Under The Helmet: Maxwell Van Fleet

11/13/2025 3:00:00 PM | By: Shawn Gillen, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Maxwell Van Fleet will have 35 friends, family members and former coaches watching him play at Dartmouth this Saturday. The defensive tackle from Concord, New Hampshire, will be playing an hour from home, in front of everyone who watched him grow up.

There's just one problem: Dartmouth never recruited him.

"I didn't get recruited by Dartmouth," Van Fleet said. "Not that I would have wanted to go there, but it's a little chip on my shoulder. I'm a hometown kid, and I'm gonna show up there, I'm gonna smack some heads and wear that chip on my shoulder."

For Van Fleet, that chip has fueled a remarkable five-year journey from undersized three sport athlete to one of the most important defensive leaders in the Big Red's resurgence under head coach Dan Swanstrom.

The transformation began as a skinny kid in high school. Van Fleet was a three-sport athlete whose main passion was lacrosse, not football. When COVID hit during his senior year and canceled his lacrosse season, he earned an opportunity to attend St. Paul's School, a New Hampshire prep school, for the 2020-21 year.

"I remember I was talking to the lacrosse coach, and he was like, 'to really help out with this whole process, if you reach out to the football coach because I know you play football, it could help out,'" Van Fleet said. "Being a two or three sport athlete at St. Paul's is a big thing."

He reached out, loved it, got into the school, and ended up having a 13-sack season weighing just 185 pounds. But as he began the college recruitment process, COVID complications continued. Schools that had been recruiting him for lacrosse started taking fifth-year players back, and scholarship spots disappeared. Van Fleet pivoted fully to football, dedicating himself to the weight room and reaching out to Cornell defensive coordinator Jared Backus, who had a connection through Van Fleet's prep school coach.

Backus gave him a challenge: "Put on 45-50 pounds and everything that you do this summer that's impressive, send me a video."

Van Fleet got to work. But the response wasn't immediate.

"I didn't get one text back from April until almost September," he said. "Then I sent him a video deadlifting like 500 pounds for three reps. And then he was just like, 'I want to hop on a call with you.'"

Van Fleet committed to Cornell without ever visiting campus, making his decision entirely on Zoom calls during the pandemic. When he arrived in 2021, he began learning under Backus's unique mentorship.

"Coach Backus always used to say, 'I'm not a football coach, I'm a life coach,'" Van Fleet said. "That really stuck with me because I was able to see my development as a man, a person, and a football player."

Van Fleet's path wasn't linear. As a sophomore and junior, he carved out a role as a rotational player in a veteran defensive unit, sharing snaps with Connor Morgan '23. When his senior year finally arrived and he stepped into the veteran role himself, injuries struck.

That's when Swanstrom, who had just arrived before his senior season, told him: "I think you got unfinished business here."

"It was pretty obvious to me," Van Fleet said. "This is where I belong. I have unfinished business. The opportunity to come back and play for him for another season was a no-brainer."

But coming back meant more than just another year of football. It meant becoming one of the foundational pieces of a cultural transformation.

When Swanstrom arrived, he conducted introductory interviews with every player, then called a team meeting and delivered a message that changed Van Fleet's perspective.

"He basically laid it out straight to us, that this program lacks accountability from the players," Van Fleet said. "It was in that moment where I had to do some self-reflection. Am I pointing the finger at the guy next to me or am I looking inward and saying I didn't do enough to help the program win?"

That moment became the foundation for Van Fleet's leadership. Along with fellow fifth-year defenders Damon Barnes, Mike O'Keefe and Wilson Selzer, Van Fleet committed to buying in completely to Swanstrom's process-oriented philosophy.

"Coach Swanstrom has a proven track record of success," Van Fleet said. "I'd be stupid not to try and follow everything that he says."

Van Fleet became a vocal advocate for the new culture, reminding younger players about the transformation.

"The program we're in right now was not the program that I came into," he said. "We're incredibly lucky. They're pouring everything they got into us. Everything is in perfect alignment to really do something special."

Swanstrom has consistently pointed to Van Fleet as one of the players who embodies the program's new identity.

"Coach Swanstrom is never asking us to do anything that he doesn't do himself," Van Fleet said. "You see him living out these core values that he is instilling in us. When you have a leader at the head of a program doing that, it's really easy for everybody to follow in line."

The results have been undeniable. Cornell's defense has become a force this year, and the Big Red are riding a four-game winning streak - the program's longest since 1999.

"We defend every blade of grass," Van Fleet said. "When our back's against the wall, we want those situations. We're saying come get some because we have full belief in what we're doing."

For Van Fleet personally, the validation came in week one when he recorded his first career sack after years of close calls.

"It was a flood of emotions," he said. "A sack is the pinnacle of playing defensive line. It felt real good."

Van Fleet's journey at Cornell has spanned five years and a coaching change.

"I've been in Coach Bhakta's position room for five years," Van Fleet said. "I remember when his daughter was born when I was a freshman. I feel like I'm an extension of his family. It's a special opportunity that I don't think you find at other schools."

After this season, Van Fleet will have one more year of eligibility remaining. He plans to enter the transfer portal to play "big time ball" and is pursuing a sports administration program with aspirations to coach football as a career.

But first, there's unfinished business. There are still games to play, including Saturday's homecoming at Dartmouth with 35 people in the stands watching a hometown kid prove what they missed.

"I'm focused on playing the best ball that I can play," Van Fleet said. "I'm going to miss the guys here. What I have here is really special, and I'm just focused on pouring everything I got into the final two games of the season."

From skinny kid to 500-pound deadlifts. From overlooked lacrosse player to defensive leader. From a kid looking for accountability to a man who embodies it.

Maxwell Van Fleet's journey has been anything but typical. And on Saturday, with a chip on his shoulder and 35 familiar faces in the crowd, he'll get another chance to show why Cornell football is and always was the only choice.