Central Michigan University Athletics
Maddix Blackwell, a senior transfer from Indiana State, made the defensive play of the game in the Chippewas' 24-13 win last week over Eastern Michigan. He finished with a season-high six tackles and got a post-game crowd-surf ride from teammates.
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Senior Safety Steps Up, and CMU Coaches Saw it Coming
10/2/2025 9:05:00 AM | Football, Our Stories
Drinkall: 'We were spot on with him'
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Height, weight, 40-yard dash time.
The gatekeeping numbers for football players and coaches.
But one never really knows until they put the pads on, step on the field, and actually play some football.
First-year Central Michigan coach Matt Drinkall and his staff looked at a lot of video of a number of potential transfer players after they came to Mount Pleasant in December.
They liked what they saw in safety Maddix Blackwell.
"His tape was our kind of guy," Drinkall said. "He played a thousand miles an hour like he was hot out of a cannon. He played super, super hard from snap to whistle, and he did it whether they were up by 20 (points) or down by 20. Every single play he was the most consistently violent football player you could imagine.
"Then you start talking to him and he's the toughest, do-right, yes-sir, you-hope-you-sit-next-to-him-in-church type of kid."
Blackwell, a senior who came to CMU from Indiana State, is listed at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds. He's a solid athlete, excelling in football, basketball and baseball – he is named for a hall of fame baseball player, but more on that later – at Bloomington (Ind.) South High School.
He played significant snaps in CMU's first four games and on Saturday, he made the play of the game in the Chippewas' 24-13 Mid-American Conference victory over Eastern Michigan.
His interception, late in the third quarter, ended an EMU threat and preserved the Chippewas' one-touchdown lead. CMU eventually kicked a field goal to close the drive that began with Blackwell's pick, and that field goal iced the game.
"A play like that doesn't happen without everybody on defense doing what they're supposed to be doing and helping me out to make that play," said Blackwell, who finished with a season-high six tackles in the game.
That play helped to raise Blackwell's profile among CMU fans and around campus. His teammates raised him in response in the locker room immediately following the game.
"It's one of the more embarrassing parts of my life, being a grown man and being picked up by other grown men," he said with a laugh in describing the lift-and-carry as something akin to crowd surfing. "It's not something that you don't normally experience. It was weird, but I was OK with it."
And CMU is more than OK with Blackwell, a two-year All-Missouri Valley Conference selection who made four interceptions and had 13 pass breakups in three years (two as a starter) at Football Championship Subdivision Indiana State.
He went into the portal after the 2024 season seeking an opportunity with a Football Bowl Subdivision program.
"When I got on the phone with the (CMU) coaches I knew that this is where I wanted to be," he said. "I don't pass the eye test for many people. It takes people to actually sit down and look at your film."
What Blackwell has done since he got to Mount Pleasant has validated Drinkall's first impression.
"When we found him, we felt like we found a lot of value that other people had overlooked, and we were right," Drinkall said. "We were spot on with him. Not only on the field but off the field.
"If he was in the portal now, people would probably be beating down the door to get him because his tape looks so good."
Blackwell has drawn on his experience as a well-rounded athlete. Though only 5-10, he says he can dunk a basketball – "I can do it off an alley-oop; I can't palm it," he said – and he played center field and catcher in baseball, two of that sport's most demanding defensive positions.
"It's easy to judge a ball out of a quarterback's hand if you've played some center field and you know how to roam," he said. "You know how to flip your hips and get to a spot where the ball's going to be. Playing sports your whole life, every sport tends to overlap at some point.
"I was lucky, I played baseball, basketball, football, hockey – there's all the competitive nature that has to come out and that's something that I try to do in my everyday life, no matter what I'm doing. If it's homework, I want to get it done as fast as possible. Make it competitive somehow."
While football is now his meal ticket to an education, baseball is in Blackwell's blood, and his name.
His parents named him for Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux, who played for four teams from 1986-2008, most notably the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.
"My parents are both Cubs fans," Blackwell said. "I took the alternative route of being a (St. Louis) Cardinals fan, just out of spite."
Maddux, who won 355 games in his brilliant 23-year career, was a relatively undersized right-hander with pinpoint control and never known as a hard thrower. In fact, he more resembled a high school history teacher than he did a professional athlete.
The football parallel isn't lost on the relatively diminutive Blackwell.
