Tanner Maddocks made his pitch for college football with the help of a baseball
Tanner Maddocks didn’t grow up playing baseball, but some pitches he threw led to a football scholarship at Villanova.
He was training for his senior football season at Fleetwood last spring when an instructor, noticing his considerable arm strength, suggested he measure his velocity with a baseball. Who knows, myaybe it’ll lead to a baseball scholarship, the instructor thought.
Maddocks didn’t light up the radar gun. Thoughts of becoming the next Max Scherzer were dashed. But the next Pat Mahomes? Maddocks didn’t set that dream aside so quickly. He asked if he could measure his velocity throwing a football — something that felt a little more natural in his right hand.
When he did the bells and whistles went off. He fired a tight spiral that measured 62 mph. That’s harder than Super Bowl Tom Brady throws. It’s right there with Mahomes and Josh Allen, who set the NFL Combine record.
Maddocks posted a video of his football throws on Twitter. The college football world took notice.
“That’s where my recruiting started,” Maddocks said. “Stony Brook, ‘Nova and the CAA (Colonial Athletic Conference) schools started reaching out.”
Villanova was the smartest of the lot. It offered first, and Maddocks quickly committed, a day or two after attending an on-campus camp in June.
The others guys missed out on a good thing. The 6-1, 185-pound Maddocks spent Friday nights throughout the fall showing them why.
He quarterbacked the Tigers to a seven-win season that ended with an Eastern Conference championship victory over Boyertown. He threw three touchdown passes and ran 45 yards for a score in that 48-35 victory.
Earlier in the season he set a program record with 24 completions, and matched another record with five touchdown passes.
That wasn’t the half of it. Maddocks is as good an all-around football talent as you’re going to find. He literally can do everything on the field.
He proved to be a shutdown cornerback who led Berks with seven interceptions; he picked off three in one game and took two of them back to the house. No one at Fleetwood had ever done that before.
He was as big a threat running it as throwing it. He scored eight touchdowns and constantly kept plays alive in the pocket, playing dodge ’em with defensive linemen and blitzing linebackers while he receivers worked their way open.
He handled all the kicking duties, too. In fact, that was his first love in football: Kicking. When he was 6 or 7 years old all he wanted for Christmas was an Adam Vinatieri jersey and a kicking tee.
“That’s all I wanted to do,” Maddocks said of kicking. “Then I started playing tackle football and realized that I loved contact. Then I started playing quarterback (and) linebacker and drifted away from kicker.”
Before he played quarterback at Fleetwood he was a receiver. His brother Charlie, two years older, was the Tigers’ quarterback when the Maddocks boys showed up in Fleetwood prior to the 2019 season. Owen, a year older than Tanner, also played receiver.
Owen and Tanner shared the team lead with 25 catches and Charlie threw for nearly 1,700 yards as the Tigers enjoyed a breakout season, improving from two wins to eight and earning their first District 3 playoff invite.
Tanner and the Maddocks brothers left their mark on Fleetwood football, that’s for sure.
He set a program record this season with seven interceptions, which was tops in Berks. His 2,776 career passing yards, in two seasons, are third-most in program history. His 149.9 passing efficiency rating this season was second-best ever at the school.
Earlier this week he became Fleetwood’s first All-State pick when he was named to the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Class 5A team. He’s listed as a defensive back because that’s where he fit best on that elite team.
He didn’t play in an offense set up for him to throw for 2,500-plus yards and 30 TDs, which is what it takes to earn All-State honors as a quarterback.
“It’s kind of funny it’s for ‘DB,’ ” said Maddocks, who thinks of himself first as a quarterback. “Coach was able to put me in a spot to make plays, and that’s what I did. I’ve always loved defense; I love contact.
“God gave me the ability to play football, and I’m an athletic person. I go wherever I can to help out our team. That’s why I play punter, kicker . . . anywhere I can go to help our team, that’s where I go.”
Maddocks has played just about every position Walter Camp had an X or O for. His first position, in his flag football days, was center. He’d hike the ball to Charlie, then run out for a pass.
“I played quarterback (in youth ball) just because I was athletic,” he said. “They’d snap the ball right to me (and I’d run with it). That’s where I fell in love with quarterback. I played receiver my sophomore year. I really loved receiver. I love quarterback a lot more, that’s what I stuck with. God has blessed me and allowed me to play literally every position.”
Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Class 5A All-State Team
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Nick Singleton, Gov. Mifflin
COACH OF THE YEAR: John Ruane, Penn-Trafford
Offense
Quarterback
Bobby McClosky, East Stroudsburg South — 6-2, 180 Sr.
Brad Birch, Gateway — 6-0, 190 Soph.
Colin O’Sullivan, Upper Dublin — 6-0, 185 Jr.
Carter Green, Penn-Trafford — 5-10, 170 Sr.
Running Back
Eric Nangle, Exeter — 5-10, 175 Sr.
Dayshawn Jacobs, West Chester Rustin — 5-9, 175 Sr.
Nick Singleton, Gov. Mifflin — 6-0, 218 Sr.
Cade Yacamelli, Penn-Trafford — 6-0, 205 Sr.
Jontae Morris, Cedar Cliff — 5-10, 160 Sr.
Zyree Brooks, Spring Grove — 5-8, 170 Sr.
Wide Receiver
Patrick Body, Gateway — 6-2, 175 Sr.
Cooper Eckert, Warwick — 5-9, 170 Sr.
Jeff Nyamekye, Red Lion — 6-0, 170 Sr.
Tight End
Joey Schlaffer, Exeter — 6-6, 210 Jr.
Offensive Line
Trent Fraley, Moon Area — 6-3, 290 Sr.
Declan Ochendowski, Penn-Trafford — 6-3, 240 Sr.
Jonah Naugle, Gov. Mifflin — 6-2, 300 Sr.
Caden Pustelak, Cathedral Prep — 6-4, 305 Sr.
Kyle Helm, Exeter — 6-2, 315 Sr.
Brandon Lawhorn-Moore, Kiski Area — 6-6, 295 Sr.
Athlete
Michael Parks, Cathedral Prep — 5-8, 164 Sr.
Brett Gerlach, Central Mountain — 6-0, 180 Sr.
Defense
Defensive Line
Anthony Smith, Shippensburg — 6-7, 275 Sr.
Enai White, Imhotep Charter — 6-5, 235 Sr.
Ben Bladel, Moon Area — 6-0, 235 Sr.
Keon Wylie, Imhotep Charter — 6-3, 220 Sr.
Linebacker
Jeremiah Hasley, Pine-Richland — 6-3, 225 Sr.
Ty Yocum, Exeter — 6-0, 220 Sr.
Trey Rock, Gov. Mifflin — 6-1, 215 Sr.
Maurice Beverly, Imhotep Charter — 6-0, 215 Sr.
Micah Walizer, Central Mountain — 5-11, 225 Sr.
J.R. Strauss, Exeter — 6-3, 210 Sr.
Defensive Back
Tanner Maddocks, Fleetwood — 6-1, 172 Sr.
Jamir Reyes, Imhotep Charter — 6-0, 185 Sr.
Eden Johnson, Gov. Mifflin — 5-11, 185 Sr.
Robert Dickerson, North Hills — 6-0, 190 Sr.
Specialist
Nate Millard, Daniel Boone — 5-10, 150 Sr.
Athlete
Parker Lawlor, Red Land — 6-0, 175 Jr.
DaMario Crawford, Cathedral Prep — 5-10, 158 Jr.
