'I can't believe he just did that': The rise of Liberty's Malik Willis

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Coach Hugh Freeze and Liberty are facing a fourth-and-3 from Virginia Tech's 38-yard line early in the second quarter, and two things are abundantly clear.

The Flames are going for it, and the ball is going to be in star quarterback Malik Willis' hands.

Liberty, on this day last November, is ranked for the first time in program history -- but still not really taken seriously -- as 17-point underdogs at unranked Virginia Tech.

Willis looks across the line of scrimmage at the Hokies, the program that was one of the few Division I schools to originally offer him a scholarship, even if it would likely be at defensive back instead of his preferred quarterback position.

He takes the snap and is almost immediately met by defensive back Chamarri Conner. It should be a turnover on downs, the kind of defensive stop that could swing the game back in Virginia Tech's favor.

But Willis spins off Conner, continues rolling to his right and throws a strike down the sideline to wide receiver Kevin Shaa, who gets a foot in bounds to set Liberty up at the 3-yard line.

"I just shook my head up in the box," Liberty co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kent Austin said. "I'm like, 'I can't believe he just did that.'"

Two plays later, the Flames take a 14-3 lead and would eventually hold on for a wild 38-35 victory, arguably the biggest in school history.

In a season full of highlights -- Willis completed 64.2% of his passes for 2,250 yards and 20 touchdowns with six interceptions, while rushing for 944 yards and 14 more scores -- this is the play that would define Liberty's present turnaround and Willis' seemingly unlimited future potential.

"I'm not sure what other quarterback in college football, and it's gotta be a small list in the NFL that can make that play," said Sean McEvoy, one of Willis' private QB coaches who also works with a plethora of the best collegiate and pro quarterbacks.

In his first season as a college starting quarterback, that throw made one thing readily apparent:

Malik Willis had arrived.

Willis' high school career started at Atlanta's Westlake High School, best known as the alma mater of Cam Newton, but he didn't play quarterback full time until his senior year, when he transferred to Roswell. But no one was biting on him as a recruit the way he felt they should have been.

Eventually Willis committed to Virginia Tech in June 2016. Five months later, he would decommit and go with Auburn and then-coach Gus Malzahn.

Auburn wasn't planning on taking a high school quarterback in that class, because it was the class after it brought Jarrett Stidham in from Baylor (and Stidham had to sit out a season). When starting quarterback Sean White got hurt at the end of 2016, the Tigers realized they needed to bring in a high school quarterback to develop.

"Obviously, we've had success with Nick Marshall, Cam Newton and those guys," said current Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, who originally recruited Willis to Auburn. "And so Malik was a guy who played for John Ford up at Roswell. ... So we reached out to John, started talking with Malik and realized even though he committed to Virginia Tech, he definitely had some interest in Auburn, staying close to home and playing at Auburn.

"For me, he just reminded us a lot of Nick. I mean, he was long, he was athletic, he could really run, throw the deep ball well."

When Willis arrived at Auburn, he was buried down the depth chart, but he quickly worked his way up to being Stidham's backup. But Willis wasn't able to show what he was fully capable of because of limited snaps and limited options in those snaps.

"Even when they were up 30 points in the fourth quarter, it was very limited time," said McEvoy. "... So even when he was in, he wasn't allowed to do anything. He certainly wasn't gonna be able to throw. So I think that was tough on him."

Willis knew he needed to go after Auburn's spring game in 2018, when he didn't get reps against the first team.

"I was like, 'Dang, like, no love?'" Willis said. "After the game, [Malzahn] said I did almost perfect. And then the next day, he was like, 'Uh, yeah, we're gonna have to slim down the competition.' This and that, and then I just took that, I was like, 'OK, I gotta leave.'"

Willis, who admires Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson for how he uses his athletic success as a platform for his religious beliefs, leaned on his faith in looking for his next destination. All he wanted was a chance.

"I don't think there's nothing in life that I prayed for, that I didn't receive, in a way, shape or form," Willis said. "He gonna give you what you need and he gonna give it to you on his time. There's nothing you can do about it -- you just got to stay faithful.

"I remember, like literally being like, 'Please, like, can I just have an opportunity to go somewhere and show what I can do?' And then I just asked, constantly, 'Just let me glorify your name, however you want me to, let me use this platform.'"

Willis didn't know much about Liberty prior to his official visit.

