Charlotte native, Wake Forest DB Malik Mustapha wants to prove himself right at next level

Malik Mustapha wants to prove himself right. He says he’s less concerned with proving his doubters wrong.

But at one point, early in his college career, he was a part of the group who didn’t have a positive outlook on his football future. During the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season, Mustapha — who wasn’t widely recruited out of Weddington High School and began his college career at the University of Richmond — started to worry he wouldn’t play beyond the FCS level of college football, let alone make it to the NFL.

Flash forward three years, and Mustapha is coming off back-to-back strong campaigns at Wake Forest and is on the cusp of his NFL dream. The Charlotte Observer polled a handful of league evaluators from four different teams who projected him to be a mid-to-late-round pick in next week’s NFL Draft.

Next weekend could serve as a monumental chapter in the book of Mustapha’s football career after years of trying to switch the narrative on his projection as a shorter, stockier safety.

“It’s definitely going to be emotional for sure because there was a time when I was at the University of Richmond — during the COVID year — where I didn’t see myself in this position at all,” Mustapha said.

The Charlotte native, who is listed as 5-foot-10 and 209 pounds, has had an up-and-down draft journey over the past few months, but the buzz is starting to build based on his film and pre-draft workouts.

He was selected to play in the Senior Bowl in January but strained his hamstring during practices in Mobile, Ala. That injury forced Mustapha to sit out of the most testing drills at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, outside of the bench press where he had a position-high 22 reps.

Mustapha ran his 40-yard dash at Wake Forest’s pro day in March, and he appeared to be happy with the results, though the timing of his one run wasn’t made available. He also produced a broad jump of 10 feet, 6 inches and a vertical leap of 41.5 inches.

“People are finally watching the film,” Mustapha said. “And then guys (are) finally being able to see me move — thinking I’m big and can’t move and being slow — but it’s all about me, to prove myself right and not to prove other people wrong. I knew it was in me, I just got to show it.”

Finding his voice

Mustapha wasn’t always destined to be a defensive back. He started his high school career in the offensive backfield as a running back.

But Mustapha eventually realized he needed to switch up his Frank Gore highlight tapes for film on Bob Sanders and Ed Reed. Mustapha made the move to the secondary and that’s where he started to see the game differently.

While the change in position didn’t lead to Power-5 offers, he did land the scholarship to Richmond. It put his cleats in the door, so to speak. And after playing just four games for the Spiders, Mustapha drew the attention of head coach Dave Clawson at Wake Forest.

The young defensive back then quickly worked his way into the Demon Deacons’ starting lineup and finished out his three-year stint with captain status as a junior.

“I took a lot of pride in it because guys voted for me because of the person that I am,” Mustapha said about being a captain. “I didn’t change anything — the mission was still the same — but I knew that I had to do more in order to persevere the team through all adversity, through the ups and downs of the season, stuff like that, because they counted on me and I counted on them. So, if they see me take a dip, then everyone else will take a dip as well. So, just being able to hold the standard high, and just trying to be the same person every day.”

During his final season with the program, Mustapha put himself on NFL teams’ radars.

He collected 80 tackles (five for loss), two pass breakups and an interception in 12 games. He also moved around the secondary and stayed true to his leadership role on the defense.

“I think just the last year as a captain, he kind of found his voice,” Clawson said. “And when your best players do things the right way, I think it’s easier for other guys to fall in line. And Malik certainly helped set the tone for us.”

Wearing different hats

Mustapha knows he has size limitations. But he’s more focused on what he can do on the field than his shortcomings in the height department.

His strength and speed have been put on display during the pre-draft process. He believes his versatility is all over his college film.

“I feel like when I was at Wake, I played a lot of positions, wore a lot of different hats,” Mustapha said. “So whatever position a team decides I need to play at — whatever best fit – I’m able to play it since I have that experience all over the field.”

When NFL evaluators have reached out to Clawson to discuss Mustapha ahead the draft, the conversations have mainly focused on the prospect’s intangibles.

“He’s just a really good football player,” Clawson said. “And he’s just so productive. He’s a good tackler, he can play man (coverage). Some guys are just football players. And he’ll run well and test well — I think he was the strongest safety at the combine — but sometimes guys do well in the weight room, do well on tests, but they can’t play football. He can play football.”

Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl, scouted Mustapha ahead of his invite to the all-star game. The former Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots scout was impressed with the Wake Forest defender’s read-and-react ability.

“Mainly the closing burst and play style,” Nagy said. “He plays with a really cool urgency. As soon as he sees it, he takes off. The guy he reminded me of was T.J. Ward, who played at a high-level for a lot of years in the league.”

No quit in this journey

Mustapha trained with Tony Villani of XPE Sports in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to get prepared for the pre-draft process.

Villani helped Mustapha tap into his athleticism and correct some of the finer points of his running style. So, while the tape might show promise for Mustapha, the prospect might have an even better outlook after honing his skills with Villani.

“I’ve always been an explosive guy, but he was able to enhance my abilities,” Mustapha said. “And also, being able to run in control. Sometimes I kind of run unorthodox, and being able to maintain my speed and being able to control my speed is something I excel in when doing that type of speed training. So it was definitely a learning experience for me while also being able to put in the work to enhance my speed and velocity.”

“He pulled his hamstring really bad at the Senior Bowl,” Villani said. “Most guys would get discouraged. He kept his explosion up and did the best he could without ever getting down.”

On the cusp of the draft, getting down on himself was never an option for Mustapha.

He’s willed himself to get to the point of being a legitimate NFL prospect, and now he wants to write his own story with several page left to publish.

“You can’t live anyone else’s journey,” Mustapha said about his mindset. “So that’s what really helped me persevere to get to where I’m at now.”