Against Penn State last season, Max Bredeson lined up in the Michigan football team’s backfield ready to carve a path for a run play. Across the field, Nittany Lions linebacker Jonathan Sutherland lurked across the field with an eye for the ball carrier. They’d reached an impasse, waiting for the snap to sort it out among themselves.
So when his center hiked the ball, Bredeson beared down. He sprinted right at Sutherland with all the might of his 6-foot-2, 240-pound frame. Bredeson won in an illustrating moment for what makes him so impactful.
“They come downhill on each other and it’s like two rams hitting each other,” tight ends coach Grant Newsome said Wednesday. “It’s a special animal to have that mindset of being willing to do that and then want to do that.”
Such a mindset is something that the junior tight end and fullback takes pride in. Consistently canonized as the last of a dying breed, he embodies the art of a fullback in an era when that position is rapidly fading away as offenses prioritize spread formations.
Take the leading program in his home state of Wisconsin, for example. The Badgers once lived and died by fullback play, even running two in the backfield as run blockers. But a storied history of fullbacks at Wisconsin has given way to the same type of hybrid tight ends that Michigan has found with Bredeson. Designated fullbacks just aren’t as needed in this era of football.
To Newsome, ditching the fullback for a hybrid is just another trend. Football “ebbs and flows,” as he put it, as innovative offenses bring about fundamental changes.
“Once you start getting the more spread offenses, it kind of trickles down to the high schools where kids want to get recruited,” Newsome said. “So they don’t want to be the old school fullback that no one uses, quote, unquote. So I think people got away from it.”
But Bredeson didn’t, at least once he joined Michigan. For a program built on an effective run game the previous two seasons, it has leaned on Bredeson’s ability to escort the ball carrier. While tight end might be his position on the roster, playing fullback is his love. The resulting balance of playing two positions for the Wolverines’ offense demonstrates Bredeson’s versatility.
“For me, I picture a fullback — you kind of see almost a guard in the backfield,” Bredeson said Aug. 21. “But I take pride in that I can block well. I put on weight. I’m heavier than I was last year. But I also can run routes at a tight end level.”
According to his coaches, the combination of Bredeson’s versatility and mentality makes him an effective contributor.
“Even in the tight end room and in the o-line room — guys who block people for a living,” Newsome said. “It’s a different animal to look at somebody who’s 10 yards away from you running full speed, and run full speed at them and take that collision on.”
Bredeson has done just that for 41 snaps so far this season. That workload ranks 13th among all Michigan offensive players so far and accounts for 38% of all snaps. Unsurprisingly, his usage has centered around the run. Against an East Carolina team that stacked the box to shut down runs two weeks ago, Bredeson logged 27 snaps — three more than star senior running back Blake Corum. Non-conference pitch counts might play into those measurements, but they nonetheless illustrate how much the Wolverines employ their leading fullback.
Though Bredeson has welcomed the fullback role with open arms, that doesn’t mean he has entirely given up on playing tight end, either. Rather, he considers himself a two-position player. Bredeson’s five catches for 78 yards last season — including a 56-yard catch against Hawaii last season — bring receipts. Already this season, he snagged a 14-yarder against the Pirates.
And even without the lights and cameras that surround some of the biggest stars on his team, Bredeson is happy to play his role. Newsome recognized that immediately, as Bredeson’s humility mirrors that of his brother — New York Giants offensive lineman Ben Bredeson — who Newsome once lined up alongside at Michigan.
“I sometimes get guys who take a little bit to be aware of what their role may be or what their specialty could be,” Newsome said. “Whereas for (Max), he knew kind of immediately. And he got here and — basically from day one — kind of embraced that. And you saw as a redshirt freshman walk-on to be playing really, really significant snaps. (He) was a huge help for us last year.”
Even as a fullback who rarely touches the ball, Max has carved a niche in a momentarily dying position — so much so that he earned a scholarship over the offseason. Studying film of NFL fullbacks Kyle Juszczyk, Alec Ingold and Derek Watt, Max is still working to perfect his art.
“It’s something I love doing,” Max said. “Something I take pride in.”
It’s a pride that shows every time he locks up linebackers or leads running backs through a hole. Because like a ram charging another ram, Max keeps coming back for more.