'06 MI OL/DL Jeff Maddux
Offensive guard / Offensive tackle
Monroe (MI)
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 297 pounds
40-yard dash: 5.01 seconds
Bench max: 320 pounds
Squat max: 540 pounds
Vertical leap: 20 inches
ACT: 17
Sparq: 51.57
Toledo Blade
9/23
Sidelines: Building Block
Many colleges after Monroe's Maddux
Monroe's Jeff Maddux, a 6-foot-4, 290-pound offensive and defensive lineman, was chosen as a preseason prep All-American by some national publications.
By MARK MONROE
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
MONROE - Whether it's a ferocious block that sends two defenders hurling through the air or a vicious hit that busts a helmet apart, Monroe lineman Jeff Maddux has made an impression.
Maddux, a 6-foot-4, 290-pound offensive and defensive lineman, has gotten the attention of many Division I college coaches.
Currently, Maddux is weighing offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Toledo and Bowling Green also are in on the chase.
Maddux remains a humble senior who hasn't let the attention change his relaxed disposition.
"I guess I've had a pretty good couple of years," said Maddux, who has helped the Trojans to a 2-2 record.
Maddux says he tries to ignore the rankings. He was chosen as a preseason prep All-American by both Sports Illustrated and Reebok. Rivals.com lists Maddux as a three-star prospect and the 12th-ranked player overall in Michigan.
"I don't look at it," he said. "People tell me about it and my friends come up to me. But I don't want it to get to my head."
Monroe coach Greg
Hudkins agrees that Maddux does all of his talking on the field and singles out what he called an "interesting play" Maddux made in the third game of the season.
"He nailed two kids at once. He hit one kid with his right shoulder and another kid with his left shoulder at the same time. They landed one on top of the other and he left one of them unconscious. He knocked him out with a block," Hudkins said.
Jody McCollum, Maddux's line coach, said his prize pupil broke one of his teammate's helmets in practice with a hit last week.
"He popped the screws right off the mask," McCollum said.
Jeff Maddux lets his blocking do most of the talking. His brother, Jeff, is a defensive lineman at Brigham Young.
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Defensively, McCollum said Maddux will often knock out the center, guard and tackle all in one play.
"I've seen him wipe out the whole side of a line," McCollum said.
Maddux is even more deadly in the open field, according to McCollum.
"It's amazing. If he gets down field, he flicks the safety off of him and they just go flying," McCollum said. "It's gruesome when he does it."
Maddux is just the latest large lineman that McCollum has coached at Monroe. Jeff's brother, Justin Carlson-Maddux, currently is a junior defensive lineman at Brigham Young University.
McCollum, who has been at Monroe since 1991, also coached standout lineman Eric Wilson, who went on to be a captain at Michigan in 2000.
McCollum puts Maddux in the same company with those players and said he often gets triple-teamed. Maddux is already bigger than his brother, who is listed at 6-3, 253 pounds.
Yet Maddux seems to take everything in stride.
"He hasn't let the exposure go to his head," McCollum said. "He keeps focused on the week at hand."
McCollum said Maddux will go out of his way to help anybody.
"In the halls, he is friendly as a teddy bear," McCollum said. "But when the helmet comes on, he is a different kind of person."
Even Maddux describes himself as laid back.
"I'm not the kid that will go around and give speeches and stuff," Maddux said. "I don't like to pump people up with speeches. I go out on the field and try to lead that way."
And the big time college programs have noticed.
Maddux said Michigan State was the first school to begin expressing interest midway through his junior season.
He said the recruiting so far has not been overly aggressive. He said most coaches just ask him how his season is going and how he is doing in school.
Maddux said he has not even narrowed his list down to a top 10. He said he probably won't make his decision until just before signing day.
"It's wide open," he said. "It's weird because I get asked everyday 'Where you are going to go?' I tell them I'd like to go to the school that has the best academic and football programs.'"
Maddux said his brother does not push him to join him at BYU.
"He says he will support me whatever my choice is," Maddux said.
Last summer Maddux attended football camps at Michigan, Michigan State, Bowling Green, Toledo and Central Michigan. He attended the Rockets' game against Western Michigan two weeks ago. He also was invited to watch Ohio State's battle with Texas, but could not attend.
Maddux also picked up wrestling as a sophomore and had a 37-7 record last season, reaching the regional.
Maddux shrugs off all the attention.
"It's pretty cool. It feels good watching it on film and the colleges like to see it," Maddux said. "When I talk to them they name the hits they saw. It makes you feel good."
Contact Mark Monroe at:
mmonroe@theblade.com
or 419-724-6110.
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