When New Palestine football coach Kyle Ralph thinks about Maxen Hook’s high school football playing days, his mind wanders to Aug. 30, 2019.
Hook, then a senior strong safety, was all over the field that night against Class 6A power Center Grove. He made 14 tackles and caught three passes for 112 yards, including a field-crossing 56-yard touchdown to put New Palestine ahead by two scores on the way to a 28-9 victory.
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“There was an unbelievable amount of talent on the field that night,” Ralph said, “and he was undeniably the best player of them all.”
When college coaches came to recruit Hook and other New Palestine players at that time, Ralph told them he believed the two-star recruit could be an NFL player if he stayed healthy. Those conversations usually started with Ralph saying, “I realize this sounds crazy but …”
“He was vastly underrecruited for what he was ability-wise,” Ralph said. “I don’t know if you can predict everything he was able to go on and accomplish but there was something different about his internal makeup. The toolset was there. It was about his development and Toledo did a phenomenal job and obviously Maxen did a great job.”
Hook, who had no power conference offers when he committed Toledo prior to his senior year of high school, went on to be a four-time All-MAC selection as a safety, including first team honors as a sophomore, junior and senior, becoming one of the most accomplished players in the history of Toledo’s program. As a senior in high school, he was named the defensive back Mr. Football position winner as a senior, helping the Dragons to a Class 5A state title in 2019.
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Hook will likely hear his named called on Saturday when the NFL draft gets into rounds four through seven. NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein has Hook projected as a fifth-round selection.
“It’s a dream come true,” Hook said. “It’s what I always wanted and it’s a big reason why I picked Toledo. I didn’t have a lot of offers, but it was the school that gave me the best opportunity to make it to the NFL. At the end of the day, that’s what I wanted to do since I was a little kid.”
Though he expects to be drafted on Saturday, Hook said does not know where he might fall in that day’s range. Some projections have him going as high as the fourth round. “Hook patrols the field with a tangible urgency to fly around and make plays,” Zierlein wrote. “He’s rangy over the top in coverage and plays with tremendous hustle to rack up tackles.”
The 6-foot, ½-inch, 202-pounder was among the most productive college safeties in the country during his four seasons. He led Toledo with 107 tackles a senior and finished his career with 356 tackles, seven interceptions, 22 passes defended, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.
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But it was not all smooth sailing. As a freshman during the COVID season of 2020, Hook was on the “hands team” as Toledo readied for an onside kick from Western Michigan. Toledo led 38-34 with 45 seconds remaining. Hook muffed the onside kick and Western Michigan recovered, going on to win 41-38 in the final seconds.
“I took it so hard,” Hook said. “But it’s moments like that where you fail that make or break people’s careers. I never wanted to let my team down again. In the offseason, I was always thinking about that play. It’s never won or lost on a single play, but I think things like that can fuel you to always have a chip on your shoulder.”
Not that Hook was short on motivational material. He was overlooked by Indiana, Purdue and other power conference programs through the recruiting process. “People questioned my size and I didn’t run track, so I think they thought, ‘There’s no way he can run with college receivers,’” Hook said. “That was pretty much the knock on me. A lot of times it takes one Big Ten school to offer and others kind of fall in line, but I never got that one.”
By the time the larger schools came knocking, it was too late. But they did come calling. And calling. And calling. Hook did not receive those calls personally. But once the transfer portal and Name, Image Likeness (NIL) made it easier for players like Hook to make the jump from the MAC to the blueblood college programs, he had options.
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Ralph heard from them. He heard the words “blank check” from more than one school. Because those schools could not reach out to Hook directly per NCAA rules, Ralph would relay what he was hearing to Hook’s family.
“It’s not my job to interfere with my former player and what makes him happy, but I also can’t hold on to that information,” Ralph said. “So, I’d call his dad and let his dad know that schools wanted him to go in the portal and a couple times with the dollar amount it was ‘blank check.’ It was, ‘Let us know the amount and we’ll take care of it.’”
Hook knew there were opportunities out there. But the continuity of the Toledo staff under coach Jason Candle, the program’s coach since 2015, played a big role in his decision to stay. The Rockets went to bowl games all four of Hook’s season, winning the MAC championship in 2022 and going 11-3 with a MAC West title in 2023.
One of his best friends and roommate, Quinyon Mitchell, had similar opportunities to transfer from Toledo. Mitchell, an All-American cornerback, called Hook before his senior year in 2023.
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“He called and said, ‘What are we doing?’” Hook said. “I said, ‘I’m staying if you’re staying.’ He’s like, ‘We’re staying then.’ He could have gotten a lot more money than I did.”
That was that. Mitchell went on to be drafted in the first round with the No. 22 overall pick by Philadelphia Eagles and won a Super Bowl championship as a rookie, earning Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie honors.
“There were definitely times I had the opportunity (to transfer),” Hook said. “But these coaches (at Toledo) took a chance on me. I had a sense of loyalty to them and my teammates. They played a big part in my success, too. (My senior year), a lot of the guys I came in playing with were gone. But I wanted to come back and be a two-time captain. My teammates voted on that. I felt like it would be wrong to leave those guys.”
That loyalty is rare, especially in this era of college sports.
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“I’m extremely proud of him for staying at Toledo,” Ralph said. “Those coaches believed in him since he was 17 years old. He’s going to make a lot of money anyway. But now he is going to be one of the legendary players in the history of Toledo football – an all-time great. He upheld his commitment and morals and didn’t sell himself out.”
Hook said many of the lessons he learned from Ralph and the New Palestine program carried over to his success at Toledo. On Saturday, the journey will take another turn upward.
“I had the work ethic when I got to college because of my coaches,” Hook said. “It gave me a leg up in that sense. The amount of work that goes into being successful at this level – college teams have that figured out. But I was already doing that in high school. I just didn’t realize at the time not everybody was doing it.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘Vastly underrecruited’ Maxen Hook projected as third day NFL draft pick