"I needed to be able to come somewhere to play," he said. "I said somewhere that had a need. That was all. I didn't really care about nothing else. It didn't matter where I had to go."

Willis checked his daily Bible verse app the day before his official visit to Liberty in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the app displayed 2 Corinthians 3:17.

Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.

The next day, when Willis walked into Liberty's facility, he saw the verse on the wall.

"I'm like, 'Ain't no way. Ain't no way.' I ain't even tell nobody that," Willis said. "I just kind of like kept it to myself. But I knew right then I was like, 'Yep, this the place I'm supposed to go.'"

So on July 9, 2019, Willis committed to Liberty, but he had to sit out the year because of his transfer.

The relationship between Willis and Freeze has been mutually beneficial from the start. For Willis, Freeze's QB-friendly offense allows him to show off all those elite skills. For Freeze, he's got a quarterback who can take advantage of his offensive mind.

"You know, the numbers don't lie," Freeze said. "If you look at my whole career, whether it was at little ol' Lambeth University, to Arkansas State, to Ole Miss to here, we've shattered offensive records at all of those schools. And we've done it with a variety of different quarterbacks.

"My first year here, I had Buckshot (Stephen Calvert), who couldn't outrun me. And so, you know, I've got to eliminate this half of my playbook probably for him. And we did, and we still won."

But before Willis could take the field, Liberty became engulfed in controversy following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the police murder of George Floyd.

Jerry Falwell Jr., then the university president, sent a racist tweet that showed one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. A day later, Asia Todd, a freshman on Liberty's women's basketball team, announced she was transferring "due to the racial insensitivities shown within the leadership and culture" at the school.

Tayvion "Tank" Land and Kei'Trel Clark, two cornerbacks on the Liberty football team, transferred out, with Land citing "racial insensitivity displayed by leadership" and Clark mentioning the "cultural [incompetence] within multiple levels of leadership." Land later told Slate of an incident in which a professor allegedly said, "Don't be scared. I'm not going to pull out my whip and hit you with it."

Willis said he was good friends with Land but didn't know the details of the incident. He added he wasn't aware of Falwell and his political leanings prior to arriving at Liberty, that he personally felt comfortable at the university and that "nothing ever happened to me."

Willis took classes on campus at Liberty during his 2019 redshirt year but has since only had to appear at Liberty's football facility, even to do his classwork. He's taking online courses for grad school, going for his MBA.

"Football brings people together from different backgrounds, different environments, different cultures, different religions, all types of stuff," Willis said. "You just got to be open, you know, communicate with each other and try to understand one another. And that's just what's gonna bring y'all closer. You know, siblings and cousins and stuff, they fight, but they get right back together because they's family. That's how it should be."

Willis knew three things he liked about Liberty: Hugh Freeze and his offense was there; it's an institution that places importance on faith; and Freeze's strength and conditioning staff from Mississippi was there.

"Those were the three things I needed to hear," he said. "I don't care about, 'The school doesn't have this and that because it's a Christian school.' For us it isn't important. So what? This is what I came for.

"I came to work," he said. "I came to work."

Liberty's football team is lifting on a Wednesday morning in mid-July, and Moneybagg Yo is dominating plays over the speakers booming through Liberty's $20 million facility located behind the north end zone at Williams Stadium. "Run This Town" by Jay-Z and Rihanna briefly comes on but is skipped for more Moneybagg. The Flames are keeping a consistent vibe during the morning lift.

Willis goes up to Ralfs Rusins, a redshirt senior defensive tackle, and starts hyping him up, patting him on the back and shoulders, smiling, having a good time.

Rusins asks Willis, "You want to do dumbbell rows with me?" and proceeds to pull out a 150-pound dumbbell. Willis responds, "I'll do 'em with you, but I can't do 10 reps of that, brother. Not three sets."

Willis, who has been loose and enjoying the lifting session, knocked out sets with a 120-pound dumbbell. If a stranger walked into the room, they likely couldn't identify Willis as the quarterback because of his linebacker-esque build. And as teams found out last fall, Willis has the strongest arm on the field, and the most speed.

Despite showing off those skills every Saturday last fall, if you were to ask Willis what he did well in 2020, he couldn't give you an answer. Ask about what he needs to work on, though, and he will reply with a detailed catalogue of the plays he didn't make.