'My best friend': Memories of late brother fuel meteoric recruiting rise for Billings West's Matt Ludwig (2024)

BILLINGS — Matt Ludwig is going through a recruiting process that countless other high school football players across the country could only dream about.

But about a year and-a-half ago, he and his family went through a tragedy that they wouldn't wish on anybody.

His road trips this summer for official college visits, for instance, have seen him stand on the block "M" in the middle of the colossal Michigan Stadium, where he was chatting with the defending national champion Wolverines. He's paced in the orange-and-white checkerboard endzone at Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, where over 100,000 people can pack in the walls to watch the Volunteers. And he's taken a photo with Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, pointing finger guns with his dad at the Cowboys' Boone Pickens Stadium, too.

Those same experiences, however, don't entirely feel perfect without his late brother, Nicholas, to share them with.

"He was my best friend," Ludwig said in an interview with The Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports this past week.

'It motivates me every day'

The oldest of three children, Matthew Ludwig Jr. was born into an athletic family that right away gave him tools he needed to thrive in whatever sports he chose.

His father, Matthew Ludwig Sr., played football at Purdue. At the time of his first son's birth he was a strength and conditioning coach at Washington, his second college coaching stop after serving in the same role at rival Washington State.

Middle child Alivia was born next before Nick — affectionately nicknamed "Nicko" by the family — was brought into the world in 2010.

Immediately after his birth, Nick's fights for survival began.

Nick was born with a single ventricle heart defect that effectively left him with "half a heart," per his dad. He had his first open-heart surgery at 14 days old and had six by the age of 3, leading Ludwig Sr. to leave college athletics and enter the medical-device industry to spend more time with his ailing son.

But once Nick's situation became more stable and he was able to be at home with his family, he became a "normal" kid in just about every sense of the word.

Highly competitive, Ludwig Sr. said Nick participated in baseball without limitations, loved playing basketball and golf, and would often push himself to the point of vomiting andcardiac arrhythmias, in which case dad said they'd do "everything we could" to rest him for safety.

Meanwhile, as Matt Jr. started developing his football talents at the youth levels in Post Falls, Nick — unable to play football due to his condition — was often right beside him in support. Matt Sr. would coach, Matt Jr. would play and Nick would yell and cheer, creating great memories between the three on the gridiron.

"Nick was my partner, my assistant coach any time he was out there. Any time he could be out there, he would be coaching with me," Matt Sr. said. "He'd be in the weight room with our guys in high school and trying to compete with all of them.

"Looking at him for a moment, you never would have thought he had anything."

Nick stayed involved in sports however he could until his defect began to cruelly flare up again in August 2020, when his heart failure progression created liver failure. By August 2022, Matt Sr. said he and his wife, Tessa, had to have some "really serious discussions" with Seattle Children's Hospital, where Nick was being cared for, about next steps.

Nick needed a heart transplant, and his parents listed him for one in January 2023. The Ludwigs sold their house in Post Falls on Feb. 17 in preparation for a move to Billings, where the kids' grandparents lived and could watch them if and when the parents needed extended time at Seattle Children's.

That same evening, the hospital called and told the family that it had a matching heart for Nick.

The procedure itself was successful, Matt Sr. said, but in post-transplant, Nick suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Feb. 21, 2023. He was 12 years old.

Having watched the burial of a sibling and being made to move to an unknown city in Billings, Matt Jr. and his family were struck by painful suffering. But the older brother made a commitment to keep fighting and pushing for Nick, who'd overcome long odds time and time again.

"It motivates me every day," Matt Jr. said. "Even with the smallest things, (when) something's getting hard, I just kind of sit back and realize what he went through every day. And it kind of motivates me to just put a smile on my face and be thankful that I'm here and I get the opportunity to do what I do."

One of their own

From purely an athletic standpoint, West football coach Rob Stanton was obviously excited to deploy Matt Jr. for the first time last season as his physical tools, even as a sophom*ore, were at times off-the-charts good for the top levels of Class AA football.

But once he learned about what Ludwig and his family were enduring, it was an important reminder for Stanton that his players are both very young and very human, sometimes needing helping hands.

"We think we have a pretty strong community and we're welcoming anybody and everybody with open arms," Stanton said. "That doesn't have to be a special athlete like 'Moose,' either. They went through hardships and you wouldn't know it talking to Matt and Moose and Tessa, (they're) just a great family. ... Special people and we're lucky to have them in our Billings West community."

Ludwig caught 36 passes for 441 yards and five touchdowns and also had 24 carries for 204 yards, often barreling for extra yardage as would-be tacklers frequently pinballed off of his stocky frame. He was an AA all-state selection, one of four sophom*ores from the Eastern AA to make the team in 2023.

With a rare combination of speed (11.44 100-meter dash in the spring track season), strength (143-foot, 5-inch discus throw) and athleticism (easily able to dunk a basketball), Ludwig has become the most uncoverable player in the state. His game isn't perfect, with Stanton noting that Ludwig has been working on his blocking in the offseason, but there's a reason coaches from Michigan, Tennessee, Washington and others have flown into Billings to get a look at him.

"He's not going to leave the field much," Stanton said. "He'll be off the field on special teams, but now he has to get his body ready for another side of the ball. He did play defense for us last year, but this year he's going to have a bigger role; he's also a pretty good outside linebacker, too. Those long arms can narrow some spaces down for the opposing team."

An open-arms welcome

Ludwig's rapid rise up recruiting boards has taken him on a cross-country college tour over the past few months. Coaches from all over are targeting him as a versatile player who could play any of an array of positions.

Per 247Sports, Ludwig is a four-star recruitranked as the 251st overall player and 17th overall athlete in the country as well as the No. 1 player in Montana for the class of 2026. His mammoth offer sheet as of this weekend most notably includes Michigan, Georgia, Penn State, Oregon, Tennessee and a whole host of others; Ludwig said he has made visits to Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Georgia, Nebraska and Texas Tech and doesn't plan on committing anywhere until next summer.

"The biggest thing for me is that brotherhood environment," Ludwig said. "I've seen how much it's supported me and helped me here (in Billings) just in this one year alone. I believe if I can find that level of brotherhood anywhere else, that'd be amazing and that's kind of just the big focus I've been looking at."

Stanton said to expect plenty of college coaches from far and wide stopping at West games this fall, and while they'll be there to watch Ludwig put on a show, they'll also see him trot out with a slightly different look.

Ludwig wore the No. 18 jersey during his first season, but he is switching to No. 5 for the 2024 season. Nick's number. It gives him a piece of his brother's memory that he'll carry with him every time he touches the ball.

His brother is no longer be with him, but the comfort and reassurance his new teammates and coaches have given Ludwig have helped him adjust and thrive, he said.

As he hopes to reward the program for its compassion by excelling in his last two seasons of high school ball, he'll hold close the one who couldn't be there to see his rise.

"They brought me in like family the second I moved in here," Ludwig said. "When we did move in, it was kind of a hard time for our family at the moment, and the coaching staff (in) basketball, football, just brought me in and loved on me the entire time. ... They just brought me in like family and kind of helped me realize the brotherhood that is here at Billings West."