Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

By Adam Mertz

Oh, absolutely, Max Meylor knows how lucky he is to be nearly 24 and still experience the gift of playing college football.

If ever that reality escapes his mind, rarely does a day go by that a younger UW-Whitewater teammate doesn’t make mention of his elder statesman status. For perspective, the freshmen were in seventh grade when Meylor played his last high school football game.

Way back then in 2015, as he was wrapping up one of the best quarterback careers in Wisconsin history, Meylor didn’t envision himself as a Warhawk. He was attracting serious attention from NCAA Division I FCS schools, traveling the Midwest to show off his arm at passing camps, even exchanging texts with University of Wisconsin coaches about the possibility of walking on.

Ever since, the guy who made it look all too easy has traveled a long and winding road. Make no mistake about it, though: Meylor is exactly where he wants to be. When the COVID-19 pandemic made possible a sixth year of eligibility, he seized the opportunity.

“I had unfinished business,” Meylor said. “My football college career wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I knew if I came back we’d be a really good team. I knew we’d compete for a national title.”

That’s exactly where the Warhawks find themselves yet again. On Saturday, UW-Whitewater (13-0) will host Mary Hardin-Baylor (13-0) in an NCAA Division III national semifinal at Perkins Stadium.

Meylor’s command of an offense loaded with weapons such as running back Alex Peete and receivers Ryan Wisniewski, Tyler Holte and Derek Kumerow is a major reason he and the Warhawks are a game away from their second straight Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl appearance. Meylor’s versatility was on display in a 51-21 quarterfinal victory over Central last weekend: He completed 17 of 22 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns, ran for one score and even caught a touchdown pass from Wisniewski for UW-Whitewater, which totaled 490 yards of offense.

Max Meylor refused to go down short of the end zone en route to a rushing touchdown vs. Central. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

His eye-popping season stats – 70.5% completion rate for 2,950 yards and 35 touchdowns against two interceptions – earned Meylor the WIAC Offensive Player of the Year honor, and he was one of 15 semifinalists for the Gagliardi Trophy.

That’s an enviable position for a guy who three years ago found himself shopping for a new home after hitting a dead end at Division II Lindenwood (Mo.), served as a backup for most of his first season at Whitewater, and then spent 619 days between games through the washed-out pandemic season preparing himself for a final shot.

“This collegiate run of athletics reminds me of life,” Meylor said. “It’s not all pretty, it takes hard work to get to a spot you want to be, and when you’re there, you’ve got to enjoy it and love it every day.”

‘As humble a human as I’ve met’

It’s a distinct possibility that no one enjoys himself more on a football field than Max Meylor does.

Observed UW-Whitewater football coach Kevin Bullis: “I spend my whole game looking ticked off, like I had something bad for breakfast. But I desire for our guys to play the game like they’re having fun. … You see him out there chest-bumping and smiling and laughing. And when you’re a leader and you show you’re having fun, it carries over. It effervesces into the offense, effervesces into the team.”

Don’t let that good-hearted nature fool you: The 6-3, 225-pound Meylor is as competitive as they come.

He proved that in high school, when he was named second-team All-State as a senior after throwing for 7,489 yards (sixth-best in state history) and 69 touchdowns (ninth-best) over a three-year starting career, while leading Mount Horeb to its first WIAA state boys basketball title as a junior.

He proved it at Lindenwood, when after redshirting in football as a true freshman he joined the basketball team and became an immediate contributor, starting in 23 games over two seasons.

And he has proven it twice now at Whitewater by winning quarterback competitions, overtaking Butler transfer Zach Oles at the outset of the 2019 postseason and holding off UW-La Crosse transfer Evan Lewandowski this past spring.

“And I’ve seen him golf – he’s a hell of a golfer,” Bullis quipped. “Probably good at darts and bags, too. He’s my first pick.”

Yet what stands out to the head coaches who know him best is Meylor’s desire to elevate those around him. 

“Max has a light about him, a magnetism,” former Mount Horeb-Barneveld coach Travis Rohrer said. “And usually when you’re dealing with someone with that much talent, there’s a level of arrogance – and it’s accepted. He is as humble a human as I’ve met, regardless of talent. And he’s just fun to be around.”

A dead end at Lindenwood

The divide between being humble and being humbled is vast, as Meylor discovered firsthand at Lindenwood.

The trouble started when the school fired its coach after Meylor’s redshirt year. Meylor entered 2017 as the No. 2 quarterback under the new staff and his first collegiate throw was a 50-yard touchdown pass against Northeastern State. But he appeared in just four games that year and three in 2018, when he was playing for his third offensive coordinator in as many seasons.

His parents – Joen and Dave Meylor – faithfully drove to every game but saw the toll the situation was exacting.

“He always kept his head down and kept working hard, but finally, one night, he broke down at dinner,” Joen recalled. “He said, ‘I gotta make a move. This situation is not going to change. They brought in their own people and they’re not going to even look at me.’”

Meylor decided it was time to find a school closer to home, and UW-Whitewater won out over UW-Platteville because of their national profile and the graduation of incumbent starter Cole Wilber. “When he reached out to us after two years there, it was very thrilling,” Bullis said. “We knew the level of talent that he was and is.”

Earning the job at Whitewater

Meylor acknowledges he “lost a step mentally” through his experiences at Lindenwood, but he did a great job hiding any disappointment at playing second fiddle to Oles during the 2019 regular season.

“When moments in life are adverse for people, you see their true colors,” Bullis said. “I’m sure that on the inside, he was having some doubts about himself. That’s normal. But he came to work with his lunch pail, and he kept on laughing, and that’s when I knew had someone special, when I saw him competing even though the tough times. That tells you a lot about him as a human being.”

Meylor’s determination eventually paid off. In the second-to-last game of the regular season, Bullis turned to him after UW-Stout had pulled within six points in the fourth quarter, and Meylor responded by throwing two touchdowns to Wisniewski to give UWW a runaway 37-17 victory.

When the playoffs started two weeks later, Meylor was under center for good. He threw for four touchdowns in a 35-7 rout of Monmouth, then settled into a game manager role as the Warhawks advanced to the championship game, where they fell 41-14 to North Central.

“In my mind, I wish we would’ve made the change earlier,” Bullis said, “but hindsight is 20/20.”

Pandemic year preparation pays off

With no games to play last year, the Warhawks used 93 of the 114 contact days available to them.

Meylor focused on better conditioning his body and fine-tuning all the little things to a level he had not previously attained – footwork, timing, understanding the nuances of ball placement for each of his receivers. Most importantly, he strengthened the chemistry with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Peter Jennings and began to see how to pull different levers within the offense.

“I learned that here in college, it’s about trust,” Meylor said. “My QB coach at Lindenwood is different than Coach Jennings here at Whitewater. There’s a certain way they want things. I’ve learned his way and he trusts me and I trust him and it’s paying off.”

Big time. In 2019, Meylor completed just 59% of his passes and threw nine interceptions. This season, Meylor went 140 passing attempts before throwing his first interception, in the seventh game. By then, he’d amassed more than 2,500 passing yards and 21 touchdowns.

“Most quarterbacks see their efficiency increase during the year. He’s doing that right off the bat – that’s the thing that was startling,” Bullis said. “His efficiency was blowing my mind. That served as proof to taking advantage of that pandemic year.”

The Warhawks have produced an average winning margin of 32 points this season. They’re healthy and driven to claim the program’s seventh NCAA Division III championship, but first since 2014. And Meylor is savoring every hard-fought minute.

“I’ve never been part of a more hungry team than this one,” Meylor said.