Sports
USC’s Max Williams ‘rewriting his story’ in Arizona State matchup with brother
Macen Williams had big plans for 2018. Then a junior at Gardena Serra High, where his older brother Max was already a star senior, Macen envisioned a dominant season for the brothers who trained together their whole lives for a moment like this. Macen would cement his spot in the starting lineup and boost his recruiting profile. Max would put a perfect ending on a dominant four-year varsity career.
Then Max tore his anterior cruciate ligament during the season opener.
“I was really hurt,” Macen said, “because there wasn’t anything I was looking forward to more than balling out with my brother.”
Five years later, the brothers get a final chance to share the field on the college level as Max’s fifth-ranked USC Trojans visit Macen’s Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
The timing hasn’t always been ideal for the siblings. They missed each other in 2020 while Macen redshirted. Max sat out in 2021 because of his second torn ACL.
Last year was the first time they faced off. After Max helped USC to a 42-25 win with four tackles, the brothers walked off the field shoulder-to-shoulder with their helmets in hand as their parents and younger brother met them for a long-awaited picture.
“It takes us back to childhood memories,” said Max, a redshirt senior at USC. “Us working out together, competing against each other and now we compete against each other on different teams. It’s an amazing feeling.”
With three football-playing sons on different teams, it’s not often the whole family can be together during fall. Maxzell Williams Sr. keeps a detailed chart of the football season, mapping each of his son’s games: Max at USC; Macen, now a redshirt junior, at Arizona State; Marcelles at St. John Bosco High, where he is a senior cornerback committed to USC.
Max is primed to make the most of the rare family reunion. The redshirt senior safety is USC’s top-ranked defender among players with more than 70 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He has nine tackles without missing a single attempt and grabbed USC’s first interception of the season against Stanford.
Finally, “Mad Max” is back.
The former Serra star is the healthiest he’s been since 2020, when he played in all six games of USC’s pandemic-shortened season, starting three, with 22 tackles. It wasn’t just that he suffered his second season-ending knee injury the next year, robbing him of a key breakout opportunity, he’s also had three defensive coordinators and three head coaches during his tumultuous career.
Wanting to make a good first impression on the first-year coaching staff last season, Max fought through a sports hernia during spring camp and didn’t undergo surgery until the summer. He was tied for the team-lead in tackles, but Maxzell could tell his son didn’t have his normal level of explosiveness. It was most obvious late in the season when he missed five tackles in the final four games, according to Pro Football Focus.
With Max’s mistakes on display for all to see at defensive back, fans dissected every disappointment on USC’s struggling defense. Now fans are approaching Maxzell at the Coliseum to tell him they still remember that kid from Serra who electrified audiences with special teams highlights and tough tackling.
“He’s rewriting his story,” Maxzell said.
Maxzell trained his boys from a young age, lobbing footballs at Max in the front yard at age 4. As they grew into top prospects, training sessions got so heated that the brothers wouldn’t talk for hours afterward if one dominated during a tough workout.
Competition was, and still is, ingrained in everything for the Williams family. H.O.R.S.E games in the garage on a mini basketball hoop get as boisterous as any football game. Maxzell says he wins. Max denies it.
“It’s me,” Max said, “don’t let him tell you any different.”
Macen is battling with Marcelles to stay out of the basketball basement. Macen even bought a hoop to keep at home in Tempe, Ariz., so he can practice for his next trip home.
“The competitiveness really shaped us into who we are,” said Macen, who has three tackles in three games for the Sun Devils (1-2) this season.
All three were groomed to be defensive backs, said Maxzell, who played the position at El Camino College and Nevada. Since scoring his first touchdown at 5 years old, Max took to football immediately. He was undersized, but even as a scrawny 5-foot-8 freshman, Max earned a starting job at Serra.