"In my mind I like to think that I'm similar to him," Blackwell said. "Obviously the dude was unbelievably successful. He had a mindset that he could outsmart you on the mound and you don't have to be 6-6 and have the longest arms to throw a perfect game or anything similar. I try to keep that mindset."
The gatekeeping numbers for football players and coaches.
But one never really knows until they put the pads on, step on the field, and actually play some football.
First-year Central Michigan coach Matt Drinkall and his staff looked at a lot of video of a number of potential transfer players after they came to Mount Pleasant in December.
They liked what they saw in safety Maddix Blackwell.
"His tape was our kind of guy," Drinkall said. "He played a thousand miles an hour like he was hot out of a cannon. He played super, super hard from snap to whistle, and he did it whether they were up by 20 (points) or down by 20. Every single play he was the most consistently violent football player you could imagine.
"Then you start talking to him and he's the toughest, do-right, yes-sir, you-hope-you-sit-next-to-him-in-church type of kid."
Blackwell, a senior who came to CMU from Indiana State, is listed at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds. He's a solid athlete, excelling in football, basketball and baseball – he is named for a hall of fame baseball player, but more on that later – at Bloomington (Ind.) South High School.
He played significant snaps in CMU's first four games and on Saturday, he made the play of the game in the Chippewas' 24-13 Mid-American Conference victory over Eastern Michigan.
His interception, late in the third quarter, ended an EMU threat and preserved the Chippewas' one-touchdown lead. CMU eventually kicked a field goal to close the drive that began with Blackwell's pick, and that field goal iced the game.
"A play like that doesn't happen without everybody on defense doing what they're supposed to be doing and helping me out to make that play," said Blackwell, who finished with a season-high six tackles in the game.
That play helped to raise Blackwell's profile among CMU fans and around campus. His teammates raised him in response in the locker room immediately following the game.
"It's one of the more embarrassing parts of my life, being a grown man and being picked up by other grown men," he said with a laugh in describing the lift-and-carry as something akin to crowd surfing. "It's not something that you don't normally experience. It was weird, but I was OK with it."
And CMU is more than OK with Blackwell, a two-year All-Missouri Valley Conference selection who made four interceptions and had 13 pass breakups in three years (two as a starter) at Football Championship Subdivision Indiana State.
He went into the portal after the 2024 season seeking an opportunity with a Football Bowl Subdivision program.
"When I got on the phone with the (CMU) coaches I knew that this is where I wanted to be," he said. "I don't pass the eye test for many people. It takes people to actually sit down and look at your film."
What Blackwell has done since he got to Mount Pleasant has validated Drinkall's first impression.
"When we found him, we felt like we found a lot of value that other people had overlooked, and we were right," Drinkall said. "We were spot on with him. Not only on the field but off the field.
"If he was in the portal now, people would probably be beating down the door to get him because his tape looks so good."
Blackwell has drawn on his experience as a well-rounded athlete. Though only 5-10, he says he can dunk a basketball – "I can do it off an alley-oop; I can't palm it," he said – and he played center field and catcher in baseball, two of that sport's most demanding defensive positions.
"It's easy to judge a ball out of a quarterback's hand if you've played some center field and you know how to roam," he said. "You know how to flip your hips and get to a spot where the ball's going to be. Playing sports your whole life, every sport tends to overlap at some point.
"I was lucky, I played baseball, basketball, football, hockey – there's all the competitive nature that has to come out and that's something that I try to do in my everyday life, no matter what I'm doing. If it's homework, I want to get it done as fast as possible. Make it competitive somehow."
While football is now his meal ticket to an education, baseball is in Blackwell's blood, and his name.
His parents named him for Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux, who played for four teams from 1986-2008, most notably the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.
"My parents are both Cubs fans," Blackwell said. "I took the alternative route of being a (St. Louis) Cardinals fan, just out of spite."
Maddux, who won 355 games in his brilliant 23-year career, was a relatively undersized right-hander with pinpoint control and never known as a hard thrower. In fact, he more resembled a high school history teacher than he did a professional athlete.
The football parallel isn't lost on the relatively diminutive Blackwell.
"In my mind I like to think that I'm similar to him," Blackwell said. "Obviously the dude was unbelievably successful. He had a mindset that he could outsmart you on the mound and you don't have to be 6-6 and have the longest arms to throw a perfect game or anything similar. I try to keep that mindset."
Players Mentioned
DB
/ FootballFootball Insider - 10.2.25
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