STILLWATER — All through high school, Malik Charles had envisioned himself as a basketball player, yet as he neared the end of his senior year, he decided he wanted to pursue football instead.
But there was a problem.
Through his four years of high school, Charles had played in maybe 10 football games — two or three with his high school team and another six or seven with a 16-and-under club team.
So coach Daniel Ramirez devised a plan.
Those 10 games Charles had played were for Ramirez, who coached the high school team at Heritage Academy in Maricopa, Arizona, as well as the club team. Ramirez knew he needed to show college coaches how athletic the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Charles was.
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So the coach took Charles to the basketball gym — in football pads.
“He recorded me dunking in full pads,” Charles told The Oklahoman.
They later went to the practice field, where Charles ran routes and caught passes, considering his size made him a likely candidate to gain attention as a tight end. They added on some highlights from his few high school games to fill out the recruiting video, and sent it out.
Several non-scholarship Division III programs showed interest, but eventually, a Division II team, Western New Mexico, came in with a scholarship offer and Charles signed on for the 2022 season.
This coming week, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Charles will begin classes at Oklahoma State, recruited out of the transfer portal as a defensive end — fully cashing in on his gamble to follow football over his first love.
“I knew if you wanted to play a sport in college, you really gotta love it, because it’s a grind,” Charles said. “I just didn’t feel the same love for basketball that I had earlier in my career. So I felt like I wanted to give football a try.”
It wasn’t a total whim. Charles’ father, Mike, played for four teams over nine years in the NFL. A defensive lineman himself, he appeared in 101 games and had 14 career sacks.
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“I’ve always been around football and I’ve always known football,” Malik said. “So I started to gravitate toward football.
“When I was younger, I was trying to make my own name for myself. My dad played in the League, so I didn’t want to follow him in football. I wanted to do my own thing.”
But football finally drew him back.
Charles had transferred to AZ Compass Prep in Chandler, Arizona, for his senior year of high school, with the goal of elevating his basketball profile with the nationally recognized program.
But after the season, he called Ramirez at Heritage Academy.
“I’ve seen a lot of basketball players who make great football players,” Ramirez said. “I knew a few coaches at some of the colleges around here, so we got Malik into some camps and combines.
“But it was always the same thing, he doesn’t have a lot of playing experience.”
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Ramirez knew Charles’ football capabilities better than anyone, so he kept working the recruiting trail with him.
Charles’ opportunity finally came at Western New Mexico, and after a season, he began looking for a bigger program. He switched to defensive end and signed with Division I FCS Northern Arizona, but after one season, the coaching staff was fired.
An assistant from the team landed at West Georgia, and encouraged Charles to join him, so he did.
Finally getting regular playing time for the first time in his career, Charles had 33 tackles with 10 for loss and 7.0 sacks, earning All-United Athletic Conference honors. And once again, he jumped in the transfer portal.
This time, instead of sifting through FCS and DII offers, it was Power 4 programs coming for him. Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Mississippi State, Cal and others came with offers, but he settled on the Cowboys for a variety of reasons.
“My two biggest things I was looking for when I entered the portal was the opportunity to come and compete for a starting spot and the nutrition and weight room aspect,” Charles said. “Oklahoma State really checked off those two boxes with Coach (Rob) Glass, a well-known strength coach in the business.
“So I know I’ll get my body developed, and the defensive coaches, they have a plan for me, they know how they’re gonna use me. So I’m just really appreciative of them giving me the opportunity and believing in me.”
Charles is particularly excited about the physical development support OSU can provide. Even though he’s going into his redshirt junior season, Charles just turned 20 years old in November, so his body is reaching a key stage of growth.
With strong Tongan roots on his mother’s side, Charles was also drawn to the well-developed Polynesian culture at OSU.
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Player development specialist Beni Tonga has helped form the foundation of that culture, which has helped bring several talented players to OSU over the years.
“While we were meeting with the academic people, we found out that me and Beni are related,” Charles said. “If you’re Tongan, you’re proud to be Tongan. I always try to rep it as much as I can.”
Back in Arizona, Ramirez is thrilled to see the levels Charles has achieved because of his natural gifts and willingness to work hard.
“It’s been exciting because sometimes you see the talent in one of your kids and others don’t see it right away,” Ramirez said. “They want the polished gem a lot of times, and it’s harder for high school kids to get recruited now. So we’ve always had the conversation of ‘build your own path.’
“I always told him to keep grinding, build his path, and the rest is gonna happen. And he stayed true to it.”