Fans packed the stands to watch him play, standing in anticipation each time he fielded a punt off the bounce, gasping each time he broke through a tackle on the return and cheering when he scored. He tackled fearlessly on defense despite his smaller frame and caught passes on offense. Even some of Macen’s current teammates hailing from as far as Alabama remember watching Max’s high school highlights.
“Max was one of those people who was just good at everything,” Macen said. “Like Shohei Ohtani, he’s just good at everything for no reason.”
Maxzell sees himself most in his middle son. They share a penchant for smack talk on the field, Maxzell said, and while Max and Marcelles enjoyed immediate success on the field at every level, Maxzell and Macen are underdogs who had to work for their achievements.
Macen, a 5-10, 180-pound cornerback, didn’t break through at Serra until his junior year. As a senior three-star recruit, he transferred to Narbonne and committed to Arizona State.
After getting constantly overshadowed by his brother, Macen takes pride in any head-to-head win, like when they faced off in the 100 meters at the Culver City Invitational Relays in 2018. Macen, a sophomore, took first place. Max finished one-tenth of a second behind in second.
“I know that hurt him for sure,” Macen said. “He might be a little quicker, but ain’t no way he’s faster than me.”
While watching Macen attain success, it’s still this brother’s speed that stands out most, Max said. He’s excited to watch Macen’s career continue.
Finally getting to see Max play like the best version of himself again makes Macen most proud.
“It’s so easy to be like, ‘All right, I’m just going to give up,’ but he never had that mind-set,” Macen said. “He always fought. He’s always been a fighter.”
Max grabbed his first interception of the season against Stanford, his first pick since Sept. 24, 2022. As Max returned it for 39 yards, Maxzell, in a carefully chosen, roomy aisle seat at the Coliseum, was running in place and cheering on his son.
The play felt overdue for Max. The night before, the family group chat was alive with conversation about how Marcelles had two picks in his first four games with St. John Bosco. His older brothers were still sitting at zero.
Now Macen is alone at the bottom of the standings. Saturday’s family affair would provide the perfect audience for his first.
“Hopefully I get one vs. ‘SC,” Macen said. “I really want one.”
Sports
Eagles fan seen in vile tirade against female Packers supporter loses job at DEI-focused NJ company
A Philadelphia Eagles fan at the center of a vile incident at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday lost his job at a New Jersey-based DEI-focused consulting firm this week.
The fan, who was identified as Ryan Caldwell, was seen in the viral video getting into the face of a female Green Bay Packers fan and calling her a “dumb c—” while her fiancé recorded the situation. He also taunted the man with other disgusting gestures.
The fan and his employer have since “parted ways,” the company said.
“We, the management of BCT Partners, have concluded the international personnel investigation regarding an employee who was caught on a video outside of the workplace making highly offensive and misogynistic statements,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “In keeping with our company values, which are firmly centered in respect, dignity, and inclusion, we have decided to part ways with the employee. This separation is effective immediately.
“We condemn our former employee’s conduct in the strongest possible terms. This individual’s conduct and language were vile, disgusting, unacceptable, and horrific and have no place in our workplace and society. Such conduct is not who we are and not what we stand for.
“At the same time, again, to be true to our values, we can condemn the actions without condemning the individual. None of us deserve to be remembered for actions taken on our worst day. We have offered grace and support to our former employee. We hope that he will grow, and we all can learn from this deeply disturbing incident. That’s what real inclusion is and does. That is also who we are and what we stand for.
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“We sincerely apologize to the victim and for the many ways in which these events already have impact so many people. We remain committed to gender equity and fostering a culture of respect and dignity for all.”
Caldwell’s tirade was caught as the Eagles topped the Packers in the wild-card game over the weekend. Aside from just calling the woman a “dumb c—,” he also called her an “ugly dumb c—.” Caldwell asked her fiancé if he was going to do anything about the name-calling, and if not, then he should turn around and watch the game.
The woman’s fiancé identified himself on social media as Alexander Basara and posted the video on social media. He wrote on X he did not want to get into a physical altercation with Caldwell.
