Malik Willis has waited a long time for this.
The former Liberty quarterback will finally enter an NFL season knowing he is the guy.
Willis has been named the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback for Week 1, giving him an opportunity he has never had during his four-year NFL career. Miami will open the 2026 season Sunday at the Las Vegas Raiders.
And from a Liberty perspective, the significance goes beyond simply seeing one of the program’s most recognizable former players under center on Sundays.
Willis is set to become the first former Liberty quarterback to start an NFL season opener.
That’s a pretty significant milestone for a program that has spent the better part of the last decade trying to establish itself on the national football landscape. Now one of its former quarterbacks is opening an NFL season as a starter.
This wasn’t supposed to be the easy path
It’s easy to forget how much uncertainty surrounded Willis’ NFL future just a couple of years ago. The Tennessee Titans selected him in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, but his time in Tennessee never developed into what many expected. He made three starts as a rookie, then appeared in only a handful of games during his second season.
Tennessee eventually moved on, trading Willis to Green Bay. For many quarterbacks, that might have been the beginning of the end. Instead, Green Bay became the turning point.
Willis showed significant improvement during his time with the Packers, particularly as a passer. He became a reliable backup behind Jordan Love and took advantage of his opportunities when called upon.
Now he’s getting something he hasn’t had since his days at Liberty:
A team believing enough in him to hand him the starting job.
And this time, it’s not because somebody ahead of him is injured.
It’s his job.
From Liberty to Miami
Willis’ rise at Liberty remains one of the most important quarterback stories in program history.
After transferring from Auburn, Willis sat out the 2019 season before taking over as the Flames’ starter in 2020. He immediately became one of the most dynamic players in college football. In two seasons as Liberty’s starter, Willis went 17-6 while accounting for more than 7,000 yards of total offense and 77 touchdowns.
He helped lead the Flames to a 10-1 record in 2020, a Cure Bowl championship and the first AP Top 25 finish in program history. But his legacy at Liberty was about more than numbers. He helped establish Liberty as a program capable of producing players who could compete at the highest level.
Now he’s adding another first.
A milestone worth recognizing
No former Liberty quarterback has ever started an NFL season opener.
Willis will change that Sunday.
And considering the journey it took to get here, it’s a milestone worth appreciating. He isn’t entering the season as one of the NFL’s established stars. The Dolphins are a team with plenty of questions, and Miami enters the season with relatively low expectations. That’s what makes the opportunity so intriguing. Willis doesn’t have to be the quarterback everybody expected him to become when he was drafted. He just has to prove that the quarterback who emerged in Green Bay is the quarterback Miami can build around.
The Liberty connection remains strong
There will be plenty of storylines surrounding the Dolphins this season. New head coach Jeff Hafley. A revamped roster. A new era in Miami. And, of course, the question of whether Willis can finally establish himself as a legitimate NFL starter.
But for Liberty fans, there is another reason to pay attention. They’ve seen this quarterback’s story before. They watched Willis go from an Auburn transfer who had to sit out a season to becoming the face of Liberty football. They watched him become one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the country. They watched him get drafted. They watched him struggle. They watched him get traded. They watched him earn another opportunity in Green Bay.
And now they get to watch him start an NFL season.
That last part is new.
Malik Willis is officially the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins.
And when he takes the field Sunday, he’ll also become the first quarterback in Liberty history to open an NFL season as a starter. For a program that has spent the past decade building its football identity, that’s another milestone worth putting on the list. And for Willis, it’s another chance to prove that the best part of his football story might still be ahead of him.
