Malik Shorts

Junior defensive back for Southern Miss. 2022: 2 interceptions, 3 pass breakups, 91 tackles.

DB · Southern Miss · Jr. · #9

6′0″ · 202 lb · Bassfield, MS

CFB Index 80 · #38 of 493 safetiesLow confidenceAll-ConferenceSouthern Miss 2022 alumnus

The story

3 defensive back for Southern Miss. 2022: 2 interceptions, 3 pass breakups, 91 tackles.

The record fills in as he plays.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Southern Miss, 278 tackles — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20209 games

All-Conference USAhonorable_mention

202111 games

All-Conference USAhonorable_mention

202212 games

All-Sun Beltthird

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Southern Miss

2019–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

4 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-SUN BELT

All-Sun Belt mention (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2019–2022

3 coaches

2019

Jay Hopson

Southern Miss

2020

Scotty Walden

Southern Miss

era →

2021–2022

Will Hall

Southern Miss

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Jay Hopson, Scotty Walden, and Will Hall. Multi-era developmental context.

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019Southern Miss7-6HC: Jay Hopson · Balanced

2020Southern Miss3-7HC: Scotty Walden · Run-leaning

2021Southern Miss3-9HC: Will Hall · Run-heavy, slow tempo

2022Southern Miss7-6HC: Will Hall · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

80All-Conference level #38 of 493?

Medium confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles (97th percentile). Strength: solo tackles (97th percentile). Concern: sacks (24th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Tackles#82 / 2755 · 97th pct

Solo tackles#85 / 2755 · 97th pct

Passes defended#492 / 2755 · 78th pct

QB hurries#511 / 2755 · 76th pct

Interceptions#124 / 811 · 73rd pct

Tackles for loss#1576 / 2755 · 39th pct

1.5

Sacks#1454 / 2755 · 24th pct

0.0

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

2022 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	8.0	0.0	0.0	0.2
Road6g	7.2	0.2	0.0	0.3

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	7.7	0.0	0.0	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	7.5	0.2	0.0	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Blake Anderson

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

Awards

Player standing · 2022

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

80 · #38 of 493 safeties

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Southern Miss	91	50	1.5	3	2	--
2021	Southern Miss	89	54	2.0	7	2	--
2020	Southern Miss	81	39	3.0	3	1	--
2019	Southern Miss	17	13	0.0	--	1	--
Career		278	156	6.5	13	6	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 4 · 2022

W 27–24

at Tulane

8 TOT · 5 SOLO

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 on the road.

With M. Hunt — 46 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 57 LONG · Z. Wilcke — 194 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 35.1 · 6 rush yds (4 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	L 27-29vs Liberty	12	11	0.0	1	0
Wk 2	L 7-30@ Miami	13	7	0.0	—	0	Season-high 13 tackles
Wk 3	W 64-10vs Northwestern State	2	1	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 27-24@ Tulane	8	5	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	L 10-27@ Troy	6	3	0.0	—	0
Wk 7	W 20-19vs Arkansas State	5	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 8	W 20-14@ Texas State	6	5	1.0	—	1
Wk 9	W 39-24vs Louisiana	11	5	0.0	1	1
Wk 10	L 14-42vs Georgia State	7	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	L 23-26@ Coastal Carolina	4	1	0.0	—	0
Wk 12	L 20-27vs South Alabama	11	4	0.0	—	0
Wk 13	W 20-10@ UL Monroe	6	4	0.5	—	1
Total		91	50	1.5	2	3

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

Malik Shorts

20209 games

202111 games

202212 games

2022 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

All-Conference

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Box Safety

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