Adjusting to America
Alex Semadeni
Max Stege was mentally prepared for the cultural differences between his home country and America before checking out the campus at Boise State.
Arriving in the City of Trees for his official visit in 2022, Stege made the trek across the Atlantic Ocean from Cologne, the fourth-largest city in Germany. He had been to the United States twice before, but because he was scouring potential places to live for the next four years, Stege was more prone to notice the differences between America and his native homeland.
“One of the first things that we noticed was that there was a truck everywhere,” Stege said. “We don’t have trucks in Germany so my mom and I were amazed at all the trucks. We couldn’t believe how big the cars were over here. It was crazy.”
The American automobile selections were one of many of the unique differences Stege noticed during his time taking collegiate visits in the U.S. He was also surprised at how little Americans utilized sidewalks, but after spending time in numerous cities during a road trip across the American West with his mom last May, he realized how much safer sidewalks were back home. He also became quite fond of macaroni and cheese, but after overindulging in the common American delicacy, he quickly became tired of it.
The day-to-day differences pale in comparison to the change of becoming a football player in America. Like most European countries, soccer is the primary sport in Germany, with few Germans engaging in football. The cultural adjustment was steep, but willed by a strong work ethic and a program that was willing to extend a helping hand, Stege has found himself a home within the Bronco program.
To the surprise of no one, the first sport Stege played as a child was soccer. Tall and skinny, he was typecast as a goalie. He played for six years as a kid, but found it hard to stand out among the legions of talented players in the system. At the age of 10, he took up the family sport: boxing.
His grandfather was a professional boxer, as was his stepfather, Khalid Khatib, a seven-time national champion in Germany. Following his decorated career, Khatib opened up his own gym and became a professional coach. It was at that gym where 10-year-old Max fell in love with the sport.
“What I initially liked about boxing is that it was just man against man,” Stege said. “Obviously you have gloves on, but in the end, it’s just you and your hands and your feet. I just love that man-against-man aspect. I love the physicality.”
Khatib trained both Stege and his older brother in his gym. As the years went on, Stege began to realize he wasn’t going to be as successful as his stepdad in the sport. It was at that time, five years after he first started training in boxing, football entered his life.
“I had a guy in my class in high school that played,” Stege said. “He brought a football to school and we just started throwing it around and I realized that it was pretty fun. He asked me to come to a practice and check it out. They needed players because they have huge problems with not having enough people on the team. Everybody on the team played on both sides. I just went to practice and never looked back.”
Stege began playing on the local club team, the Cologne Crocodiles. His natural athleticism combined with his boxing background made for immediate success on the field.
“I would definitely say the defensive line is really similar to boxing,” Stege said. “You’re not punching in the head, but you have your hands up all the time. Everything you do as a pass rusher is super close to your body, and that's what you do in boxing when you throw hooks and stuff like that. It's always close. I feel like that's a big thing that transferred from boxing to football, which honestly helped me a lot.”
His success on the football field became too hard to ignore. He stood out on the field and people started to notice, earning selections to various all-star teams across Germany. As his prospects increased on the football field, he realized if he wanted to reach his true potential he would have to give up the family sport.
“At some point, I realized I was not that great at boxing,” Stege said. “It was kind of hard when your dad is your coach and he was really good and you’re not that good. It can get a little rough. I had a conversation with my dad, which was hard when I told him that I would quit boxing. When I told him I actually wanted to pursue my dreams in football he was fully committed to it. He drove me to practices and did whatever he could. I’m glad I had that conversation and that I did that.”
Fully focused on football, Stege began to make a name for himself across the country. He joined the German National Team, and was named a captain on the U19 team. On that squad, he met several players who had signed National Letters of Intent to play college football overseas, and a new goal emerged.
“They told me that you get everything paid for scholarship-wise and that the facilities were crazy,” Stege said. “I looked it up on YouTube and saw all of those crazy facilities and the collegiate atmospheres. I knew it would be something for me.”
His performance on the national team caught the attention of PPI Recruits, a company that showcases international talent in American football. Stege was approached to go on a two-week tour in America, with the hopes that he would catch the eyes of college coaches. After discussing the opportunity with his parents, Stege joined the trip.
He was one of 10 players that made the trip overseas. The two-week tour consisted of 10 camps across the country, with the players traveling from camp to camp via minivan.
“You do a camp and you get back into the minivan and you just drive, drive, drive,” Stege said. “You have no space at all and you're cramping and everything. You drive for 10 to 12 hours and then sleep for five hours. The next day you go to camp and then you keep driving all the way to the next spot. It was hard. It was really hard.”
Despite the physical challenges, Stege was motivated to earn a scholarship. He went to each camp with a chip on his shoulder, hoping that his play could convince just one coach to take a chance on him.
“I was just looking for an opportunity,” Stege said. “I was always trying to talk to coaches on Twitter and it was hard to get anything. My parents paid a lot of money for me to get on this tour. I just wanted one opportunity, just one scholarship. Honestly I would have taken anything that I got. I really didn't care.”
It was at one of these camps in Texas where Stege first caught the attention of current Boise State EDGE coach Jabril Frazier.
“I noticed he had a big frame, he was an athletic guy that was twitchy,” Frazier said. “When we came back we immediately started recruiting him. He’s all the way in Germany so it was a little hard trying to recruit him, but we recruited him hard.”
Boise State wasn’t the only school that noticed the international standout. His athleticism stood out, and Stege began conversing with multiple college coaches. By the time of his commitment, Stege had received offers from several schools, including Boise State, Eastern Michigan, Liberty and Houston.
“When I got my first offer, it was a huge sigh of relief,” Stege said. “I knew I was going to go somewhere no matter what. I got a couple scholarship offers after that, but Boise State was the school that was always showing constant interest. Here, they really want to get to know you.”
