Malik Charles Certainly Looks the Part as the Cowboys Start Fall Camp

Malik Charles has taken quite an interesting path to Power Conference football, but he certainly looks the part as the Cowboys head into their 2025 season.

Oklahoma State started its fall camp on Monday, where Charlies is listed as a 6-foot-3, 283-pound outside linebacker. When Charles got to Stillwater in the spring after transferring from West Georgia, he was listed at 255 pounds — a 28-pound difference. And based on a video OSU Athletics shared with the media after the Cowboys’ opening day on the practice field, it looks like a healthy 28 pounds.

.@ngslider pointed out today that Malik Charles is up to 283 pounds on #okstate‘s roster. He was listed at 255 on the spring roster.

Certainly looks the part. pic.twitter.com/U3KPwwfFgI

— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) July 29, 2025

“I’ve put on, I want to say, 30 pounds of muscle over the past couple months,” Charles said after the spring game. “It’s not so much really the eating. I eat the same I did previously, but it’s really just all the work we put in (in the weight room), on the field across the street. It’s just all coming together.”

Who Is Malik Charles?

For much of Charles’ high school journey, he thought his future was in basketball.

Charles decided in his senior year that he instead wanted to pursue the gridiron at the next level. Despite him not having a ton of football film, Western New Mexico saw Charles’ potential and brought him in at a position most transitioning basketball players take up — tight end.

“Everybody coming from basketball, everybody wants to play tight end,” said Charles in a sit down interview with OSU director of football business Kenyatta Wright. “You look at Antonio Gates — ‘Oh, yeah, I’m gonna be the next Antonio Gates.’ …

“Let me tell  you, tight end is not for me. Don’t like blocking. I was just out there running routes, I didn’t like it. But on the other side of the ball, I loved D end. I love the physicality, hitting. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I need to play that.’ Didn’t get to play that there so I transferred.”

After his year with Western New Mexico, Charles made the move to Northern Arizona as a walk-on for the 2023 season as a defensive lineman. He took part in 11 games that season where he made four tackles, including a tackle for loss in his first season as a defender.

He then transferred to West Georgia this past season, and his potential was realized. Charles was a unanimous selection to the All-United Athletic Conference first team after making 33 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks in 11 games.

That standout season propelled Charles to the FBS level, as he had portal offers to OSU, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Texas Tech and others before choosing to be in Stillwater.

Football Is in His Genes

Although basketball might’ve been his first love, Charles has a football pedigree.

His father, Mike Charles, was an NFL defensive lineman from 1983 to 1991, playing with the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Charges, Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Rams. He played in 101 career games and made 58 starts.

Mike was a second round draft pick out of Syracuse after he was a First Team All-American in 1982 with the Orange. His 199 career tackles at the college level are the sixth-most of any Syracuse down lineman.