Max Von Marburg brings Australian boot to Syracuse

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Max Von Marburg’s American football career began by scrolling through YouTube. He stumbled across a video of Michael Dickson, a punter for the Seattle Seahawks who, like Von Marburg, had a strong background in Australian rules football. Something stuck.

From that point, Von Marburg wanted to do everything he could to get into a college program in the U.S., he said. He tried out for Prokick Australia in January 2021, the same program that helped Dickson and hundreds of others cross over from Australia to the United States. While he started out as somewhat inconsistent and raw, Von Marburg developed into the program’s best punter by the time Syracuse called after last season.

Von Marburg’s weekly workouts and film sessions helped him quickly grow at Prokick. Not even two years after first getting into American-style punting, Von Marburg is now SU’s newest starting punter. Through five games this season, he has proved to be a key part of the Orange’s improved special teams play under first-year coordinator Bob Ligashesky, averaging 42.5 yards per punt.

“There’s definitely (been) a lot of improvement,” Von Marburg said. “As Coach Lig says, there’s always more meat on the bone. So there’s always more growth out there that I can show, and I definitely feel like I’m just starting to show what I can do.”

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Prokick’s founder John Smith had a close relationship with Ligasheksy, who was recruiting Sami Sir to Bowling Green at the time. But Ligasheksy jumped to SU in early December, telling Prokick he’d likely need a punter there, too.

Prokick sent film of Von Marburg performing different punts to Syracuse, noting in the video if the kicks were directional and what the distances and hang times were. Prokick coach Tim Gleeson said when schools ask for film, Prokick tries to show the various types of punts a player can do.

When schools are looking to add a Prokick punter, the program looks at how a player fits academically and with the team’s coach. Von Marburg “fit the bill perfectly” for Syracuse, Gleeson said. He was Prokick’s most developed punter and he also had U.S. citizenship, meaning he could bypass the slow visa system.

Von Marburg didn’t punt as well as he wanted to after arriving at SU, he said. But his extensive time reviewing film with Ligashesky and veteran long snapper Aaron Bolinsky helped him develop, Bolinsky said. The snapper used the knowledge he accumulated from former SU All-American punters Sterling Hofrichter and Nolan Cooney to help Von Marburg improve.

The Australian stepped into a somewhat crowded punter room. James Williams and Ian Hawkins both started last season, but the Orange averaged only 37 yards per punt. For a program that had three straight punters reach the NFL (Hofrichter, Cooney and Riley Dixon), it was a step backwards. But Von Marburg’s improvement helped him earn the starting job — one he hasn’t lost after five games.

Von Marburg met Dixon earlier this year when the Los Angeles Rams punter visited SU for training. Dixon preached consistency to Von Marburg, who had known about Syracuse’s punting tradition while being recruited.

“It was very enticing, seeing that they had a very good history and lineage here of punters. So it made it a pretty easy decision,” Von Marburg said.

Bolinsky said Von Marburg was anxious before Syracuse’s first game against Louisville. He told Von Marburg that it was just like he was punting at Ensley Athletic Center or outside on the practice field.

“The work that he has put in has been really paying off and it’s cool to be able to snap to him this season,” Bolinsky said.

The improvement from Von Marburg and Syracuse’s other specialists can be partially attributed to Ligashesky, who coached special teams for 12 years in the NFL and is SU’s first special teams coordinator in two years. Ligashesky brings professionalism, and focuses on fundamentals and techniques every day in practice, Bolinsky said. Von Marburg said the coach has helped him adjust to the speed of college football, and has knowledge of every formation teams throw at Syracuse.

SU’s specialists go onto the practice field about 45 minutes before other players, warming up and stretching before the special teams period. After the group finishes, Von Marburg works on hand drills, holding the football and feeling it bounce off his foot. Bolinsky said the Orange have been working on different types of punts, including rollouts, where the punter takes a few steps before punting. The snapper said the way Von Marburg kicks the ball is nothing he’s seen before. Head coach Dino Babers said Von Marburg has a collection of “crazy” kicks, ones that, if Ligashesky approves, SU will break out in a game.

“He does things with his foot that other people do with their hands. What a pitcher can do with a baseball with their hand is what he can do with his foot,” Babers said.

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Kicker Andre Szmyt said Von Marburg told him he’s been kicking a football-like ball since he was 4 years old. Von Marburg played Australian rules football for years, a sport where players kick the ball while on the run to score, which made him comfortable with rollout punts.

But Australian rules football requires players to keep kicks low, while punters in American football want to get adequate hang time. Gleeson said the adjustment requires players to float the ball out more before kicking instead of pushing it down to the foot. The ball has to be in a spot where the punter can freely swing their leg in the air.

Gleeson, who punted at Rutgers from 2012-15 after going through the Prokick program, worked with Von Marburg three to four times a week last year. The two met in early 2021 when Gleeson, on a run in his neighborhood, saw Von Marburg kicking with two others at a local field. He said Von Marburg had a natural instinct to find the ball and a lot of hip strength. Players kick more with their hamstring in Australian Rules, and Von Marburg was dropping the ball slightly inside and hooking it at first, Gleeson said.

Von Marburg and Gleeson worked on rollouts, directional punts and being able to land sky punts on a dime. Bolinsky said Von Marburg can now consistently kick a 45-yard punt and get it to stop and roll backwards.

For Gleeson, Von Marburg’s improvement and play through September is expected. It’s what Prokick prepared him for. After the program viewed Syracuse for years as a “Holy Grail” of punters, Von Marburg has finally brought an Australian boot to SU’s special teams.

“He’s a kid with all the talent in the world,” Gleeson said.