Then they told him to try rushing the passer. Square one? McDonald didn’t even understand the point of the goal posts.įirst, Harris lined him up at tight end - and McDonald made their best defensive back “look like a little kid,” said Dan D’Amico, the offensive coordinator. “No thanks.” Finally, he relented and came out for his first practice, halfway through the season. “No.” Just give it a try, you’ll have fun. Some days, Harris would get to school early just so he could catch McDonald before class started. “You couldn’t deny how big he was,” Harris said. He had never seen someone like McDonald, not there. Harris was in the process of rebuilding a football program that had been through seven head coaches in 10 years, so he was “scrounging the halls” as much as he could, he said, looking for football players. So he sprinted down the hallway, which “seemed like a mile.” From afar, in that crowd, McDonald looked like he might be 6-9, Harris thought. Matt Harris was walking through Waukesha North High, a few weeks into the 2015 football season, when he spotted McDonald across the hallway. “I wasn’t expecting myself to be here, six, seven years ago,” McDonald said.Īt McDonald’s first-ever high school football practice, his coaches lined him up across from the team’s best offensive lineman and told him to “rush the quarterback.” That’ll get you drafted in the first round.

He also forced the most fumbles (10) in Iowa State history, with the second-most tackles for loss (42).

He finished with 34 career sacks, tied for the most in Big 12 history - one more than Von Miller had at Texas A&M. “If he gets a chance to go one-on-one with offensive tackles - I would say, ‘Good luck,’” said Iowa State defensive line coach Eli Rasheed.Įven if McDonald is a “project,” as some have labeled him, he was a project when he arrived at Iowa State, too.

He’s only 6-3, 240 pounds - smaller for a defensive end - but plans to put on weight. Coach Robert Saleh called McDonald a “game wrecker,” and the Jets love his profile as a defensive end with long arms, top-notch athleticism, a proclivity for forcing fumbles and one of the most valuable skills in football: an elite ability to get after the quarterback. He joins an organization with Super Bowl aspirations, and one that believes McDonald can be a key piece of that puzzle, even if some are questioning the decision to draft him so early. Jets 2023 NFL Draft takeaways: How the 7 picks fit on an Aaron Rodgers-led roster

Before your memory fades