Max Warner came to Young figuring his future was in track and field.
That path seemed even more likely when he won Public League indoor titles in the long jump and triple jump as a freshman. But then another sport entered the picture.
Several friends, including current Morgan Park senior Nasir Rankin, talked Warner into playing football. Now Warner and Rankin — who is heading to Illinois — are both Power Four recruits.
Warner, a 5-10, 193-pound running back, was to make it official on Wednesday that he’ll be heading to play SEC football for Missouri.
Like a lot of high-school players, his college search was complicated by coaches’ increasing reliance on the transfer portal.
“It was definitely a bumpy road toward the end of my recruiting process,” Warner told the Sun-Times. “… I wasn’t getting any interest till after my junior year.”
But then the offers started coming in from marquee programs such as Miami, Mississippi and Illinois.
When he went to Missouri for an official visit, the vibe felt right.
“The way they were taking care of me and the other recruits … it just felt like one big family.”
In a time when the coaching carousel seemingly is always spinning, Warner especially likes the fact that Missouri and coach Eli Drinkwitz reaffirmed their commitment to each other last week. Drinkwitz agreed to a six-year contract extension that would keep him in Columbia at least through 2031.
“Seeing him sign that contract extension definitely relieved a lot of stress,” Warner said.
Warner first saw the field on defense for Young, which had a group of veteran running backs ahead of him on the depth chart. But he committed himself to becoming an elite rusher under the tutelage of Dolphins running back coach Jordan McCord, a Young alum who went on to play at Colgate.
Young coach Dan Finger loved Warner’s buy-in: “Just the way Max works and the way he goes about weight room and film room and practice … humbling himself to be the guy who is still learning.”
Warner suffered a high-ankle sprain and a sprained MCL in the Dolphins’ state-playoff loss to Palatine and didn’t play in the Prep Bowl playoffs. But he expects to be ready to go when he heads to Missouri in January after graduating from Young at the semester break.
Warner finished with 123 carries for 1,156 yards (a 9.4 average) and 16 touchdowns in 10 games this season. He also had 10 catches for 157 yards and two TDs for the Dolphins, who went 9-3 overall and tied for second in the Public League Metro.
Warner lobbied hard to play Young’s last two games, but Finger erred on the side of caution.
“I think that’s the most mad he’s ever been against me,” Finger said.
“It was definitely very important to me to get back to that, being a leader on the team,” Warner said. “[But] i understood his reasoning.”
Looking back, he appreciates a high-school journey that had a different destination than he expected when he arrived at Young in 2022.
“One word I would describe it as, is magical,” Warner said. “I didn’t expect any of this to happen.”