He mentioned in one post that he definitely was not going to start painting all Eagles fans with a broad brush.
“A lot of you guys were very nice. Trust me. The normal banter but a handshake at the end. This was out of line tho for sure,” he wrote on X.
The Eagles fan was also banned from all games at Lincoln Financial Field, according to USA Today.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Sports
Column: Canyon High's Brandon Benjamin is making the most of his senior season
Watching Anaheim Canyon’s 6-foot-5 senior Brandon Benjamin score, rebound, pass and continuously make a difference on a basketball court against everyone and anyone brings back memories of Jaime Jaquez Jr., who looks like his twin.
“I like the comparison,” coach Nathan Harrison said.
Jaquez used to deploy many different skills during his days at Camarillo High. Some wondered if they would translate at a higher level. Well, they did, first at UCLA and now with the Miami Heat.
The same will be said one day of Benjamin, who’s averaging 30.7 points and is committed to San Diego. Last Saturday, after a game against previously unbeaten Mira Costa in which he scored 30 points with zero turnovers, Mira Costa coach Neal Perlmutter said, “That’s hard to do.”
Said Benjamin: “I just feel you have to play smart, you have to make the right decisions and you can’t force things.”
Then on Monday at the Intuit Dome, he scored 29 points in an overtime win over San Gabriel Academy. It doesn’t matter the opponent or the venue, Benjamin consistently delivers.
Benjamin has gotten used to being double teamed so many times that he knows exactly how to get the ball to teammates. He grew up with opponents trying to trap him as a youth player and Harrison has worked on box-and-one defenses in practices to prepare Benjamin.
“I got used to it, learning how to move around and not get frustrated,” he said.
Benjamin is proof you can return home and be welcomed with open arms. He left to play his junior season at Mater Dei, where he led the Monarchs in rebounding (8.4 per game) and was the fourth-leading scorer (13.7), then returned to Canyon last March.
He’s not going to lie about what it was like walking around the Canyon campus in his return.
“At first, it was little awkward seeing people you know and haven’t seen in a year and were buddy-buddy with,” he said. “After a week or two, I still had a lot of friends. I felt real relaxed. I felt like I was home.”
Benjamin said his Mater Dei experience was mostly positive, complimenting coach Gary McKnight.
“I enjoyed it,” he said. “Not everything is perfect in this life. I have nothing negative to say, only good things about coach McKnight.”
His return to Canyon has worked out. He likes the neighborhood atmosphere at games and appreciates Harrison letting him do what he does best — be himself.
“He has a reputation as this incredible scorer, but he’s just as effective as a passer and kind of runs our team as a point guard,” Harrison said. “The zero turnovers is even more impressive considering how many times he’s touching the ball. He makes all the players so much better.”
Even more intriguing is how Benjamin is preparing himself for college. He’s played forward or center for all four years of high school. At 17, he still has plenty of room to improve, and he’s been working on his guard skills because that’s what San Diego coach Steve Lavin wants him to play.
“I’ve been trying to work on my quickness, strength, ballhandling,” Benjamin said. “He wants me to play guard. It’s going to be a challenge because playing center/forward until now in high school, [this] is something new. I’m down for the challenge.”
Canyon fans have Benjamin’s back, and Harrison is just thankful to have a chance to coach him again.
“We’ve always liked Brandon,” he said. “We appreciated how hard he played for us. We just live in a different era. You can’t take it personally. Young people have a lot in their ears. He’s very comfortable with us and we think we do a good job utilizing our kids.”
As for lessons learned, Benjamin said, “If some of these guys are [as] good as they say, they should stay at their school and try to make themselves a winning school. A lot of college coaches don’t look at high school ball. It’s really the AAU circuit. I feel that’s the path to success.”
Sports
With Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye, Patriots have one of NFL’s better coach-QB pairings
FOXBORO, Mass. — Mike Vrabel has a plan for Drake Maye. For the young quarterback, who’s coming off a promising rookie season, it’s less about specific footwork and not really — at least yet — about reads, processing or mechanics.
