SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Josh Ison wanted Max Hurleman to work through probabilities in real time. So the Colgate special teams coordinator put Hurleman on the practice field, called out a punt return scheme, then had punter Shelby Pruett spray the football skyward. While tracking the ball in the air, Hurleman had to figure out whether he could get to the ball, then determine if he could make the return call actually work. All while not looking down.
Sometimes Hurleman could square the circle, making something out of a punt return call that didn’t go to plan. Other times Hurleman would just get his hands on the ball after waving for a fair catch, accepting that no return is better than letting the punt bounce another 10 yards. It was all a math problem for Hurleman to solve. And Ison loved watching him do the numbers.
“He was always a confident guy in his ability,” Ison said. “Always innately like, ‘I’m not gonna shy away from opportunities.’”
In four years at Colgate, Hurleman served as punt returner, kick returner, punt gunner and kickoff coverage specialist. He started 23 games spread between running back and wide receiver, totaling four career touchdowns. It was a good FCS career for Hurleman, a Wyomissing, Pa., product who was a 1,000-yard running back in high school.
It just wasn’t enough.
When Hurleman entered the transfer portal last offseason, he had no idea it would take him from upstate New York to northern Indiana. Hurleman didn’t grow up a Notre Dame fan. He followed the Eagles. That’s Philadelphia. Not Boston College. Getting to Notre Dame was less a calling and more the Irish staff picking up the phone. Carter Auman, assistant to the general manager, got the ball rolling. General manager Chad Bowden took it from there. Neither turns down a chance to improve Notre Dame’s roster, even if it’s outside the 85-scholarship limit.
And that’s how Hurleman ended up in the office of special teams coordinator Marty Biagi this summer, wanting to know how he could help and how quickly he could get started.
“To make a decision like this, maybe you need to be a little delusional and have a little irrational confidence,” Hurleman said. “But I knew I wanted to go big or go home, and I was satisfied with what I did at the FCS level.
“So I was like, ‘If I’m gonna play at the highest level I can, why not go somewhere where I can compete for a national championship?’”
Now Hurleman is Notre Dame’s lead punt returner and is second on the team in special teams snaps played (77). He’s averaging 8.7 yards per punt return, which would rank in the top 40 nationally if Hurleman had enough attempts to qualify (he’s two returns short). He’s already logged more special teams snaps this season than his junior year at Colgate. And if he keeps up his current work rate, he’ll top his senior year of special teams snaps with the Raiders.
Hurleman might not be the reason Notre Dame is winning games, but he’s part of the plan.
“Attention to detail, very disciplined, super trustworthy, and wants to do right,” Biagi said. “I think you see time and time again with his peers the players really respect him because he shows up every day to work, so I think that’s where all of a sudden it quickly was like OK, this guy really merits getting a shot.”
Joining a College Football Playoff contender demanded Hurleman get over his skis in making his second college choice. He said he got interest from Northwestern and Duke, but that was pretty much it at the Power 4 level. But it didn’t take him long to believe he’d made the right choice, winning conditioning drills during summer and turning a few heads among the scholarship roster.
“If you see him on the street, you may just think he’s Max, a regular dude, but once he gets in pads and shorts, you can see that he’s built, man,” said receiver Beaux Collins, who made Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List. “He has the drive inside of him and the passion that a guy like myself would have. You can’t do anything but respect it.”
When training camp opened, Hurleman had already won over Biagi, too, understanding schemes and concepts that don’t always come naturally to first-year players. Hurleman covered the opening kickoff at Texas A&M and was the second man across the goal line as Mitch Jeter’s kick bounced out of the end zone. He’s been a four-team specialist ever since.
“So athletically wise, I’m like, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ And I always had a self-confidence about myself, which is why I even tried to come here,” Hurleman said. “You can point to a number of reasons why I wasn’t here from the jump or at a larger school. But I think it’s been pretty cool to prove to myself that, ‘Hey, I can do it. I can compete.’”
This weekend against Georgia Tech, Hurleman will be a walking value proposition for the work Notre Dame did to land him. Walk-on kicker Zac Yoakam, a one-time Dartmouth commitment, could again handle field goals if Jeter (groin) can’t play. Backup punter Eric Goins, the 30-year old graduate of The Citadel who spent seven years in the Army, could again handle kickoffs. And former walk-ons Jordan Faison, Luke Talich and Davis Sherwood are evidence that betting on yourself can lead to something bigger, turning into a free ride.
Hurleman will never be on scholarship at Notre Dame. He’s just here for one season, and then it’s on to the next venture. It’s hard to bet against it being a success considering what he’s accomplished to date.
He said belief in what he could accomplish at Notre Dame wasn’t universal back at Colgate. Maybe not back in his hometown either. It’s just that Hurleman, a four-sport athlete in high school, didn’t care too much. And it’s not like no one believed Hurleman would take to Notre Dame as quickly as he did.
Ison doesn’t keep in touch with Hurleman as much as he follows along on his social media. Before making that jump from the FCS to college football’s head table — Hurleman actually returned two punts against Stanford last year before doing it three times last weekend — Ison simply told Hurleman the obvious, that the speed of the game would be different but nothing else would be, at least inside the lines.
“Once he caught up to the speed, you knew he was gonna be OK,” Ison said. “He’s one of those guys, you just know he’s gonna be successful in whatever he does in life.”
(Photo: James Black / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
