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Sometimes college recruits don’t get the attention they deserve, whether it is their physical attributes, the school they play for or one of many numerous other reasons. One such player is LaGrange running back Malachi Fannin-Render. The senior is committed to Liberty University, a more than solid football program, but has been overlooked by the SEC and the other Power 4 Conferences. After the playoff run he is putting together for the Grangers, those teams better take notice and not let Fannin-Render get away without even an offer. 

What the senior tailback is doing in the playoffs is simply remarkable. His all-time playoff run has him amongst the elite Granger players, which is saying a lot as LaGrange has won six state championships and one national championship in the school’s illustrious history. 

His statlines for the opening three games of the 3A state playoffs look like this: 17 carries, 201 yards, 3 TDs vs. Lumpkin County; 29 carries, 224 yards, 3 TDs, 3 catches, 16 yards, 1 TD vs. Sandy Creek and 6 carries, 261 yards, 3 TDs vs. North Hall.

For his performance against no. 2 Sandy Creek, Fannin-Render was named the Georgia High School Football Daily Player of the Week award. 

“We had serious talks about picking a player from another team…  but there was one player whose name kept coming up in every discussion and that was senior running back Malachi Fannin-Render,” said Ted Langford of Georgia High School Football Daily said at the award ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 26. “I don’t need to tell you guys this, but he had a huge game last week in what our editors called the biggest upset of the state playoffs so far.”

Somehow, Fannin-Render one-upped himself in the next game. The senior had over 250 yards and three touchdowns at halftime (!). His touchdown runs were 95, 85 and 49 yards and forced multiple missed tackles on each of those runs.

What makes those numbers even more eye-popping is the fact that the Grangers have won every game in a blow out, so that Fannin-Render got an extended rest in all of those games in the second half, including playing two snaps in the second half of last Friday’s 49-17 quarterfinal win against North Hall. 

The playoff run for Fannin-Render has been special, but he has been doing it all season long. The senior now has 2,285 yards from scrimmage this season with 2,135 of those yards coming on the ground. He also has 33 total touchdowns, 29 of those are rushing touchdowns, three are receiving and one was a return touchdown. He would likely have even more special teams touchdowns, but teams have seen the tape and refuse to kick to him, squibbing or skying kickoffs to avoid putting the ball in Fannin-Render’s hands which the Trojans did on every single kickoff in the state quarterfinals when Fannin-Render was still in the game.

Undersized and overlooked had been the story for Fannin-Render heading into this season. The running back is listed at 5 feet 8 inches and 180 lbs, but plays like 6 foot and 215 lbs. Take his 85-yard rushing touchdown against North Hall last week as an example. Fannin-Render bobbed and weaved his way through the Trojan defense like a small, compact running back, before delivering a couple bruising hits inside the 10-yard line to muscle his way into the end zone, showing that he plays bigger than the size listed next to his name on the depth chart.

Coming into his senior season, Fannin-Render had played in just seven total games during his sophomore and junior seasons. In his sophomore year, he broke his collarbone and then during that offseason after his sophomore season, he tore his ACL. Doubts began to swirl about his football career.

“I felt like it could all be over for me because of the injury I suffered before too,” Fannin-Render told the LDN last year after his return. “I really felt like I would be done (with football).”

Fannin-Render persevered and returned to the lineup for the final three games of his junior season and has started all 13 games this season for LaGrange, squashing any preconceived notions about him being injury-prone. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Liberty football program, a team that went 8-3 in the regular season in 2024 and was 11-1 in 2023, finishing ranked no. 25 in the AP Poll. Fannin-Render also has offers from Georgia State, Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State among others, but no Power 4 (ACC, BIG 10, BIG 12 and SEC) offers. Those teams are missing out and with just weeks away before Fannin-Render makes his next destination official, time is running out for these teams to take notice of a young man that could add so much to any team in the country. He is humble, a hard worker and a leader, three characteristics than any football coach wants to see in a player. 

“He’s one of the hardest guys in the weight room. He wins our Iron Man competition in the off season. The work he puts in really shows when he comes out on the field, so I’m excited for him to reap the rewards,” LaGrange coach Matt Napier said after his team’s win against North Hall last Friday. “He’s extremely coachable and one of the most humble guys I’ve had the pleasure of coaching.”