The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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64 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2025 FOOTBALL PREVIEW "From the first time I ever met him he came and sat here in my office and got to know me … I was getting to know him, and I knew right away — 'This guy is the guy that makes us tick,'" Lindsey recalled. "Everybody on our side of the ball — both sides of the ball — respects him. The reason they do is because of the passion and physicality he plays with. "Every day, he's ready to go. There is no bad day with Max Bredeson. He is the epitome of what our team and program is about. He's blue collar, physical, and he loves Michigan and loves football." His journey to each was unique. At Arrowhead High in Hartland, Wis., he played only six games his senior year, and at quarterback, no less. Always a contact seeker, he suffered injuries from a blown- out knee to a broken collarbone that kept him on the sidelines much of the time. Still, he earned Classic 8 Conference Of- fensive Player of the Year honors and was an all-state honorable mention selection after completing 56-of-109 passes for 822 yards and 5 touchdowns. His limited availability made him a well-kept secret to college recruiters, but Michigan coaches were well aware of the pedigree. They offered him a preferred walk-on position to follow his brother in Ann Arbor, and it didn't take much thought for him to accept. Most who come to Michigan that way don't end up playing much, but the Bredesons are built a bit differently. It took only one year for Max to see the field. He played in 14 games as a redshirt freshman and contributed in all 15 during the 2023 national championship season, when he was named the team's Most Im- proved Player on Offense that year and a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy (given to the most outstanding college football player who began his career as a walk-on). He was an obvious choice as head coach Sherrone Moore's first offensive captain last year, earned the Robert P. Ufer Bequest as the senior who demon- strates the most enthusiasm and love for Michigan, and captured the Toughest Player Award in another no-doubter. "He's the ultimate competitor, ultimate leader, everything you want in a captain and a guy you want on your team," Moore said after watching Bredeson lead-block for Jordan Marshall's 100-yard game in a ReliaQuest Bowl win over Alabama. "He's as physical a player as there is in college football, and he's everything you want from a leader on your team. "He impacts our team not just on the field but off the field in huge ways. He makes sure the locker room is aligned in every single way. I just can't speak highly enough about that young man." Nor can his teammates, especially the guys he faces every day on defense. The last thing they want to see when they play ones versus ones in practice, they all say, is Bredeson coming through the hole. Come Saturdays, though, they know exactly how their defensive counterparts on the opposite sideline feel. "Max Breddy is, in my opinion, the of- fense tone-setter," junior defensive back Brandyn Hillman said. "You can see it. I see it at practice. I line up against him every day. I know when Breddy is in front of me, it's going to be a good clash right there. … We always get into it. That's my dawg. It's good competition." Toughness Personified He learned from the best, Bredeson has said many times, when he first arrived on campus in 2021. That's the year the program went from afterthought to pe- rennial champion, capturing the first of three Big Ten titles. It was also the season head coach Jim Harbaugh proclaimed the Bredeson earned the best blocking grade of his career (87.7) in Michigan's 2024 Rose Bowl win against Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals. PHOTO BY DOMINICK SOKOTOFF