Austrian Maxi Hradecny Courting 6 Scholarship Offers

Defensive lineman Maxi Hradecny from Vienna, Austria has returned from a tour of top American football colleges in the United States. And the trip, it would seem was a resounding success. Hradecny has in his pocket scholarship offers from six major universities.

According to Brandon Collier, co-founder of Europe’s Elite, who arranged the tour, Hradecny has solid offers from Umass (University of Massachusetts), Akron, Kent State, Albany, Duquesne, and a Big 10 team which gave him a verbal offer but waiting on his transcripts to make an official offer.

The 19 year old Hradecny, who has played for one of Europe’s top American football clubs, Austria’s Vienna Vikings, since he was nine years old, and is an anchor on the U19 Austrian national team, found out about Europe’s Elite, after reading about Tibo Debaillie, a young Belgian lineman who is now headed to Towson University.

The 6’3″, 312 lbs Austrian put up eye popping numbers for a player his size including bench pressing 225 lbs 25 times, and in his position drills he displayed a high level of coaching and learning Collier said.

Collier went on to say that Maxi will make his decision close to signing day in February but will be making official visits prior to that to at least four schools.

American Football International’s John McKeon asked Hradecny about his experience and his thoughts on the future.

McKeon: Can you tell me you thoughts on you American college tour?

Hradecny: My trip to America was amazing. It was like a dream come true to me. I really want to thank Brandon Collier for helping me and other European athletes, his organization Europe’s Elite is top notch and they are putting in work to get European players recognized.

McKeon: Was it what  you expected?

Hradecny: It was more than I expected, I didn’t expect Ohio State to show the interest they showed me, even Brandon was baffled and it all happened on the first day of the trip. I couldn’t believe it. Visiting the Penn State vs Michigan State game was something special too I was invited as a recruit and had all access to the sidelines. I felt honored that they invited me.

McKeon: How was it to see these football programs up close? And as a prospect?

Hradecny: The facilities of these programs are so much bigger than I expected , I mean you see it all in the documentaries but you don’t actually know how big they are until you see them in person. The programs treated me so well, I felt like they really wanted me, they were really nice to me and showed me everything and made sure I felt like home. Growing up I looked at a lot of videos about recruiting and how 4 or 5 star prospects are being treated when they visit and they treated me the same way, it was amazing to experience.

McKeon: What is most important to you when selecting your school?

Hradecny: Now I am still waiting for more offers to come in and I will take a look at all my options that I have been blessed to receive. What is really important for me when it comes to choosing the right university for me is that the university has great academics and of course how they treated me during the visit. I know when it comes to football most Division 1 programs are top notch so it really comes down to what I can study there and how life will be there.

In the end I want to say that this is all possible for every European kid, if you put in the work and pursue your dreams it will happen in 2016, thanks to people like Brandon Collier it became even easier now to get recognized. The “only” thing you have to do now is put in the work on the field and in the classroom and your dreams will come true.