WKU Football: Malachi Corley Selected by New York Jets Third Round of 2024 NFL Draft

At 65th overall, WKU's highest ever drafted receiver prospect, Malachi Corley is going to be expected to contribute immediately for the New York Jets.

Malachi Corley during WKU’s 35-28 win at La Tech October 6, 2023 Courtesy: Underdog Dynasty

Malachi Corley always seemed to fit at Western Kentucky. He immediately contributed, playing nine games his true freshman year and recording 65 total receiving yards, 40 of which came in one game. He ramped it up from there, recording 73 catches his second freshman year (due to COVID), racked up 1295 yards his sophomore year, and with a lesser offense and injured cohorts that put all of the pressure on him all season (along with his own nagging injuries), he still nearly racked up 1,000 yards anyway in 2023 despite only playing in 12 games, two of which were cut short due to injury.

It wasn’t always like that. Malachi Corley wasn’t supposed to be the next great Hilltopper receiver. He was a decent recruit for a solid Group of Five program, a local Kentucky product out of Campbellsville (just a shade over an hour east from WKU’s campus) that wanted to be at WKU and loved being a Hilltopper. An undersized two star prospect out of high school, Malachi was not mentioned in any preseason publications and wasn’t really analyzed other than being a depth piece in the Hilltopper receiver room. Until he showed himself competent and a real competitor, he wasn’t on anybody’s radar.

But once he got his shot, he popped off of the screen as a legitimate playmaker. He absolutely busted out his second season on The Hill as one of Bailey Zappe’s favorite targets. With Bailey’s best friend and receiver Jerreth Sterns on the team nearly setting NCAA receiving records for receptions and yards, the fact that Malachi, as another short “slot” looking type of player was even able to produce anything of note that season is remarkable.

But the thing is that Malachi is not just the short less-than-six-feet-tall guy that runs up the seam, runs quick outs, or only catches screens. He’s so much more than that. He can play every receiver position and be competent, he can come from out of the backfield, and he can go in motion. He can run over the middle, but he can also line up outside and go up and get a combat catch. It’s very rare that someone can possess all of those skills and be really good at most or all of them.

He’s been this draft’s “Deebo Samuel” comparison. Is he the “Group of Five” Deebo? Is he a legitimate equal to the rookie version of Deebo? Time will tell. He’s a bowling ball looking guy at 5’11” and 215. Although under six feet tall, he’s not tiny in the height department, and he carries significant weight in his upper body and is not someone you want to see in the open field. Not only his impressive upper body catches eyeballs, but also he can make you miss with his quickness and run away from most defenders. And like Deebo, he can line up anywhere and do something to boggle the minds of defensive coordinators week in and week out.

Perhaps his greatest underrated asset is just his ability to take a hit or try to dodge a defender and somehow stay on his feet. The YAC king, he has had several ridiculous saves in his WKU career where he had no business tiptoeing down a sideline or staying upright in the middle of traffic, sometimes without even breaking stride.

I doubt he’ll be remembered this way, but Malachi probably has the best balance of any WKU prospect ever. There are not many guys in the 2024 NFL Draft that could stay upright like he can. In fact, no one holds a candle to the “YAC King” once he gets his hands on the ball.

Corley Draft Details

Forgoing his senior season, WKU wide receiver Malachi Corley has been selected by the New York Jets (via trade with Carolina) in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft with the 65th overall pick, the first pick of the third round.

Malachi is the second highest selection for a Hilltopper ever (Forrest Lamp, 38th overall, 2017) and the highest receiver ever drafted from WKU (Taywan Taylor was drafted 72nd overall in 2017).

This marks the third straight year a Hilltopper has been selected in the third round (DeAngelo Malone, 2022; Brodric Martin, 2023), but is the first offensive player selected this round since the aforementioned Taylor.

Malachi joins ten other Toppers currently on active rosters. While those ten guys are at different stages of their career, Corley’s rookie contract will give him up to four years to prove himself and potentially earn another contract to further his career.

Malachi had been rumored as high as sneaking into the first round, but with all of the “premier” position players getting the attention, an absolutely loaded receiver class along with teams being desperate for the premier players in this draft led to Malachi landing about where he has been projected all along: The middle of the second round to the beginning of the third round.

Only the third Group of Five player off of the board, he is the very first offensive player at any position from the “Group of Five” to be selected (shoutout to Steven Graham on Facebook for that incredible nugget).

A historic night for WKU Football, the amount of current Western players in the NFL is well into the double digits, and it doesn’t seem like that number is slowing down anytime soon.

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