MOBILE, Ala. – A season shortened by injury.  That happened back in 2015, potentially derailing a career.

A constant battle for playing time.  There hasn't been a moment over the last four-plus years this individual hasn't been forced to earn his role on the field.

A new coaching staff.  That wasn't part of the plan when he joined the program in 2014, but circumstances have changed.

No matter the situation, this individual has responded to become a key member of the University of South Alabama football team as it embarks on a new path under the direction of first-year head coach Steve Campbell.

"I've always been one of the most optimistic guys, even when in situations knowing that adversity was going to cross your path," says senior safety Malcolm Buggs.  "It was one of the foundations that my mom tried to instill in me, that no matter what I was going through or whatever the circumstances if you keep God first and continue to do your part and work hard things will usually turn out your way."

Most of the 2018 season remains in front of Buggs, but there have been several opportunities to prevent the Opelika, Ala., resident from making it this far.


Start with high school.  Football was one of the many sports Buggs participated in growing up, first taking the field as a six-year-old before going on to also play soccer, basketball and baseball while running track as well.  "I started playing because I was an athletic kid and at the time I wanted to do everything; there were times I would be doing both in the same season.  I just developed a love of competing," he recalls.  "I am glad that I was talented enough to play football because it teaches you so much about yourself and something you can use to relate to real life."

But as he enrolled in Opelika High School, football didn't look like it would be a part of his future when he quit the sport rather than play his freshman year.  Looking back on it, that decision instead played a key role in determining where he is today.

"The year that I quit I didn't feel whole, I didn't feel that I was experiencing everything that I needed as a high school kid," says Buggs.  "Then there was the dilemma, would I be able to go to school and play basketball or run track?  I was searching for something that was going to be able to help provide an opportunity for me to go to school and get a free education.  I was told by all my coaches that I had made a big mistake, my older friends and their dads were telling me to go back out there.

"I knew right then, in the beginning of my 10th-grade season, that football is it.  I knew that football was the one when I was able to take a year off and still be able to pick up the pieces.  It was a business decision."

Buggs would return and not only letter but start each of the next three years for the Bulldogs, helping the team qualify for postseason play each fall highlighted by a berth in the state 6A championship game when he was a junior.  He posted 74 tackles that year, adding 60 his senior season after recruiters began to take notice.

Eventually rated a three-star prospect by ESPN.com and among the top high school players in the state by multiple organization, he had a choice to make when it came time to decide where to continue his career.  Actually, he had more than a few options.

"The recruiting process is very misleading.  If you don't know everything you need to know when it comes to having a certain amount of time to take an offer and communicate, or that they have a certain amount of time when they can come see you.  If you don't know all the ins and outs, you can be misled with the decisions that you make and the visits that you take.  I had some of the right things and wrong things being told to me, I was being pulled back and forth.  South Alabama knew that I had offers from Georgia Tech, Memphis, Washington State and Vanderbilt, but [former Jaguar head] Coach [Joey] Jones and that staff offered early and continued to talk to me.  They communicated all the time, and it felt like home.

"It felt like a program that I could come in help build a foundation for.  I'm still glad I made the right decision."


As a true freshman, Buggs was one of three individuals in the program's recruiting class — Jeremy Reaves, who spent the spring and summer with the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, and Caleb Butler were the others — to come in make an immediate impact, playing in 12 games as South made its first-ever postseason bowl appearance.  Adjusting to a season of special teams work tends to discourage many prospects, but not Buggs.

"It was something that made me more driven and more determined to play," he says.  "You had to get used to playing ball when everybody on the team is just as good as you are, it's a different level of competition.  It was about staying fundamentally sound, being able to make tackles, being able to communicate and also having the mental ability to solve problems out there on the field.  I learned that quick my freshman year."

He was battling for a starting role the following fall, but at practice just days before the season opener against Gardner-Webb he injured his knee and with an expected rehabilitation time of 11 weeks knew he was out for the season.  Ever the optimist, Buggs used the moment to reinforce the path he was on.  "That injury helped me refocus and find out my reason for being here outside of just playing football," he says.

In 2016, a healthy Buggs returned to the field, but was once again in complimentary role behind Devon Earl, a senior on that squad.  Some might have been surprised when he was chosen by Jones and the Jag coaching staff to wear the No. 5 in honor of Anthony Mostella last year, but not those who had been around the program.

The honor was just a form of validation for the work he had put in for three years, even if those results were rarely seen on Saturdays.

"I was ecstatic, it showed me that a lot of people observe and notice what you do," Buggs recalls.  "Last year and this year have been my two best offseasons in the program, I literally worked my tail off every day.  It was gratifying and humbling to know that somebody else actually sees you and they understand that if you put in everything you've got usually good results happen."

Although he missed three contests in the middle of the season due to another injury, Buggs was able to post 38 stops and break up three passes.  In most cases that would ensure a return to your role the next fall, but with the program going through a coaching change Buggs was about to be challenged again.


