As a sophomore at Tigard High School near Portland, Oregon, Max Lenzy was one of the most wanted prospects in the state and in the Northwest.
Coming out of his first season as a full-time varsity starter, the cornerback held a four-star recruiting designation that earned him offers from Oregon and Oregon State.
With coaching changes for both the Ducks and the Beavers following the 2017 season, Lenzy all of a sudden had no Power 5 offers. And the interest from schools like Northwestern, Purdue, Washington State and UNLV cooled significantly.
Coming into his senior season, Lenzy’s ranking had dropped to three stars despite his continued excelling at premier summer camps up and down the West Coast. He held offers from Navy and Utah State among FBS suitors as well as FCS offers from Eastern Illinois, Idaho, Sacramento State and Youngstown State.
When Montana State came to the table to recruit the 5-foot-10, 170-pound hyper-competitive cornerback, Lenzy didn’t know much of anything about the state of Montana or about MSU. But he did know what it felt like to be wanted like he was when he was a rising sophomore. Lenzy wanted that feeling again.