By Ray Hamill — After a record breaking career at College of the Redwoods, sophomore quarterback Max Hough announced on Tuesday that he will play for Division-II Colorado Mesa in the fall of 2024.

Hough, a Fortuna High graduate, signed his letter of intent in front of a gathering of teammates, family and friends at CR on Tuesday afternoon.

And he follows in the footsteps of CR teammate Lane Branstetter, a former Ferndale Wildcat who also recently committed to play for the Mavericks.

Colorado Mesa has been a popular destination for former H-DNL players, with the Rice brothers, Maximus and Tucker, also playing football there after standout careers at Arcata and St. Bernard’s.

Hough leaves a remarkable legacy in his wake and is a certain future hall of famer at CR after setting multiple career records at the quarterback position.

“I’m happy for him. He has worked so hard to get to this point,” said CR head coach Jason White, who added “He’s going to be a hall of famer here. He is, there’s like no doubt in my mind about that.

“And he’s hopefully going to continue that success at Colorado Mesa.”

Hough took over as the starter at CR midway through his freshmen season and would go on to set school records for most touchdown passes (40), passing yards (4,008) and pass completions (291).

He also rushed for 283 yards and eight TDs.

More than that, Hough will be remembered as one of the players who helped lead the football renaissance at the local community college, returning the program to relevance over the past two seasons and helping to lead the team to a first bowl win in three decades.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Max Hough (center) with CR quarterbacks coach Eric Helms, left, and head coach Jason White at Tuesday’s letter signing.

And according to his coach, his success at CR is a tale of perseverance.

“He didn’t start the first few games but stuck it out and ended up being a two-time all-conference player for us,” White added.

For Hough, the move to a four-year program almost never happened.

After watching multiple teammates recently receive offers to continue their playing careers — including Branstetter (Colorado Mesa), Chase Steubing (New Mexico Highlands) and Joey Quen (Mount Marty in South Dakota) — the standout QB was already preparing for life after football, when the offer came in two weeks ago.

“It got to the point to where I was just about ready to go find a job after football kinda, and this happened and I’m grateful for it,” he said.

Hough added that deciding to play for CR was one of the best decisions he ever made and one that obviously worked out well for him.

Asked what he will remember most from his time at CR, Hough responded: “Just the people, all my teammate from both years, all the coaches,” he said. “I made a lot of great relationships.”

He added that the bowl win — a 63-0 demolishing of Hartnell at the Redwood Bowl last month — meant more to him than any individual accomplishments.

“It was really great to break that 30-year streak,” he said. “I mean, that’s all I really want coming into the year. I don’t care about personal accomplishments or anything like that. I just wanted to get that big win. It felt good.”

Hough will make the move to Colorado in two days.

He joins a Mavericks team that was 6-5 in 2023.