At the end of practice in the spring, Buggs — who was limited as Campbell implemented his program — was not projected to start this season, his last at the collegiate level.  But by the time preseason camp was done and fall semester classes had started, he had reclaimed his role at the top of the depth chart.

What changed?

"At the end of the spring I knew he was a kid who worked hard in the weight room who did everything we asked of him in running," Campbell explains.  "He was kind of banged up in the spring, all you can see is what they do on the field and he wasn't able to get as much work as some of the other guys who stepped up.  But then he got healthy, you could really see his leadership and all of the things that go with being a guy who has been around college football going on five years start to show.

"He's taken that and run with it and really turned himself into a leader for us."

"The first thing Malcolm did was get healthy, I think he was beat up a little bit in the spring," adds Matt Kitchens, the Jaguars' new safeties coach.  "Throughout the summer we talked about some of the small things he needed to fix to be able to make plays that a 'one' should make, he spent time doing that.  He cares about getting it right, being consistent every day and being a great teammate.  He cares about having a great defense and a great team.  Those are the characteristics that at the end of the day set him up to get the job back.

"He wasn't given the job he has now, he had to earn it; he knew that the whole time and never blinked an eye or questioned it.  He just continued to come to work every day and busted his tail."

That work ethic and attitude have been valued by Campbell and his staff all fall, and through two games Buggs has been credited with eight stops including a career-high-tying six in the opener against Louisiana Tech.  But that's not really where he makes his biggest contribution in the eyes of the coaches.

"Any time you come into a new program, how do your seniors and your fifth-year guys — the guys you didn't recruit who have been around — take to the new stuff going on?" asks Campbell.  "Malcolm has been a great leader, he's a very unselfish guy and all he wants to do is be successful.  He's done everything we've asked, and he's encouraged his teammates to do the same thing.  From punt team to kickoff coverage to kickoff return to punt block, he's a special guy who has done everything we've asked him to do and does it with a smile.

"You could tell pretty early that he is a guy who loves football, those guys typically buy in pretty quick.  His agenda is that he loves football, he loves to play and he wants his team to win.  If you have a love of football then your agenda is to make your team the best it can possibly be, and that's the only thing on Malcolm's agenda."

Kitchens adds, "He has great energy and body language, I think all leaders need to have those every day regardless of whether they are having a good day or a bad day.  That starts in our meetings and runs until the end of practice, and I think kids feed off of that.  It tells you what he is about, he just loves football.

"I don't have to worry about Malcolm being ready for practice whether it's energy, passion or body language; all the things you want out of a kid he has every day.  He loves playing football, as a position coach that's all you can really ask for."

"I feel like I've done a good job of handling it [the coaching change] because it takes not only great mental ability but also buying in and character," Buggs observes.  "Being a team player and a great leader, I believe I've handled that well with the new coaching staff and the new system, helping guys understand that whatever system you play in you have to make it your own in order for it to be successful.  I've tried to do a great job of helping the team come together regardless of the circumstances.

"I think that is one of my main roles on this team, no matter the situation it is about how are we going to respond as a unit.  I've been on a lot of teams in high school at at the AAU level, the successful teams are always the teams that buy in to what the unit goal is and play for something but also knowing that we have to move and operate as one."


One task already completed by Buggs is earning his undergraduate degree, which he received in the spring.  It was an emotional moment when he walked across the stage of the Mitchell Center.

"It meant everything because a lot of my friends and people I knew growing up started their lives fresh out of high school, working or going to trade school," he says.  "I am glad that I ventured into another lane, it actually drove me to apply for graduate school here.  It helped me set my sights higher — if I can get my bachelor's degree, why not a master's degree and a doctorate.  It was a highlight moment in my life."

While he would like to pursue playing at the professional level, even if that plan doesn't work out he knows that the game that has helped him get this far will likely play a role in the future.

"I still want to be around the game in some form or fashion," says Buggs.  "My true passion is nutrition and that is not a program offered at South, I will pursue that but there are other things I can do as well because people can relate to me with ease.  If I get offered a graduate assistant position anywhere I will jump on it and continue to work on my master's degree.  The game has done so much for me, it's taken me places I never thought I would go and allowed me to see things I never thought I would see.  I've been in a team environment with people of all shapes and sizes coming from every area of the world.  I could become a head coach or an athletic director, a nutritionist or a strength coach, anything of that nature I can see.  The future is bright."

If there is one aspect that can help play a part as he develops professionally, it's an area he says he's grown the most since coming to South.

"I know for a fact it's maturity.  I really appreciate everything that I've been through, the good, the bad and the ugly," he says.  "I've been in very adverse situations, we've dealt with changes and different pieces being a part of the puzzle but that all happens for a reason and is meant to make you into who you are today."

Others might claim it's what he has faced to get this far.  "I've been challenged year in and year out, I've always looked at it with an optimistic point of view and embraced it," explains Buggs.  "If you embrace it, you will only bring the best out of yourself."

There are plenty of individuals — past and present — in the Jaguar football program who can confirm that Malcolm Buggs will answer a challenge.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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