Urbandale defensive end Max Llewellyn put together an all-state senior season for one of the best teams in Class 4A. We caught up with his coach, Sam Anderson, and talked to him about this soon to be Iowa signee.
Q: How would you describe him overall as a football player?
ANDERSON: He has been a pleasure to coach. He was a guy that came in as a long, gangly kid as a freshman. He always had a little streak to him. Sophomore year, he was a receiver at 160 pounds. He was a good receiver and then nature took its course and genetics kicked in. He was extremely dedicated to working out and getting bigger. With knowing their family, they are a tough, hard-nosed group that will work their tails off. Everything else just kicked in. He is just a twitchy player.
Q: What do you feel are his main strengths at this point?
ANDERSON: I think he is twitchy and has that burst, which is extremely nice to have along with that frame. At 6-5, 230 pounds, he is an explosive athlete. He plays with an attitude. He has an attitude and an edge.
Q: What areas is he going to continue working on?
ANDERSON: I think he is just going to continue working and get into the weight room. He will work to become a better athlete and a more explosive athlete every day. Again, they are trying to prepare themselves to go into a Power Five football program and all that is involved with that.
Q: What separates him from his peers to get the type of attention and honors that he has received?
ANDERSON: I think his frame and his genetics would be the two. Not too many guys are 6-5 and run well along with playing football. He is also very quick off the ball and has the versatility where he could play anywhere. We moved him inside at times and had him on the edge at other times. We moved him around to get those mismatches and allow him to make plays. The other thing he is a two-way player while playing tight end and defensive line. He was full time for us and left everything on the field every Friday.
Q: What type of season did he end up having?
ANDERSON: He had an elite type season. Stats are stats as they don’t show the whole view. If you are commanding double teams or when your team needs a sack late in the game to seal it, he was able to do that. I felt he played at an elite level as a defensive lineman and in reality, he played tight end at an elite level.
Q: Why did he pick the Hawkeyes in the end?
ANDERSON: I think he was very humbled when he came down to it in having Notre Dame, Tennessee, and Alabama calling. He was also very high on Iowa State. At the end of the day, a majority of the schools wanted him at tight end first. I think Iowa saw him as a defensive lineman and that is what he wanted to do more. The culture at Iowa, the players, and being just a few hours away from home were important to him. He knows a lot of the guys there and a lot of guys coming in. They have a big group chat going.
As a senior, Llewellyn finished the season with 28 tackles, 13 TFL, and 5.5 sacks on defense and 13 catches for 278 yards and two touchdowns on offense for Urbandale.
See highlights from Llewellyn's senior year in the video below.