Accompanied by his mom and stepdad, Stege took the nearly 20-hour flight from Germany to Boise for his official visit in September 2022. Boise State was his top option during the process, and he was convinced upon his arrival that joining the Broncos was the correct move for him. He officially committed five days later.
“When I came out here with my parents for the official visit, it was clear that I liked it way more than anywhere else,” Stege said.
Stege felt the culture shock when he arrived on campus prior to the 2023 season. A lot of it he had mentally prepared for, but one stood out that took him by surprise: how much Americans love football. Coming from a place where soccer was king, he couldn’t believe the display of enthusiasm and excitement from the city towards the Boise State football team.
“I love how you have sports connected to the school here,” Stege said. “That’s a big thing that we don’t do in Europe. Having a sports team at a school gives you a big spirit in the community. Everyone around here is always yelling, ‘Go Broncos!’ Everyone is united through the team here which is awesome. I never played high school football but I’ve heard that’s how high school football is too. Everybody in your town comes out to a game. That’s the best thing I’ve experienced here.”
That level of commitment to football was also felt internally in the hallways of the Bleymaier Football Center. As a freshman, Stege was blown away by the complexity of the schemes that the team had, especially compared to the three plays he was used to in Germany. Furthermore, the sheer amount of football lexicon that he had to learn put him at an immediate disadvantage.
“All I really knew in Germany was to get out of my stance and just rush the passer,” Stege said. “When I first got over here they were talking about the line of scrimmage and I didn't know what that was. The first two months I didn’t know a lot of the terms. I was literally in my room every single evening studying just the words of football. Not even the playbook or anything - I was learning what the line of scrimmage was, down and distance, stuff like that. That was a big thing. Then when you get into the football playbook, that’s a whole different beast. That was definitely a huge learning curve.”
Being the lone player from Germany, both the players and the coaching staff took it upon themselves to make sure Stege was properly integrated into the team. However there was one Bronco, from his own position group nonetheless, who was uniquely qualified to help guide Stege through the nuances of joining a team from overseas: Ahmed Hassanein.
Hassanein, one of the stars of the Bronco football program, grew up in Cairo, Egypt before joining Boise State, and made a concerted effort to help Stege become acclimated to both the new country and the new team.
“Ahmed 100 percent took me under his wing,” Stege said. “Ahmed has been, and still is, my big brother here in the facility. We immediately just had a great connection. He’s such a good football player and also such a good human being that no matter what question I had, even if it was the easiest question in the world, I know I can FaceTime at any time of the day and ask him. He would never judge me or anything like that which is a big thing for me. Ahmed was a huge part of helping me get comfortable here.”
The two defensive linemen would not only go through the playbook, but their friendship also extended into competition on the football field. Over the summer, the duo went to the facility every day, not only to lift but also to work on different pass rush and run-techniques.
“Playing with Ahmed is definitely challenging, because he will never accept anything less than my best every day,” Stege said. “You have got to be on point with everything. If you give it your best and you mess something up, then he’s not going to be mad or anything. He’s trying to help you. But he’s not the type of guy where you can just slide by. That’s the best thing I’ve learned from him, just to be locked in all the time. It’s just awesome. It’s a blessing to have a player like him in front of me to learn from.”
“Those dudes are like Thing One and Thing Two,” Frazier said. “Every time I see one of them around I know the other one is close by. Max looks up to Ahmed big time, but I'm starting to see that Ahmed looks up to Max and the way he works. Just last week I saw Ahmed asking Max about a move he did in practice because he liked what he did. They are always competing. It’s a constant competition where they are always pushing each other and it’s paying off for us.”
During his tenure as a Bronco, Stege has shown tremendous improvement in a short amount of time. As a freshman, he appeared in 10 games for the squad and recorded two tackles, including half a sack. This year, as Hassanein’s primary backup, he has already notched seven tackles on the season, including two tackles for loss.
“It’s not anything that we do,” Frazier said. “He might be the hardest worker in the room. I know Max is going to be ready to go every single day. He's intentional with everything he does - I mean the guy is sweating in walkthroughs. He goes 150 miles per hour at all times. You can't teach that. It's just who you are. And that's how he was raised. Why has he developed so fast? He goes 150 percent in everything he does. When it’s time to go, he’s ready to go.”
That mindset perfectly meshed with the blue-collar nature of the team.
The culture here is not running from hard work, but actually embracing it. That’s a big thing that we do here. There’s no holding back or anything. I like what Coach Chinander told us last week. ‘You get what you earn.’ That’s what Boise State represents. We earn the right here to win games. We don’t just go into a game and win it. We earn our confidence in practice. We earn that right, and that’s really what I think Boise State is standing for. That’s not just in football, but in life. Those are habits that I’m going to keep for the rest of my life.Max Stege
As the No. 17/19 Broncos prepare for a highly-anticipated contest against UNLV, Stege is still focused on making sure he’s getting better every single day. He has spent the offweek challenging Hassanein and his teammates at practice, so that he can have his best season as the Broncos look to continue their recent win streak.
“There’s so much that I want to get better at,” Stege said. “I feel like you never reach 100 percent. I definitely want to get better in the techniques that we use. I want to get better at the pass rush in general. I want to use my hands better and how to use my hips better. But I also want to grow my football IQ. I always want to know where I’m at on the field.
“I just want to continue to prove that I can play at this level,” Stege said. “I feel like I have a great opportunity to keep doing that over the next part of the season. I want to prove to my coaches that I can be trusted, that they can put me on the field and I can make a play. Next year, when Ahmed is in the league, I want to be the guy. I want to be the next Ahmed. I want to be a starter for us. That’s definitely my goal.”