2026 Football Roster
Malachi Hood
- Position:
- Linebacker
- Height:
- 6-2
- Weight:
- 224
- Class:
- Senior
- Hometown:
- Plainfield, Ill.
- High School:
- Joliet Catholic
- Prev School:
- Illinois
2025 (r-Jr.) – Illinois
- Played linebacker for coach Bart Bielema
- Appeared in 13 games with eight starts
- Earned Academic All-Big Ten honors
- Finished fifth on the team with 44 tackles, including 28 solos, one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss
- Produced one pass breakup, one forced fumble and had one fumble recovery on the year
- Had five tackles, including two solo stops, a sack and a tackle for loss in the Music City Bowl
- Recorded a career-high six tackles in wins over Western Michigan and Northwestern
- Also forced a fumble against Northwestern
- Tallied five tackles with three solo stops against Ohio State
- Added four tackles with a fumble recovery in win at Duke
- Registered four solo tackles, including one tackle for loss in win over Western Illinois
2024 (r-So.) – Illinois
- Appeared in 12 games
- Earned Academic All-Big Ten
- Finished the season with 14 tackles, including eight solo stops
- Added two sacks and two forced fumbles and added a fumble recovery and a pass breakup
- Registered two sacks and two forced fumbles against Northwestern
- Recovered his first career fumble against Michigan
2023 (r-Fr.) – Illinois
- Suffered a season-ending injury during the preseason training camp
2022 (Fr.) – Illinois
- Made his only appearance of the season against Northwestern
- Redshirted
High School
- Played strong safety and running back for coach Jake Jaworski at Joliet Catholic High
- Three-year letterwinner
- Led Joliet Catholic to the 2021 IHSA 4A state championship and No. 2-ranking in Illinois
- Part of a defense that held its opponents to 16.9 points a game
Personal
- Son of Michael and Josephine Hood
- One of three children (1 brother, 1 sister)
- Cousin, Marcus Hood, played linebacker at Illinois from 1997-2000
- Graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Illinois in August 2025
- Majoring in strategic leadership and management
Rich Rodriguez | Dec. 3
Wednesday, December 03
Reid Carrico | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
