If you think Maxwell Hairston is going to shy away from the cold weather in Buffalo, you obviously don’t remember the deep playoff runs he made with West Bloomfield High School, which invariably ended up in snowy weather, too.

The former Laker was drafted No. 30 overall in Thursday night’s first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, going to the five-time reigning AFC East champion Buffalo Bills.

Hairston is the first former Oakland County player to go in the first round since Stoney Creek’s Eric Fisher was selected No. 1 overall out of Central Michigan University in 2013.

Ranked the No. 19 player (three-star prospect) in the state of Michigan’s class of 2021, Hairston (5-foot-11, 183 pounds) made himself a mint in the run up to the NFL Draft, running an NFL Combine-best 4.28-second 40-yard dash.

“It’s hard to have recovery speed like that,” Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane told reporters after selecting Hairston 30th overall.

“Some guys run fast, like they run track fast, but they don’t play fast,” he added. “And you’re always looking to add speed as long as the football player matches it.”

He’d used that speed to return three of his six career interceptions for touchdowns in his three seasons at Kentucky, tying the program record.

“I bring juice, I bring being a good teammate, I bring leadership,” Hairston told reporters. “And I’m going to bring Josh Allen the ball back.”

Hairston was second-team all-SEC in 2023, when he picked off five passes to lead the conference, starting all 13 games. Named a team captain as a junior, he missed five games with a shoulder injury in 2024, but still had 19 tackles, a sack, four PBUs and two forced fumbles in seven starts, giving him 89 total tackles, 2.5 for loss and one sack, and 10 pass breakups in 32 career games.

“I think he is a willing tackler,” Beane said, noting Hairston has already started bulking up. “It’s not from a lack of effort. And he’s got the coverage skills, ball skills that you look for in a corner. … We didn’t want to commit to that until we saw what was there on the board,” Beane said. “We had options to go back, but we had a good grade on Max. We’re excited that he was available.”

As a senior at West Bloomfield, Hairston was a captain for the 2020 Division 1 state championship squad, earning first-team all-state honors with 23 tackles, 16 pass breakups, three interceptions and three forced fumbles on defense. He also had 500 receiving yards and four scores on offense for West Bloomfield.

The Lakers could have more draft success to celebrate later on this weekend, with Donovan Edwards (Michigan), Makari Paige (Michigan), Lance Dixon (Toledo), Cornell Wheeler (Kansas) and Tyrone ‘Rudy’ Broden (Arkansas) all potential draft picks or undrafted free agents.

“Surreal. It’s more than cool. And it’s l surreal because it’s why you get into teaching and coaching is to see kids reach their dreams. And in this case, as we’re talking football, this is the pinnacle, the ultimate of it,” current Lakers head coach Zach Hilbers, who has known the group for years, said before the draft. “I don’t know, it’s almost overwhelming. So I’ve been trying to reach out to all of them and talk to them. And Rudy’s been to the school a ton, which is makes it easier. But like, you know, it’s nuts, it’s crazy, especially when you — I have a cool picture of Max (Hairston) and Donovan from middle school basketball that’s hilarious. It’s just hilarious how little they look.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this report