Dustin B Levy
•2/28/2025
Maximus Brady is serious about winning.
The Mariner senior has won over 170 matches and captured three consecutive FHSAA state titles in his high school wrestling career.
The seriousness with which Brady prepares between bouts consistently puts him in a position to succeed at the highest levels of the sport.
“He’s not complacent,” Mariner head coach Clayton French said. “He’s always looking for ways to get better. Physically, he’s top tier, but what I see is his mentality and his pursuit of getting better constantly.”
This postseason, Brady is on the brink of history as he seeks a fourth state title, which would put him in rare company. He would be the first in Mariner High School history to achieve the feat and the second Lee County wrestler after Riverdale’s Scotti Sentes completed the four-peat from 2005 to 2008.
“It’s a big thing to do, so I don’t want to downplay it,” Brady said. “I want to embrace it, but I look at it more as of a stepping stone. Not so much as, ‘I got to win this fourth state title.’ It’s an opportunity. I’m going to go out there and try to take that opportunity.”
Mariner has had its share of great champions, starting with Josh Roberson in 1994 and Mason Maher in 2007. Christian Minto won three state titles from 2017 to 2019, and his brother Christopher Minto followed suit, claiming three in a row starting in 2021.
The Mariner High wrestling room is littered with banners and trophies celebrating these accomplishments. At the conclusion of this wrestling season, Brady could become one of one.
“This is my 20th year coaching, and I’ve never coached a kid going for four titles,” French said. “And there’s a very good chance I won’t have another one. I guess you can say, as a coach, he’s a once-in-a-coaching-career wrestler.”
A native Iowan, Brady first got on a mat when a friend invited him to a practice. Wrestling instantly became his passion.
“I like the challenge that comes with it, and I like having to push myself and get past hard things, and I like the competing aspect, and I like that it’s up to me to win out there on the mat,” he said. “I don’t got a team there — it’s me doing it.”
Brady came to Florida before his freshman season, the same year French was hired as the head coach at Mariner. French was succeeding Dave Phillips, a Hall-of-Fame wrestling coach who led the Tritons for more than 20 years.
French learned quickly that Brady was capable of achieving greatness.
“I knew he was going to be special,” French said. “I knew that he was going to be in the running for a state medal. I was thinking top four when we first got here, but then as the year progressed … it became evident that he was going to be in the running for a state title.”
In that 2022 season, Brady reached the Class 2A final and knocked off the top seed in the 113-pound weight class.
“That was cool,” Brady said. “That one probably felt the best out of all of them so far just because it was a dream of mine. As a little kid, I set my goal to be a four-timer and in order to be a four-timer you got to be a one-timer first.”
Brady didn’t rest on his laurels as he continued to rack up achievements.
He dedicated himself to becoming the best wrestler possible, adjusting his diet, his sleep habits and keeping a structured daily schedule.
Brady lifts three times a week and does a conditioning workout on the days he doesn’t lift. He practices every day of the week except one to let his body recover. He aims to maintain the same daily schedule with focus on his meals, sleep, and time for schoolwork.
“I believe that I train the hardest out of everyone in the state and focus the most on my technique,” he said. “I’m locked in on my eating habits, my sleep schedule – everything like that. I believe I’m more locked in than anyone else that steps on the mat with me.”
The way Brady has developed these routines sets him apart in the sport.
“He eats, breathes, sleeps it,” French said. “It’s easy to say. People say they do, but he really does. He’s the most disciplined kid I ever met – with his diet, with his sleep routine. He understands all those little variables play a factor, and then when you add them all up, it makes a difference between being great and extraordinarily great.”
Naturally, he’s made improvements on the mat throughout his wrestling career.
“He’s always been sharp offensively,” French said. “His takedown defense has gotten good, his hand fight’s gotten good. He’s a really good, solid wrestler. He’s tough on top, he’s tough on bottom. I do think he’s gotten harder and harder to score on every year.”
Brady’s commitment has given him an edge, even when going up against the best wrestlers in the country.
“He makes one-time state champions look bad,” French said. “He makes two-time state champions look bad. We go to national tournaments, and he’s heads above those guys.
In 2023, he won the national championship at the Boys National High School Recruiting Showcase in the 132-pound weight class.
Brady’s goal in the sport extends beyond trophies and titles - he is determined to earn a No. 1 ranking nationwide.
And he wants to leave all opponents in his path with a lasting impression.
“I guess I just want them to feel like they never want to wrestle me again,” he said.
It will be a homecoming in the fall when Brady attends the University of Northern Iowa, where he committed to continue his wrestling career.
His recruitment process was a bumpy ride with a smooth landing.
Brady originally committed to Campbell University. The private North Carolina school has a nationally ranked wrestling program, led by Sentes.
Last October, Brady received a call from the athletic director encouraging him to open his commitment.
The school announced funding cuts to its wrestling program, including a reduction of scholarships for the 2025-26 school year, according to ABC11.
“It was heartbreaking honestly because I had met all the guys,” Brady said. “I had made relationships there. It was tough, but I knew everything happens for a reason and kind of just embraced that.”
Cuts to wrestling programs, and some getting shuttered entirely, has become a trend in college athletics.
“It’s unfortunate because these kids work really hard, and only a very, very small percent get to go and wrestle at the next level, whether it be D-I, D-II, D-III or JuCo,” French said. “And then anytime they cut a program, they’re taking away opportunities for those kids to chase their dreams. A lot of these kids wouldn’t get college degrees if it wasn’t for the sport. “
Northern Iowa head coach Doug Scwab reached out to Brady after he reopened his commitment. Brady visited the campus and made his decision to become a Panther.
Northern Iowa competes in the Big 12 and has a 14-1 record this season. The ascendant program is ranked fourth in the NWCA Coaches Poll, the highest mark for the team since 1988.
“I’m so excited, especially to be a part of a team that’s No. 4 in the country right now,” Brady said. “It’s a big deal, and Coach Schwab out there, he’s great. And I’m so excited because I just feel like it’s going to help me chase that No. 1 spot in the country. I just feel like that’s probably one of the best guys in my country to have by my side.”
Brady’s professional-level habits already have him a step ahead, which raises his ceiling when it comes to his wrestling future.
“I think he’s going to do well in college,” French said. “This will be a big jump, but I’m confident that he’s got the right mindset to be successful at the Division I level.”
One last postseason run isn’t daunting for Brady, coming off his fourth district title last week. He is planning to treat it as “just another tournament.”
However the next two weeks play out, Brady has already gained values from the sport that cannot be quantified.
“Wrestling’s so hard,” he said. “There’s days where you got to make weight, so you don’t got a lot of fluids in you, you don’t got a lot of food in you, you’re kind of feeling really fatigued, you kind of just got to push through those workouts, and I feel like doing things that I don’t want to do, knowing that I need to do them, just helps a lot.”
French believes in Brady’s chances to complete the four-peat.
“I think he’s going to be in the driver’s seat,” he said.
Thinking about the opportunity, Brady hearkens back to the kid from Iowa, growing up with a dream.
“It would mean a lot to me as I get to look back at the little kid that I was when I said, ‘Hey I want to be the first four-time state champ at my high school,’” Brady said. “I just think he would be super proud of myself and what I’ve become.”