Excellent doesn’t even begin to describe Max Gerlich’s senior year. Legendary, maybe. He set individual school records in passing yards (3,095), passing touchdowns (41), total touchdowns (44), and was at the helm of a group that set season records for total yards of offense and points. Hell, he led the team to their best season in the last 15 years. Was it the best season by an Anderson quarterback ever? Yes. Should the Trojans retire his number 3? Probably.
Even so, we often struggle to put achievements like this into a larger perspective. Not this time though. Gerlich was named one of only five finalists for the Army National Guard Player of the Year. There are almost 16,000 high school football teams across the country and over one million high school football players. Forget the top 1%, Max was in the top 0.00001%. Simply put, he put the nation on notice.
Gerlich told me that “being named a finalist for this award is a great honor and goes to show how great of a job [his] teammates and coaching staff did this season”. Max certainly benefited from having one of the best receiving corps in the country at his disposal, but they did not just carry him to record numbers.
Truly, Gerlich worked tirelessly throughout the year to improve and perfect his craft. He said that “getting faster over the offseason helped [him] extend plays” and that was his biggest improvement over last season.
Coach Hatcher attribute Max’s success to his coachability, leadership, and determination. He “was all in this year”, “listened and learned from [the coaching staff]” and then “took that and lead the team all year”.
He also had somewhat of a chip on his shoulder after last year’s injury. “He wanted to show all the schools that passed on him after he got hurt what they are going to miss out on” Hatch said.
Max will be honored at the Transperfect Music City Bowl in Nashville on Monday. He’s “excited to be honored at the game and to meet the other finalists” as well as “answering questions and spending time with the media”. When it comes to who he’s rooting for Max is mostly impartial, but said “it would be fun to see Missouri win since they’re in the SEC”.
This is an amazing honor and moment not only for Max, but for Anderson as a whole. “It means a lot to me knowing that our athletes at Anderson are getting national recognition” Coach Hatcher articulated, and I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Max is certainly a great football player, but he’s also now an ambassador for Anderson High School and Trojan Athletics on a national stage. He’s brought the community immense pride already, and will only continue to do so as he begins his career at UTSA. Hopefully, he’s got one more vintage moment in him in Nashville tomorrow.
