 44 yds
Wk 7	L 27-29vs Jacksonville State	1	1	1.0	0	1
Wk 8	L 17-35vs UTEP	2	26	13.0	1	20
Wk 10	L 14-55@ Louisiana Tech	1	12	12.0	0	12
Wk 11	W 21-17@ Oregon State	1	7	7.0	0	7
Wk 13	L 17-31@ Middle Tennessee	2	24	12.0	0	13
Wk 14	L 16-56vs Florida International	—	—	—	—	—
Total		18	174	9.7	1	26

Signature game

Week 8 · 2025

L 17-35

vs UTEP · neutral site

2 rec · 26 yds · 1 TD

With C. Gerrand — 43 yards per punt · 4 punts · 2 inside the 20 · L. Brown — 110 rush yds (13 car) · 6 rec · 39 yds

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 10 · Louisiana Tech · 4th and 1 · Q4 · EPA +2.84Mettauer to Phillips: a 12-yard pass.
Week 1 · UNLV · 2nd and 10 · Q3 · EPA +2.47Hunter Watson pass complete to Malik Phillips for 16 yds to the UNLV 44 for a
Week 11 · Oregon State · 3rd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +2.03Locke to Phillips: a 7-yard pass.
Week 6 · New Mexico State · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA −1.36Hunter Watson pass complete to Malik Phillips for a loss of 1 yard to the SHSU 41
Week 2 · Hawai'i · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +1.23Landyn Locke pass complete to Malik Phillips for 9 yds to the HAW 46
Week 13 · Middle Tennessee · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +1.21Locke to Phillips: a 13-yard pass.

4 more plays

Week 6 · New Mexico State · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +1.16Hunter Watson pass complete to Malik Phillips for 26 yds to the NMSU 24 for a
Week 13 · Middle Tennessee · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +0.70Locke to Phillips: an 11-yard pass.
Week 6 · New Mexico State · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +0.64Hunter Watson pass complete to Malik Phillips for 9 yds to the NMSU 15
Week 7 · Jacksonville State · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA −0.59Hunter Watson pass complete to Malik Phillips for 1 yd to the SHSU 26

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

How often he's targeted, and how well it works

18 rec · 174 yds · 1 TD

18 of 18 receptions matched to play-by-play

14 of 36 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

3610% of team targets

Catch rate

50%18 of 36 targets

Short · 0–9 air yds

93% of targets (13)

46%catch rate

Air 5.3 · YAC 6.7 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

7% of targets (1)

0%catch rate

Air 10.0 avg

50% catch rate on 36 targets · 10% of the team's targets.

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

22%6 of his 27 targets came on third down · Receiver median is 24%

Teams and coaches

2023Sam Houston3-9HC: K.C. Keeler · Balanced

2024Sam Houston10-3HC: K.C. Keeler · Run-heavy

2025Sam Houston2-10HC: Phil Longo · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 27 (#454 of 485). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

27Below cohort / limited sample #454 of 485 · 2025?

10 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Concern: epa / target (11th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#525 / 798 · 34th pct

7.4%

Yards / catch#607 / 798 · 24th pct

9.2

Catch rate#624 / 798 · 22nd pct

59.3%

TD rate#507 / 798 · 18th pct

0.0%

EPA / target#712 / 798 · 11th pct

0.10

Box-score rates (5)

Rec TDs#373 / 558 · 24th pct

Receptions#444 / 558 · 20th pct

Yards / catch#477 / 558 · 15th pct

9.7

Rec yards#500 / 558 · 10th pct

174

Long catch#499 / 558 · 10th pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. 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

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 9 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Road5g	2.4	23.8	10.1	0.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-74g	3.0	26.2	7.5	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	1.2	13.8	11.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Phil Longo

Pass share

51.3%

388 pass / 368 run

Plays / game

63.0

12 games

Team sack rate

8.1%

443 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

18 catches in 9 games

Fewer catches a game than most FBS receivers who play every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

27 · #454 of 485 WRs · 2025

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Conference USA

Based on 2025: #52 of 52 Conference USA WRs

How the All-Conference USA base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).