Player Spotlight: Max Doerfler's Inspiring Journey

09.04.2026College Men

Max Doerfler takes the ball up for Army against Queens. Photo Walter Schmidlin.

Author: Alex Goff

West Point's explosive victory over Queens University Charlotte this past weekend showcased a somewhat newer offensive approach from the Black Knights, and it was also a big day for one particular player.

Max Doerfler, a second-year loose forward starting at No. 8, scored two tries and was an influence throughout the game. But that's only part of the story.

Three years ago Doerfler was, in a rugby sense and in a personal sense, on the high track. The St. Thomas Aquinas standout had earned a scholarship to Nelson College in New Zealand courtesy of the US Rugby Foundation. He was at Nelson along with Ollie Kirk. That experience put Doerfler on a springboard to lead a very strong Aquinas side as captain in his senior season in the spring of 2024.

"I felt I was playing with a lot of confidence and really I was on a rugby high," Doerfler told GRR this week. "I loved the experience at Nelson College. Even though I didn't have as much rugby success as I had hoped—they have a limit to the number of transfer students who can play on the 1st XV, so I never made it to the 1sts. But I trained with the 1sts all the time and I loved the experience and being in the culture of New Zealand and around my teammates. Also being in a boarding school I really learned a lot about personal discipline. I was determined to grow more as a person and show the US Rugby Foundation that they had made the right decision in awarding me that scholarship."

How Two American Kids Handled Rugby and Life at School in NZ

Learn more about the US Rugby Foundation and the Nelson Scholarship here>>

The Road Block

Set to captain Aquinas, Doerfler was then ready to matriculate to West Point. He helped lead Aquinas to another strong season and a spot at the Boys HS National Championships. Then it all came crashing down. He tore his ACL just before the national tournament. Immediately it was clear he could not lead his side through the tournament, and, worse yet, he would not be physically ready to enter into West Point.

(The way it works at the Service Academies is that if you are injured while a student there, they can take care of you and accommodate you, because injuries do happen; but you have to pass a fitness test to enter, and if you can't do that, then you can't start.)

Doerfler was able to defer his entry, which was a good thing, but it put everything on hold.

"The injury was very humbling," Doerfler said. "It was a year. A year without rugby. A year without school. I would be with the [Aquinas] tea and help coach but I was just at home. There was no other place for me to go."

Fueling him was a desire to get back to where he had been, and the support he had from his family, his coaches at Aquinas, and a coach he hadn't played for yet.

"I called Coach Sherman to tell him about the injury and he said 'I will do whatever I can to help you out.' He didn't talk to me just as a player; he treated me as a person and that meant a lot."

Taking It As An Opportunity

So, with a year to himself, Doerfler went to work. Along with coaching at Aquinas he achieved his USA Rugby coaching certification, and he achieved his referee certification as well. Not wanting to lie fallow academically he enrolled in a mathematics class and a physics class at his local community college.

On top of that, he worked two jobs, scooping ice cream for the ice cream shop where his father is Director of Operations (Betty Rae's in Overland Park, Kans. if you're in the neighborhood). And if that wasn't enough, he started with as an airplane mechanic.

A friend said they needed help, and Doerfler said he'd step in.

"I was pretty low-level as a mechanic but I learned a lot; I got paid more scooping ice cream!"

But more than that, in a world where young people are often pushed to get to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, Max Doerfler had a moment to himself.

"When you go through something like that, you have a chance to take some time to reflect," he said. "What is the person I am? What is the person, the man, I want to be? I want to be a man of character, I was to show resilience, character, and leadership. And if I could I wanted to bring that to the Army rugby team."

Back At It

Doerfler stepped onto the West Point campus last fall and embraced it all. The team has a number of traditions centered around taking the self out of things. Guys who run for three miles and pick up trash at a field before practicing. Guys who work hard to sublimate their personal needs or goals to those of the team.

"When you see the captain of the team picking up pads and cones after practice, you really feel that," Doerfler said.

So on to this year, and this past week's game. Army started conservatively, but that was by design. Gradually, then suddenly, they started to open it up, passing up rucks for offloads, using their width better.

"We have new coaching, new ideas, and we had all felt that we need to be better," said Doerfler. "There are changes in the game and we are string to get ahead of that. We're starting to play with confidence, and while playing for territory and being physical in contact is still very important, in the game against Queens you could see us grow in confidence in how we play."

In Support

Doerfler scored twice, including a superb team try that started in the Army 22 and in which ballcarriers were wrapped up on four occasions. Three times the Army ballcarriers held their feet and offloaded. One of those was Doerfler, who went to ground after his pass. On the fourth, flanker Jack Reed, who had charged on for about 20 meters, was finally taken to ground. Still, though, no ruck, as Reed looked up from the deck, saw Doerfler, and popped a pass to put the No. 8 over.

It was a very nice try to watch, but also one that Doerfler stressed was a team effort.

Max Doerfler dives on a ball for Army against Queens. Photo Walter Schmidlin.

"If you look at it there were something like five guys there and any one of us could have taken the pass and scored," he said. "All of the guys were doing the work to get there and be in support."

Just beginning his second year at West Point Max Doerfler has accomplished a lot. But in his mind he's really just beginning, and he's certainly beginning again, after the ACL set back. An Electrical Engineering major who hopes to branch Engineers or Infantry (West Point rugby players love to branch infantry) he also has his eyes on special forces if it works out for him.

But as a rugby player, he is a testament to the US Rugby Foundation's decision-making in awarding him that Nelson College scholarship, and he is a testament to a community that didn't turn there back on an injured teammate. Keep an eye on him this year.