Inside The Chart: Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy: After a pair of first-team all-Ivy League seasons, homegrown RB Malachi Hosley is eager to prove himself all over again at Georgia Tech

Inside The Chart | By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)

Before he became a national championship-winning head coach at Georgia Tech – and well before he became the namesake of college football’s most hallowed award – John Heisman played two seasons of offensive line for the University of Pennsylvania in 1890 and 1891.

It only took, oh, 135 years, but Georgia Tech has finally brought in another former offensive player from Penn.

“That’s great to hear. He’s a legend, so that’s just nice,” transfer running back Malachi Hosley said.

Rest easy, Coach Heisman. The pipeline appears in good hands.

Making his debut in the Yellow Jackets’ 27-20 season-opening win over Colorado, Hosley, a junior from Columbus, Ga., rushed for 47 yards while also adding a 24-yard reception. He was part of a Tech offense that gouged the Buffaloes for 320 rushing yards, the most by any team versus a Power-4 opponent this season.

“It was an unreal feeling, just knowing in the portal that this time would come eventually. I just loved how it came, and the atmosphere it came in,” said Hosley, who arrived at Tech in January following two seasons at Penn.

He does have one crucial distinction from his predecessor, though. According to sportswriter Edwin Pope in his 1955 tome Football’s Greatest Coaches, John Heisman “operated as a 158-pound center at Penn in constant dread that his immediate teammates – guards weighing 212 and 243 – would fall on him.”

Needless to say, Hosley does not share those sensibilities. As Colorado’s defense learned, the 5-foot-10, 205-pounder has no problem absorbing punishment – or dishing it out.

“He’s a physical runner, but also, I was more impressed with him without the ball in this game. He was physical at the point of attack when it came to blocking,” said running backs coach Norval McKenzie.

“He may have surprised some people, but when you go back and you watch the tape of him the past two seasons, it wasn’t a shock to me that he went in and had success,” he added.

Hosley’s tape was bursting with production at Penn, where he signed after earning Georgia 5A Player of the Year honors at Northside High School in Columbus. He made an immediate splash, becoming the first Quaker in 30 years to win Ivy League Rookie of the Year after finishing second in the conference in rushing. That included a 261-yard rushing performance against Cornell, the third-highest total in school history.

Hosley outdid himself as a sophomore, finishing fourth in NCAA Division I FCS in rushing (119.4 ypg) and winning Ivy League Player of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Walter Payton Award given to the top offensive player in the FCS.

Despite the gaudy numbers, he didn’t take the decision to transfer from an Ivy League school lightly. The academic prestige of Georgia Tech appealed to him, as did the opportunity to play less than two hours from home. He also meshed with the teaching style of McKenzie.

Georgia Tech’s coaches found a fit as well.

“I loved the fact that he was able to make cuts without slowing down. He’s a back that can put his foot in the ground at top speed,” McKenzie said.

“When we went into the portal this past offseason, we were very exact on what we were looking for,” added head coach Brent Key. “We wanted guys that had a proven track record of production, and he fit that.”

In the pressurized atmosphere of the transfer portal, Hosley also appreciated the genuine approach that Key took with him.

“Coach Key said one thing in his office with me and my dad. He said, ‘No matter where you go, take your time. You’ll always have a spot here.’ That just stuck with me,” he recalled.

Hosley stuck with Tech, enrolling in the spring. It also gives him another connection to his fellow Quaker: Before finishing his career at Penn, John Heisman played two seasons at Brown. Yes, even one of college football’s most venerated figures was a transfer himself.

After two workhorse years at Penn, Hosley knew he’d be joining an offense that featured two-time all-ACC running back Jamal Haynes and a quarterback who’s far from run-averse in Haynes King. The prospect of his carries and rushing yards declining didn’t faze him; he cited the way Ohio State used two eventual NFL running backs en route to winning the national title last season.

He found no insecurity on the other end.

“When it comes to the fourth quarter, you’ve got to be fresh,” Key noted. “The person that was the most excited about bringing these freshmen in, and the transfers in, was Jamal. And a lot of times nowadays, people don’t think that.”

Hosley missed most of spring practice due to injury, though he dealt the Buffaloes a full-strength blast of power running on Friday. His former Penn coaches remain supportive, texting their well wishes after the Colorado game. He also experienced another first when he returned to his literature, media and communication class after the Labor Day holiday.

Evidently an Ivy League Player of the Year could still stay incognito around campus in Philadelphia. Hosley learned he may not enjoy that same anonymity at Tech.

“This is the first time this has ever happened. [Tuesday] after class, a kid in my class was like, ‘Hey Malachi, you had a great game.’ I’ve never heard that before,” he recalled.

“I was kind of confused. I was like, ‘Whoa, me?’”

He’ll experience several more firsts on Saturday when Georgia Tech begins its home schedule against Gardner-Webb at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (3:30 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network). His grandmother, Nettie Minter, has yet to see him play a college football game in person; the travel to and from Philadelphia was simply too strenuous. She’ll be there along with the rest of his family.

He’ll also experience his first game day at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, a realization that elicited a broad smile from him this week. Hosley attended a prospects camp at Georgia Tech the summer before his sophomore year at Northside High, and he still has a picture of himself posing outside the stadium gates in his gold camp t-shirt.

Hosley will also make his first walk down Yellow Jacket Alley, where he’ll hang a left on North Avenue, then stroll through a tunnel of Georgia Tech fans on his way into Bobby Dodd Stadium. He’ll undoubtedly spot his family and friends from Columbus in the crowd.

And on his left, keeping watch on a brick ledge, megaphone resting against his thigh, Malachi Hosley will also pass by the statue of John Heisman.