Vrabel, officially now the head coach of the New England Patriots, has been around enough quarterbacks to know what success at that position should look and sound like. And that’s where he thinks he can most help the 22-year-old Maye.
“Drake is going to be his own person, but I’m going to give him some things that I feel like are necessary to help us win football games,” Vrabel said during his introductory news conference Monday.
Left unsaid during the pomp of Vrabel’s big day is what his presence next to Maye solidifies. Even if the Patriots have plenty of other issues that require fixing, they believe they have their coach and quarterback for years to come, the most important pairing in professional sports. They haven’t had that since at least Mac Jones’ rookie season (with Bill Belichick) in 2021, perhaps since Tom Brady had a locker at Gillette Stadium.
In a league that’s all about the head coach and quarterback, it’s OK that the Patriots’ to-do list is long and difficult. Nothing really matters until you have the right coach and quarterback. Now the Patriots feel they have both.
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There’s a long way to go for both Vrabel and Maye to make this work the way the Patriots envision, but it’s also fair to note there are probably not too many other coach-quarterback pairs you’d no doubt take over Vrabel and Maye for the next five years. That’s not to anoint them the second coming of Belichick and Brady. But it’s the one reason that amid so many other issues, there’s a lot of optimism right now in New England.
“Put great people around him,” Vrabel said of his plan for Maye. “I would say that my involvement will be as it relates to game management and situational awareness and where we are on the football field and trying to develop him as a leader of the offense. When a quarterback calls the play, you want to say it like everybody’s going to believe that it’s going to score a touchdown — like with that type of emphasis on how everything is going to operate.”
Mike Vrabel on developing @DrakeMaye2 and the Patriots offense. pic.twitter.com/k3gisgBG97
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 13, 2025
It sounds wild given how bad the Patriots have been the last few years and the state of the roster, but there probably aren’t many pairings more promising over the next five years than Vrabel and Maye. The Chiefs, Bengals, Bills, Ravens, Chargers and 49ers have solid arguments for a better pairing. But the Patriots could be in the next tier with the Texans, Eagles and Lions.
Perhaps one of the slights on the duo could be that Vrabel’s passing offenses with the Titans never put up gaudy numbers. During their 11-win season in 2020, they ranked 23rd in passing yards. When they won 12 games the next year, they ranked 25th. But that would ignore their efficiency. In those two years, they ranked third and sixth in passing success rate.
For his part, Vrabel tried to put to rest the concerns that he’s always had run-first offenses, which doesn’t seem ideal for a promising young quarterback.
“We have to be a very efficient passing football team,” Vrabel said. “When you look at statistically what wins in the National Football League, our ability to affect the other team’s quarterback and our ability to provide for an efficient quarterback and passing game is a high contributor to success.”
Of course, Maye’s development is going to be largely pinned on whomever Vrabel picks as his offensive coordinator.
Vrabel said that decision isn’t close to being made yet and that the Patriots will do a full search to fill out their coaching staff.
GO DEEPER
New Patriots coach Mike Vrabel will have his pick of offensive and defensive coordinators
“That’s far from solidified,” he said. “We want to put the best, (most) talented coaches in front of our players. … I want the players to embrace what every coach is teaching. I will tell you this, as long as I’m the head coach here, our coaches will have three simple jobs — and they sound simple, but they’re probably not as simple as we want to make them be. They want to teach, they want to develop and they want to inspire our players by making a connection.”
On this day, a celebratory one in front of a slew of microphones and cameras, Vrabel seemed to have all the right details and answers down to the three tasks for his assistant coaches.
On Day 1, he brought stability and respectability to a franchise badly in need of it. And in the process, he’s paired now with Maye to give the Patriots assurances at the two most important spots in building an NFL team.
(Photos: Eric Canha and Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
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