Brett Maxie undoubtedly has an incredibly robust resume chock full of experience.
From undergoing a position change in college, to getting his degree, to thriving in the NFL for a decade and a half and then his extensive NFL and college football coaching career that dates back to 1998 — as Tyson Summers put it: "...If you start talking to coaches or players about their dreams, Brett Maxie has been there and done it."
One of the more interesting coaching stops that Maxie has had over the years is the single season he spent as defensive coordinator at IMG Academy in Florida in 2019.
Renowned as a premiere training ground for student-athletes, IMG Academy's football team is routinely ranked as a top high school contender in the country, and with Maxie calling the defensive shots in 2019, the Ascenders went 9-1, allowing more than 20 points in just two games.
A big boost for Maxie as he left IMG to rejoin Karl Dorrell at Colorado (the two had previously coached together at Vanderbilt) was that recruiting was an everyday part of his responsibilities while in Bradenton with the Ascenders.
"The one thing in particular that prepared me for college again, being in high school, especially at IMG, is that we were able to recruit," Maxie said. We recruited the nation. I had a pretty good idea of the players, especially the ‘21, ‘22 and ‘23 prospects because those were the prospects I was recruiting to come to IMG Academy."
Coincidentally, the recruits as well as parts of the country that Maxie focused on whilst at IMG lined up pretty nicely when he began his recruiting responsibilities with the Buffs.
"We (would) come out West to recruit and we recruit Texas — the two biggest states we recruited at IMG, we recruit here (at Colorado), along with Arizona," Maxie said. "Going through that process again, especially with some of the prospects that we’re recruiting right now, I had an opportunity to actually coach when I was at IMG."
A few players who recently committed elsewhere include Jordan Eubanks out of Denton (Guyer) Texas as well as TJ Quinn, a. safety from Valdosta (Lowndes) Georgia. Currently, Maxie has been in pursuit of Central, Louisiana corner Da'veawn Armstead, who recently listed Colorado in a Top 9.
"Being at IMG really helped me with the prospects, even coming in as late as I did and not having an opportunity to recruit a lot of the kids who were already offered to come to Colorado and some of the kids that we were interested in that I had knowledge of," Maxie said. "That helped me tremendously.”
In other words, his time at IMG served as an essential appetizer course for Maxie that gave him a leg up when he returned to the college ranks, which is especially important for Colorado in its first year under Dorrell and given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
That Maxie had a blueprint of the guys he wanted to continue going after at Colorado as opposed to starting more from scratch may very well end up bearing some serious fruit for Colorado with respect to its 2021 class and who Maxie is able to reel in.
From his own experience as a college football player to what he's learned on the coaching trail and especially at Vanderbilt, IMG Academy and now CU — where recruiting is a big part of his job description — he knows the kinds of guys he wants to bring in.
"You want to recruit players who have that aspiration because if they don’t have that aspiration to play at the highest level, then other than coming to come to school to get your degree, then why are you coming to the University of Colorado, if you don’t want to extend your career past college and be a great football player," he said. "That’s what we want: great football players. We want students first, but we also want great football players."
FIN
***Maxie continues to be one of the most intriguing coaches I've been able to cover at Colorado. His resume speaks for itself, but every experience I've had with him — and granted, they have been brief — have shown off some serious intelligence and knowledge of not only the game of football but what character traits and level of work are necessary to propel young men.
Eubanks and Quinn, the two main DB targets that Maxie had recruited up to this date and of course are now both committed elsewhere had great things to say about him before choosing FSU and Louisville, respectively. I have no doubt that Maxie is going to wind up resonating big time with some solid prospects that he can close on.
From undergoing a position change in college, to getting his degree, to thriving in the NFL for a decade and a half and then his extensive NFL and college football coaching career that dates back to 1998 — as Tyson Summers put it: "...If you start talking to coaches or players about their dreams, Brett Maxie has been there and done it."
One of the more interesting coaching stops that Maxie has had over the years is the single season he spent as defensive coordinator at IMG Academy in Florida in 2019.
Renowned as a premiere training ground for student-athletes, IMG Academy's football team is routinely ranked as a top high school contender in the country, and with Maxie calling the defensive shots in 2019, the Ascenders went 9-1, allowing more than 20 points in just two games.
A big boost for Maxie as he left IMG to rejoin Karl Dorrell at Colorado (the two had previously coached together at Vanderbilt) was that recruiting was an everyday part of his responsibilities while in Bradenton with the Ascenders.
"The one thing in particular that prepared me for college again, being in high school, especially at IMG, is that we were able to recruit," Maxie said. We recruited the nation. I had a pretty good idea of the players, especially the ‘21, ‘22 and ‘23 prospects because those were the prospects I was recruiting to come to IMG Academy."
Coincidentally, the recruits as well as parts of the country that Maxie focused on whilst at IMG lined up pretty nicely when he began his recruiting responsibilities with the Buffs.
"We (would) come out West to recruit and we recruit Texas — the two biggest states we recruited at IMG, we recruit here (at Colorado), along with Arizona," Maxie said. "Going through that process again, especially with some of the prospects that we’re recruiting right now, I had an opportunity to actually coach when I was at IMG."
A few players who recently committed elsewhere include Jordan Eubanks out of Denton (Guyer) Texas as well as TJ Quinn, a. safety from Valdosta (Lowndes) Georgia. Currently, Maxie has been in pursuit of Central, Louisiana corner Da'veawn Armstead, who recently listed Colorado in a Top 9.
"Being at IMG really helped me with the prospects, even coming in as late as I did and not having an opportunity to recruit a lot of the kids who were already offered to come to Colorado and some of the kids that we were interested in that I had knowledge of," Maxie said. "That helped me tremendously.”
In other words, his time at IMG served as an essential appetizer course for Maxie that gave him a leg up when he returned to the college ranks, which is especially important for Colorado in its first year under Dorrell and given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
That Maxie had a blueprint of the guys he wanted to continue going after at Colorado as opposed to starting more from scratch may very well end up bearing some serious fruit for Colorado with respect to its 2021 class and who Maxie is able to reel in.
From his own experience as a college football player to what he's learned on the coaching trail and especially at Vanderbilt, IMG Academy and now CU — where recruiting is a big part of his job description — he knows the kinds of guys he wants to bring in.
"You want to recruit players who have that aspiration because if they don’t have that aspiration to play at the highest level, then other than coming to come to school to get your degree, then why are you coming to the University of Colorado, if you don’t want to extend your career past college and be a great football player," he said. "That’s what we want: great football players. We want students first, but we also want great football players."
FIN
***Maxie continues to be one of the most intriguing coaches I've been able to cover at Colorado. His resume speaks for itself, but every experience I've had with him — and granted, they have been brief — have shown off some serious intelligence and knowledge of not only the game of football but what character traits and level of work are necessary to propel young men.
Eubanks and Quinn, the two main DB targets that Maxie had recruited up to this date and of course are now both committed elsewhere had great things to say about him before choosing FSU and Louisville, respectively. I have no doubt that Maxie is going to wind up resonating big time with some solid prospects that he can close on.
