Ready to report: Max Llewellyn

Since his junior year, Max Llewellyn has transformed himself from a 6-foot-4, 197-pound receiver into a 6-foot-5, 240-pound defensive end. Now, the next step for Llewellyn is to continue that progress in college, which will take him to the University of Iowa as he gets ready to play for the Hawkeyes this season. We caught up with the Urbandale native this week to discuss his upcoming freshman year and much more.

Q: What do you have left as far as your senior year of high school at this point?

LLEWELLYN: This is our last week, so Friday we’ll be done.

Q: When is graduation?

LLEWELLYN: I think it’s May 28th.

Q: What is the feeling like for you this month as you wrap up everything and look ahead to the next chapter?

LLEWELLYN: I’m itching to go. I’m very excited to head up to Iowa City and I’ve been working really hard to prepare myself and be the best version that I can to compete at Iowa.

Q: When do you make the move to Iowa City?

LLEWELLYN: June 12th.

Q: What have you been focusing on this spring as you train using their workout program?

LLEWELLYN: Well, actually my strength and conditioning coach is Pete Traynor, who is a former Iowa football player, so his program is almost the same exact thing as the program they gave us except it’s just a little bit longer. His program is very directed towards getting as fast as possible while maintaining your strength. Right now, I’m sitting at about 235-240 pounds and we run flying 10s every week and my best is a one-second flat flying 10, which is pretty good for a guy my size. I think that’s around 24 miles per hour for my top speed. But I’ve just been trying to get as fast as possible and trying not to gain a ton of weight because I know they’re going to put the weight on when I get there. I just want to be as strong and as fast as possible to compete.

Q: Even at 235-240 pounds, that is quite a change from where you were a year or two ago right?

LLEWELLYN: Oh yeah. My junior year, I think after my last game I weighed myself and I was like 197 pounds. Since then, I’ve gained weight while also getting faster.

Q: What are you looking forward to in getting to Iowa City this summer?

LLEWELLYN: I’m very interested to see how I do competing against kids that aren’t high schoolers, but real college football players. I just want to get there and compete.

Q: What have your conversations been like with the coaches this spring? Have you stayed in touch with Coach Bell and what has he told you?

LLEWELLYN: Coach Bell and Coach Niemann try and reach out as much as they can, but obviously they have a ton of other recruiting to do. But they just tell me to do as much as I can at home, but as soon as I get there it’s go time. That’s when the real transformation starts.

Q: Are you coming in hoping to play a little bit this year or expecting to redshirt or what would you say is your mindset coming in?

LLEWELLYN: I’m just going to be the best version of myself and let the coaches decide. I’m going to give 100% to try to play. I don’t know if that’s what they’re looking for or a redshirt because they don’t really say much about that, but I’ll just try to be at my best.

Q: With your recruiting class, obviously you are going in with your teammate Jaden Harrell, but who are some of the other guys you stay in touch with the most?

LLEWELLYN: Definitely Jaden and Cooper DeJean. Cooper and I hung out a couple times last summer and we’re pretty good friends. Jaden is obviously one of my best friends and we’ll be rooming together, so we talk a ton.

Q: Have you found out what number you are wearing in college yet?

LLEWELLYN: I have not.

Q: Any preference?

LLEWELLYN: I’ll probably try to get something in the 90s.

Q: When you look back at the big senior year you had, what do you think made the biggest difference to help you put up the kind of production that you did?

LLEWELLYN: During the off-season, I took a lot of time to develop and learn a couple more moves because junior year was my first time ever playing defensive end. I’d always been at receiver before that, so I didn’t really know how to use any moves. My senior year, I did a ton of research and looked at a bunch of videos and tried to implement them in practice to perfect my craft and it really translated on Friday nights.

Q: Were there other schools that checked in with you after your commitment to Iowa to see if they could get their foot in the door?

LLEWELLYN: Yeah. The main ones were Iowa State, Notre Dame, and Alabama. Iowa State was already recruiting me heavy before, but Notre Dame tried to setup a Facetime and they were direct messaging me, and then Alabama tried to get me on the phone, but I was set on Iowa.

Q: Was that pretty flattering to get that kind of interest?

LLEWELLYN: Yeah. When Coach Anderson first told me Alabama wanted to get in touch with me, I thought he was joking with me. It was pretty cool, but I knew I was going to Iowa.

Q: What was it about Iowa that made you so comfortable making that decision and then sticking with it?

LLEWELLYN: It’s just their culture. I like how the program isn’t all about look at me, but it’s just about getting to work and not messing around. That’s what really stood out to me. Their coaching staff has obviously been tremendous with sending players to the draft and overall it was just the right pick for me.

A three-star prospect, Llewellyn committed to Iowa on April 22, 2020, choosing the Hawkeyes over scholarship offers from Iowa State, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan State, Northwestern, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois, Miami of Ohio, North Dakota State, Illinois State, and Northern Iowa.

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 Max Llewellyn's highlights in the video below.