Wyomissing’s Max Hurleman looking like a big catch for Colgate football
Two games into his college career Max Hurleman wasn’t sure if he had picked the right school.
He committed to Colgate for a lot of reasons, its academic reputation high among them, but he also wanted to again play in a winning football program.
The Raiders had claimed Patriot League championships in 2017 and 2018, when he was a sophomore and junior at Wyomissing; they won 10 games and reached the FCS quarterfinals in the second of those seasons.
The ultra-competitive Hurleman, who had known nothing but success at Wyomissing, wanted to be a part of that.
Then came his COVID-delayed, then COVID-truncated 2020 freshman season in which the Raiders didn’t get on the field until the spring of 2021. They played just two of five scheduled games that spring and lost each, 24-10 to Lafayette and 40-8 to Fordham.
“To be blunt, that was one of the most embarrassing football games I’ve ever been a part of,” he said of his college debut. “We were so unprepared. Half our guys would be out with COVID . . . everything was just a mess. We got smacked both games, which I wasn’t used to. (I thought:) ‘This isn’t what I signed up for.’ “
The COVID-affected seasons were tough for all involved. Despite the many hurdles and the shortened season Hurleman was able to rise above it and display his talents.
“As soon as we saw him do a couple reps in the weight room, move around on the field, we knew we had a good football player,” said Colgate head coach Stan Dakosty, an assistant coach when he recruited Hurleman in 2019.
Hurleman ran a wheel route against Lafayette, took in a short pass and turned it into a 47-yard gain. Safe to say he turned some heads with that play, and others.
“A couple weeks into his sophomore camp, we thought: ‘This kid could be a really good one for us,’ ” Dakosty said. “He can be a special player.”
Hurleman showed that last fall over a full 11-game schedule. He started 10 games as a sophomore, rushed for 346 yards and caught 30 passes, second-most on the team in each category.
After being named Reading Eagle male Athlete of the Year following a senior year in which he captained each of his three teams, including basketball and lacrosse, Hurleman admitted sports had always come easily to him.
Better competition at the next level hasn’t changed that feeling.
“I’m a quick learner,” he said. “I believe in myself and my ability and I don’t think anything’s too big for me if I put my mind to it. So far things have been good, and I’ve loved every second of it. I’m really just hoping to have an awesome (junior) year.”
Dakosty believes he will. Now that the Raiders are deeper at the running back position they plan to expand Hurleman’s role. He’s likely to be their lead ballcarrier but also could be utilized more in the passing game. He might get a chance on special teams, as a kick or punt returner.
“I like that part of the game,” he said of catching the ball. “I’m a gamer, I just love to be out there. (I’ll do) anything I can do to help the team win.”
He’s as big and fast as any of the backs on the Colgate roster and as he showed in high school — where he was just as good on defense and special teams as he was running the ball — he can help a team in many ways.
“I think we got a very under-recruited kid,” said Dakosty. “What that team did over the course of his career at Wyo said a lot about him.”
As a senior Hurleman scored 20 touchdowns, ran for 1,238 yards, picked off two passes, made 70 tackles and starred on special teams. He earned All-State honors and led the Spartans to a 12-1 record, their first District 3 championship in five years and to the PIAA Tournament.
He was All-Berks in basketball, earned football scholarship offers from Bucknell and The Citadel and was good enough in lacrosse to get offers from Air Force and Lafayette.
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Spartans line coach Steve O’Neil once called him a “culture-changer,” and he was every bit of that. Wyomissing has always won football games but it ran into a brick wall during Hurleman’s first three years, losing each season to Middletown in the district tournament.
As a senior, when he was the Berks Player of the Year, he helped put an end to that frustration, leading the Spartans to the first of what has become three straight district titles.
Dakosty said Hurleman has merely “scratched the surface” in terms of things he can do for the Raiders.
“We couldn’t utilize him in all the ways we wanted to (last season),” Dakosty said. “He could be one of the better offensive weapons in the Patriot League (this season). Whether it’s catching passes out of the backfield or aligned out at receiver, or in the return game, there’s a lot of things he can do.
“It’s pretty exciting to see what he can do when we let him maneuver outside that little running back bubble. His ceiling is really high. We know there’s a lot more in him.”
