Wisconsin football: Finally healthy again, cornerback Max Lofy is flourishing
MADISON – Wisconsin’s Max Lofy kept waiting for his right ankle to respond to surgery.
He kept waiting for the range of motion to return to something close to normal so he could run, cut and jump.
“You have the surgery and (think) it’s fixed,” the redshirt senior cornerback said recently. “And then you’re testing it out and it is taking one week, two weeks, maybe three weeks.
“At some point you have to ask: 'Is this going to get better? What’s the next step?'”
That critical step for Lofy came last summer when he chose to have arthroscopic surgery on his ankle, after the first surgery didn’t produce the expected results.
“In my case, we decided to go back in and scope it out and get that range of motion back,” he explained. “It just took a while.”
Lofy, who suffered the injury in the 2022 regular-season finale at Minnesota, never played last season. It wasn’t until winter conditioning in January, in preparation for spring ball, that he felt fully healthy.
The result: A solid spring working at nickel cornerback.
“I’m super happy for Max,” said second-year cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes, “because ever since I’ve been here he hasn’t been able to play.”
Max Lofy's return after a second procedure on his right ankle took much longer than he expected
After redshirting in 2020, Lofy played a total of 20 games in 2021 and 2022. His best performance came in a loss to Washington State in 2022 when he recorded four tackles and an interception. After suffering the ankle injury at Minnesota in 2022, he expected to return to the field last season but a setback after the arthroscopic surgery ended those hopes.
“It was taking a lot longer to get back to a place where I felt like I could be competitive on the field and not be out there limping around,” Lofy said.
He eventually had some blunt conversations with Haynes and his parents regarding whether he should walk away or try to play in 2024.
“We went to Tampa for the bowl game and I was doing a little bit of jogging,” Lofy said, “and then over (winter) break I let it relax. I let my body heal.
“Then we came back and it got better and better and I could do more and more. I was pretty much 100% coming into winter conditioning.
“It felt great. Honestly, it was a huge breakthrough. As an athlete you don’t want to be thinking. You just want to go out there and play.”
Finally healthy, Max Lofy has played well at nickel cornerback
The UW staff moved safety Austin Brown to nickel cornerback for the ReliaQuest Bowl and Brown expects to start the 2024 season in that role. Brown has been back at safety this spring with Kamoi Latu and Preston Zachman out, however, giving Lofy plenty of time with the No. 1 defense.
He has flourished.
“I’m just grateful to be back, honestly," Lofy said. "It is a great feeling, a long time coming."
Brown, 6-foot-1 and 212 pounds, is a bigger body built to handle more physical receivers. Lofy, 5-10 and 187 pounds, is quicker and faster.
“You talk to the other players and they (say) Max is one of the fastest guys on the team,” Haynes said. “I had no idea because he never was out there running.
“He’s got great hands. He’s got great ball skills. He’s got good feet and he can run. And he is super smart, too.
“I think he is going to be a great help for us this year.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Back from injury, cornerback Max Lofy is flourishing this spring
