STARKVILLE – Malik Dear isn’t a typical rookie playing college football.
The Mississippi State freshman wide receiver arrived on campus in January as he enrolled early after graduating from Murrah High School in December. He came early with a purpose.
“I think I definitely made a statement to the coaches and I think they made the right decision by not redshirting me,” Dear said.
He went through spring practice with the Bulldogs, but didn’t participate in the spring game nursing an injury. He hung around the Leo Seal Football Complex during the summer and was ahead of the other freshmen when they arrived for training camp in the summer and for training camp in August.
Dear impressed his coaches and teammates with his play in the spring and had a feeling that he was going to get some playing time this fall.
Still, the cloud of possibly redshirting hung over his head as the team preprared for its season-opening win at Southern Mississippi. He wasn’t for sure of his immeidate plans until that first week travel roster was posted. Dear only had one carry and one catch against the Golden Eagles for a total of four years. However, he was in uniform and part of the action.
Dear played quarterback, running back and wide receiver for Murrah. He finished his high school career with 3,289 rushing yards and 2,410 receiving yards. He racked up 84 total touchdowns in four seasons (56 rushing, 26 receiving and two on special teams).
Even though Dear had the athleticism to play right away, conditioning was the biggest hurdle he had to triumph. He came to MSU weighing around 235 pounds. He pushed himself hard during the spring and summer to get his weight to where it needed to be.
“I hated it,” Dear admitted. “I had to come up here more than anybody. I had to be up here every morning and sometimes after everything we had to get done. I think it all paid off in the end though.”
He is now around 220 pounds, exactly where he and the coaches want him to be. Conditioning or working out wasn’t a high priority for him in high school. He rarely did it during the season, but as soon as his senior year ended, he began to try and get his body in shape for life at the next level.
The spring gave Dear extra time to learn the playbook and put him ahead of the other freshmen who didn’t arrive on campus during the summer. The Bulldog coaching staff don’t take spring lightly and installed all sorts of offensive and defensive schemes.
“A lot of the new guys come in during the summer and tried to pick up what they could,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said. “Malik, who already has an idea of what’s going on in training camp, there’s recollection (from what he learned in the spring).
“Anytime you graduate high school early, it puts you in a much better position to play as a freshman.”
In high school, everything came easy for Dear. He was better than many of the players he was facing, so he relied on his athleticism more than his mind or his experience.
He found that not to be the case with the Bulldogs. Fortunately, his learning curve was longer than most.
“You’ve got to go out on your own and learn instead of just doing what the coaches tell you to do while you’re here,” Dear said. “(You have to) go home and study everything. That’s when I figured it out and I picked it all up.
“I’m glad I came in the spring because it’s kind of hard for my position to just memorize everything and be ready by the fall. Right now I think I’m real comfortable in the offense. I think I know just as much as the older guys, but I’m still trying to learn from them too.”
Dear wasn’t the only freshman who went through spring practice. Fellow wide receiver Deddrick Thomas and offensive lineman Michael Story enrolled early, but Dear has been the only one to play in the first five games of the season.
Even if he didn’t enroll early, Dear feels like he would be playing right now.
“I’m the type of player that if I really want something, I’m going to go after it,” Dear said. “If I have to go home and look over everything and make sure I know everything to put myself in a better situation, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Dear has been used sporadically this season though. He has just eight catches for 85 yards, but no touchdowns. He has only rushed the ball three times for 71 yards.
But he became a topic of conversation for Bulldog fans and his teammates with one particularly play last Saturday against Texas A&M. He motioned into the backfield and got a handoff from quarterback Dak Prescott. He rushed it 52 yards for his first-career touchdown.
The touchdown came early in the second quarter, but he didn’t get the ball again until the second half. Mullen said he was banged up, but moving forward, Mullen wants to see Dear more involved in the offense whether that be in the passing game or the running game.
“I’ve seen him progress over the past couple of weeks,” Mullen said. “When you put the ball in his hands, good things usually happen. He’s become more comfortable with blocking, running routes and catching balls.”
Many of Dear’s teammates have commented on how explosive of a player he is with the ball in his hands.
The Bulldogs have averaged 5.3 yards per rush this season, but there hans’t been a running back to separate himself from the pack. Prescott leads the Bulldogs with 217 yards rushing. Junior running backs Ashton Shumpert and Brandon Holloway have combined for 284 yards on the ground this season.
Dear says he still doesn’t know if he’s a wide receiver or a running back, but it doesn’t matter to him.
“I’m ready for anything the coaches have ready for me,” Dear said. “I’m just here to do whatever the coaches ask of me and execute whatever they ask me to do.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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