Pine-Richland grad jumps into Slippery Rock starting lineup as freshman

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, October 22, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Slippery Rock football coach Shawn Lutz has seen the landscape of college recruiting change over the last few years with the transfer portal and NIL becoming prominent parts of the process.

It has made it more of a challenge for high school seniors to find a college home, let alone get time on the field, but Max Heckert is built different.

Heckert was a leading tackler and a two-time state champion at Pine-Richland, but due to his height, he was passed over by Division I programs.

Lutz and his coaching staff believed he had the potential to be a special player and Heckert has proven them right. He’s broken into the starting lineup as a middle linebacker for one of the top Division II programs in the county and thrived.

“We’ve got guys from the portal and we’re No. 7 in the country right now, so it is tough for a true freshman to play, but what helped Max is that he was coached so well at Pine-Richland,” Lutz said. “He played at the highest level, winning a state championship, and played in the Big 33 Classic. The one intangible that Max doesn’t have is maybe his height, but we don’t care about that. That doesn’t hurt us. He’s just so smart and instinctive. He knows how to get to the football. He’s very physical and has great technique.

“When you get incoming freshmen, the competition is a little bit different, and they don’t understand you have to use your hands a little bit more when you have big 300-pound lineman coming at you. Max had all of that right away. We didn’t expect it, but all of our guys get an opportunity coming in, and he competed at a high level. He’s been starting for us and we’re lucky to have him.”

Heckert, who is listed at 6-foot, had 37 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble entering Slippery Rock’s game with Cal (Pa.) on Oct. 21.

An injury in Slippery Rock’s opener forced him into action and he hit the ground running.

“I got put in for the whole second half,” Heckert said. “I just tried to do my job. I ended up getting a couple (tackles for loss) and made some good plays for our team. Our defense did its job and I ended up getting one of the defensive players of the game after that game for stepping up and doing my job. The rest is history.”

Heckert plays on special teams to go along with his linebacker duties. He said his time at Pine-Richland was a big factor in getting him prepared to play right away.

He had three different coaching staffs in his four years at Pine-Richland. A positive that came from that was the ability to adjust quickly and learn different defenses.

“When I was at Pine-Richland playing as a freshman, the guys I was playing with were three or four years older, so it’s something I’ve known since high school,” Heckert said. “The size is the biggest difference. Some of these guys are four or five years older with the extra covid year and the transfer portal. I just went back to my training from high school. At Pine-Richland, I had three different coaching staffs in three years, so learning a new defense wasn’t anything new to me.”

The biggest adjustment has been the size difference at the collegiate level. Heckert said he went from being one of the biggest players on a high school field to going up against 300-plus pound linemen on a regular basis.

A similarity is the culture. At Pine-Richland, the expectation was to win and that’s the same at Slippery Rock.

The Rock made the national semifinals in 2019 and are a regular in the NCAA D2 playoffs.

Heckert could sense the commitment within the program right away during summer workouts.

“You see guys throwing 500 pounds on the bench and squatting like it’s nothing,” Heckert said. “That’s when I knew this was legit. All anyone wants to do is win and we’ve been showing it so far this year.”

Heckert may have been overlooked by Division I programs, but he’s thrilled with how his journey has played out. It’s doubtful any opponents will be looking past him anytime soon.

“I always like to say control the controllables,” Heckert said. “It will all play out in the end if you put the work in.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland