The Untold Story of Will McDonald IV | Iowa State Sack Leader to Jets First-Round Pick | Origins

The Untold Story of Will McDonald IV | Iowa State Sack Leader to Jets First-Round Pick | Origins

[Music] Let’s lock in. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. These right here is my babies. M8 MA50, y’all. info. I got them both wrapped uh gloss uh gloss green. This one’s preferably tuned. This one’s not tuned yet, but this one has uh 580 horsepower. I believe this one has about uh 680. I’m going to let you hear it. [Music] This the one right here though. When we get this tune, we going to go crazy. I’m telling you. Um I love driving cars, customizing cars, tuning, you know, whatever it is. Um definitely after I get done, you know, being in the league, this probably going to be what I end up doing to be honest. But you know, just uh something that my dad definitely put me on. Greatly appreciate that. When I was little, me and my pops, we used to uh we used to work, you know, on cars all the time. We’ve always bonded over cars, you know, he likes more like old school, you know, just like laidback stuff. I like, you know, like fast and sporty and uh but you know, we always like every time he’ll like come up here, we’ll like do some work like we did some work on this one. We put the spoiler on there and um and these uh side skirts in the front. No, it’s always just been something to me that I just always enjoyed team locked in. Love this man. This the type of stuff that people need in their life. [Music] If you had to give one word to describe Will McDonald’s story, what would it be? One word, superior. I say, man, he going to be something. He could have took that and went a different route with it. Just gave up everything, but he did not. If he would have chose basketball, I think the outcome would have been the same instead of NFL, like NBA. He was like just that good. My initial impressions were that there was a young man that had been through a lot in life. His story is so special and it was all his determination to make his life better. You know, overcoming the odds that that he overcame to to earn a, you know, a division one football scholarship and then ending up in the NFL. It’s a story that’s hard to describe and and it’s seemingly hard to believe. He’s experienced things that all of us have never experienced before and he could have gone a million different ways in his life and his childhood and he chose to lean on the people that cared about him. Will McDonald’s active career leader in s Can you just give me a couple of words to describe what he did athletically that year? It was pretty stupid. the way I describe Will McDonald’s story. Um, damn boss. You’re going to get to moments where you need a sack and he’s going to do it. I promise you, he was born to be this. Maybe he had a high top fade, but to me it was like a halo. Oh, what a story to tell. growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was uh it was a cool little environment. Uh I think I was I was with uh both of my parents at the time. Not like at like at the same time, but at first um I was with my mom’s and then I was with my pops. Um they made sure that we had, you know, everything that we can, you know, be able to uh continue to uh keep pushing. Will was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and he was a firecracker. You know, if he sees something, he’ll take it apart, see how it works. He was a tinkler. What they call that? A tinkler. And you know, he always wanted to see how something work or uh or if he was doing something, he like take it over. He’s the baby of the family. Um and he was always just a good kid. Like he was a super super good kid. Like not too loud. He loved playing with cars, which is obviously what he still do now. Um, so it’s it’s kind of crazy to see like he used to play with cars a lot. Him and Eric both. Him and his brother Eric would do a lot of wrestling. Him and Eric, they was like twins. Me and Will, we were kind of like inseparable. So anywhere I went, he went and like vice versa. We had ripsticks and stuff. Um, you know, uh, skateboards. Uh, what’s uh that one uh like the one wheel bike, uh, the unicycle? I had one of those. to buy them stuff that nobody else had. Like the unicycles, I’m like, I’m going to see if they can what they can do with this. So, got the unicycle. When they rode the unicycles, that’s I think it’s fair to say that’s when I knew him and his brother Eric, they I think believe their dad bought them some unicycles. And I was just looking like, okay, when are they going to learn this? And to my surprise, they learned very well. It’s been a good run with them. I know that it’s always been something that he done and you can’t believe it. So, it’s something like I’m just we just all used to what we seems like like basketball was your first love, right? You kind of talk about when you start playing basketball. I mean, I’ve been I’ve been hooping since I’ve been hooping since man like I want to say like third fourth grade. Like that’s when I like really started. Um and like from there I thought I was about to you know go to the lead beating there Westbrook. It’s the battle of Walka North versus South and the fans were amped to say the least. There’s even more than bragging rights on the line as both squads enter at 2 and one in the tough classic eight looking to make a move. Then it’s sophomore Will McDonald with some hard work inside. It pays off and won 12-8 North. Then it’s McDonald showing quickness on the baseline for two of his 11 on the night. There you go. I remember he was practicing that windmill. It took him a while to get that, but once he got it, he was that was like his favorite dunk. Yeah, that there it is. EOS Fitness. See him jump over cars is that’s not something you see every day. I don’t think many people are willingly jumping over cars to like test their athleticism. He he’s crazy for that. So, uh yeah, Will is uh I don’t even know how to describe. He’s Will is one of one to me. He’s one of one. So yeah. [Music] Could you ever have imagined as a kid like Will would be here today a first round pick in the NFL? I mean sometimes you can see it right away, but like was there ever a moment where you said like, “Hey, like this really could happen for him?” I think uh as kids I at the time no like I didn’t know where our future would be. Um I would say it’s not too much out of the norm outside of maybe like I’m pretty sure everybody been behind on bills before but that was like our parents’ problem but it also affect us as well. Um cuz we’ve we’ve been in the dark like um [Music] I’m pretty sure as a kid um we had notices and stuff like that. Like it it pretty much was the same as everybody else. But um with kids all the way up until now like we always stick together. We take care of each other no matter what. Even the times where we was like in the dark or sometimes we didn’t have um as much food as everybody else, we we came up with something um to make sure that we was all okay. Um it wasn’t too much of a struggle even during the struggle. I I will say that [Music] his sophomore junior year I was the head girls track coach. I also teach in the building and um we would always do study tables for kids if they had low grades. Will was one of them and um he just like asked a lot of questions. He was really wanting to understand like what we were doing. So, it kind of just developed over time. I was a bad kid in school, by the way. So, I mean, I wasn’t like bad, but like I wasn’t like following the rules like I wouldn’t, you know, like finding nothing like that, but uh you know, we just we just had to uh you know, had like a little bit of like discipline. So, when he started here, he had a 1.8 GPA um which you he’s not going to go on to any division one school. you know, just treating me like, you know, I was like their own son. So, um, I was, uh, real grateful for that. I would literally just go to her office. I grab all my work from like the other teachers and I just go in there and she just teach me everything. You know, she definitely taught me like a whole bunch of life lessons and all of that. But, um, I want to say, you know, she, uh, definitely helped me out a lot, you know, with schooling. We knew what grades he needed in his classes and he never skirted away from doing the hard work on his own. As a teacher, you hope that you get to work with somebody like that, but then being able to work with somebody like that, um, it’s like a dream. [Music] I had heard from a teacher in the building that there was this new kid in. He’s really tall and and and our school had struggled in football and I had just been hired as the head football coach here a year or two prior. Um I was scratching and clawing to find any kid in the entire school that could potentially play football. Well, I happened to be standing in the hallway at the beginning of the school day and down the long hallway, I saw a boy who looked to be about seven feet tall because he had this huge high top fade. And as fast as I could run, I sprinted down the hallway to catch him before, you know, school the the school bell rang. And I ran up to him and I said, “Hey, my name’s Coach Harris. Do you play football? I I I just you need to come and play football with me.” Like I could just tell like there was just something there was an aura about him that something is why I wanted to talk to him. And he just looked at me and said, “No, you’re crazy. I’m a basketball player.” Harris was literally waiting for me. Um like every time I got done with practice like, “Yo, come out to the field. Come out to the field.” And I always told him, you know, I wasn’t really like I’m not a football player. Something told me to not give up and I never gave up. I just kept going back to him and I I would come to school early uh before I knew he would get to school so I’d have a chance to talk to him. 5 to 10 times later, he finally he finally agreed. He finally agreed to come out and at least just hang out at football practice. And that was that was the beginning. Coach Harris brings him out to the football field one day and we’re sitting there and you know Will’s 6’5 kid and like I coached receivers at the time and he coach Harris goes, “Oh, I got this new kid for you.” And I look and I’m like, “Oh, perfect. You know, I can work with that.” And we’re standing there and I’m teaching him how to stand as a wide receiver. And all of a sudden, he’s like, I’m like, “What are you doing?” And he goes, “I smell chicken patties.” And I’m like, “What?” He goes, “I smell chicken patties. They’re coming from over there.” And I’m like, “Okay.” And so I go up to Coach Harris and I’m like, “Who is this guy?” That first time he was out on the field, it was like he had no clue what was going on. He didn’t, you know, really seem to know what like a a practice looked like or, you know, like what he was witnessing. Like I thought maybe he’d be a wide receiver. Finally, we got him in pads and we got him out onto the field and on the first play we put him at defensive end and then we said, “Hey, now we want you to try to rush the passer.” And I don’t really think he knew what that meant, but we just told him, “Hey, we’re going to put a quarterback here. We want you to try to get around this guy.” and what was our best tackle who went and played college football somewhere and said, “Hey, can you get around this guy?” And I did some type of rip move. I did like a jab in and out. and did a rip move and I I end up beating him and he was in the back field before the ball even got to the quarterback. His first step that you could see then it correlates to what you see now. you know, main thing he taught me was like not everyone watches football every Friday, Saturday, Sunday like most of us do. And you know, he’s like, “Where are those yellow lines at on the field?” I’m like, “Well, that’s on TV.” You know, like stuff like that. But we we found different ways of teaching him and we figured out the way he learned. He’s a very visual learner and you got to show him how to do things and stuff like that and if you told him what to do, he would do it better than anyone. His mom did not want him to play. Chandra did not want him to play. And she pulled up one day and I just begged her. I just said, “I need you to trust me. I need you to trust me. Like I see something and believe that this kid could be really, really special.” And he was like, “Mom, should I sign up for football?” I was like, “Yeah, but you know you can get hurt.” And he was like, “My coach keep asking me.” And I’m like, “Okay, do it. Just be careful.” And then the next thing I know, Will was the sack leader. Yeah. Watching Will on defense, it was like it’s like he it’s like he was a magnet like going to them like wherever the ball was, where it was. I’m like, it’s crazy. When I took over as the head coach, I was the seventh head coach in 10 years. I think they had won three games in the last 5 years or whatever it was. It was really bad. Well, when Will came, we started, you know, it’s like, okay, we started to put some things together. Well, there’s a school in town. It’s it’s the school’s Heartland Arrowhead. It’s the school I’m the head coach of now. They had just been to four state championships in a row. Um, and we were scheduled to play them in the first conference game, and Will was our wide receiver and our defensive end in that game. transition him like from basketball to football. Like you still have that athleticism. And I think that’s kind of where like I think that’s why Will is so good now. You know, where from where we’re around, you don’t see a lot of kids that are 6’4, you know, with the athletic ability that he was showing, the speed, quickness, the ability to jump. It’s just not something that we were used to seeing. So, we knew at that point that we were looking at something that was different. And I remember that week watching that team and thinking about the guys that we had on our team and also I knew we had Will McDonald and I said, “Man, I think we can beat them. I think we can beat them.” He was just a superstar, you know, like he going to go somewhere. He he was the the uh focus of the field. We got to the game and everything went our way. And every time we needed something to happen in that game, Will had three sacks. He had a huge catch. He had the basically the game-winning touchdown. You know, in the last seconds, we got them to jump off size and we won the game. And it’s the first time walk north had ever beaten Hartland Arrowhead in the last like 25 years since 1999. And it kind of was like the turning point of not just our football but like the entire school. Like it was like we finally have figured out how to win and how to beat teams. And I you know there was a lot of great players on that team but Will McDonald was the guy. That game always sticks out to me. One night he I called him. It was Thursday night and I was just like, you know, asking him if he wants to go get BW3’s wings cuz he loves the wings. And he I call him and he kind of slipped up and he’s like, “No, I’m just about to go to sleep in my” and he like started to say it and I’m like, “What were you going to say?” And he’s like, “Oh, nothing. Nothing.” I was like, “Will what were you going to say?” He’s like, “Oh, I’m just sleeping, you know, in a parking lot across town.” So no one finds me. I’ve been doing it for a week. In between that time. Uh it was me, my brother, my mom’s is when my mom’s got kicked out. Um and then you know after that uh my mom she end up getting a place back in Milwaukee and uh my brother moved back there with her and but I wanted to stay in Arkansas because they had better education there than they did in Milwaukee. Um I I believe his family moved back down to Milwaukee and we had just assumed that he had moved down with him and was just commuting out to Waka every day. I was sleeping in a car for like, you know, like a couple of months. You know, I was I worked at McDonald’s. I worked at McDonald’s and it was a Wendy’s across the street that I also worked at. Uh like right by my mom. So I was like um it was cold. Um I was sleeping in my car like around the winter too. It was kind of cold, you know, during our times. But, you know, it ain’t like it ain’t hard, you know, like it’s just it’s just, you know, something that I just like had to do. But, uh, you know, like for me, it was just like the only thing I had on my on my mind was just trying to get like magic case. when he had mentioned to me that he was not staying at home, that he was going to be in his car, like knowing like the atmosphere of any community, like if somebody would knock on his door, on his window, um if he’s sleeping in his car, like that might not end well. So, I you know, I contacted Coach Harris and just said like we have to do something. I had heard about that from from Coach Peterson and Coach Peterson knew a a cop in the in the city and and the cop had seen him sleeping in in the park in his car and you know they knew who he was. Um but when I finally got a hold of Will I said like that’s the last time that this happened. Like we learned that it was kind of just like a all hands on deck. Um let’s figure out where you’re going to stay. And I’m like you know I don’t ever want to hear that again. like, you know, come come stay with me when you need. Coach Harris will bring you in. Coach Dom will bring you in. You know, if you need a place to sleep, sleep, you know, let’s let’s figure this out. My parents like knew nothing about this. Like they didn’t know I was like in, you know, in a car, you know, like struggles, yes, but great, too. Like, you know, like they were a a typical, you know, inner city Milwaukee family. And mom was the most loving person I had ever met. She she was at everything she needed to be at. Dad was a great dad. Like I think he was around Will loved his dad a ton and talked about him all the time to me and but I there was definitely issues. I you know there was definitely things that they had to overcome. He told me that he stayed with his coaches and being the the male figures for him um because he needed that. That would be a big part of, you know, getting him to where he is now because he could have took that and went a different route with it. I would say his his number one trait is his his survival skills and just finding a way to survive, you know, whatever it might be. I mean, his first friends here at Walker North were the lunch ladies and like he they’d have leftover food and he’d get it and stuff like that. He always just found a way to survive. [Music] I first heard about Will McDonald. Um, our recruiting department did a great job of finding a video of this junior was a first year football player, basketball player turned football player, big time under the radar. I I remember him getting a a phone call from Iowa State with with with their offer and it was really the first Power Five school that had reached out and had shown an interest and had offered. I think the first time I met Will was at a junior day here at Iowa State. um he came up with his high school football coach and when he left that day I I remember telling our coaching staff just how special this guy is, what he stood for, what he was about and just was so impressed with the character of this young man and after all the adversity already overcome in his life. When they gave me the offer, I just like accepted it right away cuz I’m like, “Oh, bet. I’m get my school paid for.” You know, I talked to Coach Campbell and you know, we was vibing. came up to the school, came to the crib, and um we just kind of like uh grew uh close together, you know. You know, that’s when I knew, you know, this coach that I want to play for. I’m just going to have you take a look at that article if you want to read the the headline and kind of reflect back on it. The the year of Will McDonald concluded in fitting fashion Saturday at WIA state track meet with the Waua North senior standing at top the podium. McDonald wrote the latest chapter in the saga of his wide-ranging athletic achievements by winning the division one state title in discus. You just talk to coaches and athletic directors throughout the year and sometimes you feel like they might be selling you a a bag of false goods with a guy. Oh yeah, come look at this guy. Do a story on this guy. But sometimes you show up to the field and they’re like, “Look at this guy.” And they don’t even need to sell you anything. And there were two players in my history that I remember that that happened and that’s all I needed to see. We didn’t need to talk about anymore. It was one, it was Will McDonald. And two, it was JC Laam who’s now an offensive tackle the Titans when he was a freshman. You just look at him, you see him play a little bit and you’re like, “Wow, this there there are not many guys here that play like that.” He certainly goes down as what I would say is probably the the most decorated, the most talented, the the best football player in that school’s history. What he was able to do on the field, it was just havoc. I mean, he obviously was an allstate football player, you know, someone that we had someone with that skill set that we hadn’t coached in a long time, you know, earning accolades, you know, across the board. I think like my uh my senior year though, you know, it did slow down. Um I became a captain also, but just uh you know, that was cool for me. I kind of was just like just out there just, you know, just uh playing ball, you you know, and then we get to Friday night and it was just at any moment like he could change a game on both sides of the ball. And then and throughout his senior year, I mean, you just knew like we that’s when we were really sold that one day this guy’s going to be in the NFL. It was really his last couple years that I remember where you started to notice, oh, this guy is is is a freak athlete. He’s he’s producing on the football field and then suddenly he became a basketball star. He goes into basketball season to become a, you know, a player of the year in the conference and, you know, dominating on the basketball floor. People didn’t even have kids. They used to come watch him play basketball and when he get through everybody be lined up while he walking down for autographs and stuff like what? Watching him perform it was it was like magic. Will was like a baby shack in the paint. Coach Harris and Coach Domo and myself, we never missed a basketball game. We went to every single one. We went to, you know, an hour away, 45 minutes away just pretty much to watch Will cuz it was, you know, must see in person cuz it wasn’t on TV. North features lots of players from their football team, including Will McDonald, whose two fisted flush pushces the lead to 15. I think like it started off, you know, with the basketball, you know, just using my athletic ability, you know, to do that. You know, D football, you know, I started to get familiar with that. Uh, dominating that. But I think like track and field was where I had like the most fun. His track story is almost as incredible as his football story. I was doing the hurdles. Um, what else? I was doing the hurdles, the high jump, I did the discus, I did the long jump. He did not like track. The only reason he did track is because I begged him to. And I knew we needed him to to help us win, you know, and he was like, “Fine, coach. I’ll do it. I’m sleeping in your basement anyways, you know, like I’ll come.” But then he fell in love with it. I think I was seated like uh 20 of them like the high jump. I wonder if I can just just gain momentum and kind of just, you know, like stuttered up to the bar and just jumped across and I made it. I got third place out of being seated like 20th. The next day he had to throw the discus and I remember waking up in the morning and him looking at me. He’s like, I’m going to win the state championship. I don’t care what happens. I’m winning the state championship. people who know him know the story about him, you know, throwing disc in Chuck Taylor when he’s competing against other guys who, you know, go to camps and have all the equipment and all this. I always tried to give Will discus shoes and he he just he’s like, “Coach Harris, I’m I’m done taking things from you. Like, I’m just going to wear my shoes.” I’m like, “Will, you have Converse Chuck Taylor on. You can’t throw the discus in Converse Chuck Taylor. to at least just wear these shoes. He’s like, “Nope, I’m wearing these Chuck Taylor.” The second one he threw, I was like, “Oh, yeah. I think I think that’s the one.” They called the numbers and they said it was in first place and then like a couple minutes later they end up saying that he broke the record there. So, I’m like, “That’s crazy.” And this skinny guy was throwing the disc further than them and he won. I said, “Man, like I said, he take he take whatever he do, he just take it over.” I said, “I don’t know. He going to be something.” And to go out and to win a state championship. And to be able to witness that and just to see all the hard work um finally culminate in something so great was was incredible to to be a part of. To win discus and then take second in high jump. Those two events don’t go together. For him to do both of those on top of everything else he did in football which obviously was his best sport in basketball which conference player of the year. That’s pretty crazy pretty crazy. Even in our conference, in our state, there’s never really been someone that has absolutely dominated, you know, three sports. He was the conference defensive player of the year in football. He was the conference basketball player of the year. He was an all-state track athlete. He’s a state champion discus thrower. Will McDonald was the guy. And I I believe that Will McDonald changed the course of of the high school, of the school. He he changed the course of a lot of us. [Music] Wait, can we use that? His last week of school is is a story that like should go down in in books. He needed to get a B in a class in order to be eligible, just eligible to play at Iowa State. And this was the day before the state championship in track. So he goes to the class, he gets a A on the test, finishes the test, goes and gets in the van to go do the state championship and goes and does what he does at the state championship. By his senior year, he had a 3.5 GPA his second semester. And it was all him. Everyone, you know, I gave him the skills, I gave him the strategies, but he had to flourish on his own. You know, I was the first in my family to go to college and graduate from college. So, you know, like getting there, you know, like as soon as I got done like with the graduation at school, I left that same day in my red Pontiac, all my trash bags in the back and I drove up there. I don’t know how I made it. He came to see me right before he left and, you know, we had our embrace and he got in the car and he and he drove away and, you know, that was that was a hard moment. And it was like seeing seeing your boy leave, you know. And all of a sudden, my phone rang about an hour later and he calls me. He’s like, “Coach Harris, my bumper fell off my car.” I’m like, “Okay, well, I guess I’ll get my car and I’ll I’ll come help you out, you know.” And so I get my car and I’m about 5 minutes down the road and he calls me and he facetimes me and he’s like, “Look, I fixed it.” and he had gone into the gas station and bought all the duct tape that they had and had his bumper duct taped to the, you know, to the car and he drove the rest of the way to Iowa State. And, you know, I text Coach Campbell and I’m like, I just want you to know that you got a really special kid coming and his bumper might be dragging on the way. Uh, but once he gets there, please just take care of him because he means the world to me. He means the world to everybody here because he just he just has that infectious personality that you just want to be around and you know like what it’s just a crazy crazy story but it’s just stories like that over and over about his resilience. You know [Music] [Applause] first got there the only thing I had in my room was like a TV and a dresser kind of like just doing my thing. um you know, school, trying to learn the playbook, definitely trying to learn more about football. Like that’s definitely what I was trying to do is learn more about football. So when I first got there, like I knew some stuff, but like not a lot. Here at Iowa State, uh we we tried to do a great job with development. Uh I think at that point Will needed a de a developmental program that could be really patient with him. Uh, I can remember um as a freshman coming in and maybe his first day at Pats having his pads on backwards and not really knowing a five technique from a three technique. But Iowa State was the the right fit for Will McDonald because we could support him. He could grow. Uh he can develop into what he needed. He needed time. He needed that’s all he needed was time to learn. But uh it didn’t take us long and knew that man, his skill set was rushing and passer for sure. My first like real game. It was TCU. I went out there for like one play and we was running the stump. Like I was really like only going out there on like third downs and stuff. We had a really good uh concept for him to actually uh uh be at the point of attack. I line up and we run a blitz. I come scotfree right in the QB face. He tried to move and I punch out the ball. Third down and long. Robinson flush. Lost the football. The scramble for it. Iowa State recovers. Jquine Bailey. Will McDonald backup defensive lineman. And they’ve got plenty up in Ames. Punched the football out of there. Big number 99 in white. His first collegiate play was a strip sack recovery and a critical point in the game. That’s when I knew this guy’s different. You know, I think we made a decision after that game, you know, to red shirt Will. But, um, I think you knew really fast that, man, this guy’s got all the tools and talent to be really special for our football program. I want to say about like like my second third sack. That’s when I started to think like, yo, like I really can probably like go to the league and do this. All I got to do is run around somebody. Like that’s easy. Wrapped up and he’s swallowed up. Will McDonald sack. Will McDonald having a field day. His first couple steps are really explosive. He can bend. He can turn the corners. and he didn’t need a whole lot of pass rush moves to get to the quarterback. [Applause] A massive loss will be for the Cyclones. By the time he I think realized that not only can he do this, but do it maybe better than anybody that’s ever done it at Iowa State. I think there became a sense of confidence and really an alignment to himself of I can be great and I’m going to dominate the game. And what you saw in 21 was a guy from the very first game to the end of the season truly dominate the game. What are you going to remember about Will McDonald? Yeah, you know, that’s probably a great question. You know, I think to me the transformational growth in Will as a human being is far greater than anything that he’s done for us on the football field. And obviously he’s been a great football player, but a way greater human being. I actually was going to leave uh my fourth year like before like the co stuff happened. Um I sat down, talked with coach Campbell. I didn’t like really care like I never cared about like the money and like this and that. like I just I just wanted to be in like a good place. I still recall him talking about getting his degree, talking about the first male in his family to get a college degree. You know, I think there was a lot of debate on where Will would maybe fall in the draft at that time. And I I I still go back to really leaving the decision to Will. There were still some questions about, man, could he is he really the top pass rusher in the country? Is he really the top pass rusher in the Big 12? So, my my whole conversation with Will is that, man, here’s here’s the plan. You go out and have a great year. Um, go to the Senior Bowl and you beat the best of the best of the offensive lineman and leave no doubt. Leave no doubt. And he did that. We’ve got football coming your way. Texas Tech hoping for bowl eligibility taking on an Iowa State Cyclone playing for posterity. It’s going to be fun. Coming your way from Ames. McDonald is already Iowa State’s alltime sack leader, but uh he has his sight set on getting that Big 12 record as well as in which he’d have to be out Von Miller. I don’t know, you might have heard of him. I am trying to I am trying to beat the sack record. I’m I’m hoping for that to be one of my goals this season. I was already planning on like beating his record that year. He so passionately chased those goals and dreams and um and really is a shining example of what you can do when you’re willing to work really hard. Will is the type of person that if he wants something, he’ll go and get it. Being able to like perform like in front of all those people, man. Like it was a real cool experience, man. 130 to play. Texas Tech not in a hurry at all. Shot lost and stripped away. Will McDonald coming off the edge. That’ll be another sack to one of the greatest sack masters in Big 12 history. That is the 34th career sack for Will McDonald. He was tied with Von Miller with 33 until that sack. Now for the Big 12 career lead. What you saw our program do, you know, during Will’s time here is go to heights and go to places we’ve never been to. And you know, Will was such a critical piece of that. and to not only do that as a football player, but then equally have the ability to transform himself not just as a football player, but as a man and be able to have the impact that he had every single day that he was here at Iowa State. The legacy far outweighs Sachs. It goes to his work ethic and his ability to really develop trust and develop himself into the best man, the best human, and one of the best leaders we’ve ever had. Well, we are now less than an hour away from the start of the NFL draft. Our Local 5 sports team is in Kansas City with everything you need to know ahead of the first round picks. Right now, Jake Brent is live at Union Station to tell us more about a cyclone poised to break a 50-year draft uh drought for Iowa State. Jake, [Music] it’s a pretty crazy atmosphere. You can tell the people of Kansas City have been waiting a long time for this. And every time the NFL draft comes around each year, Iowa State fans hear one thing. It’s been so many years since Iowa State’s had a first round draft pick. And this year, the drought has reached 50. But Will McDonald has as good of a chance as any player that’s worn the Cardinal and Gold to break that streak in a long time. You know, my I was talking to my coaches from, you know, back home. And I remember Peterson saying he going to be a first round draft pick. just give him a couple years, he going to be straight. I’m like, I I don’t even know what that means. We went to Coach Campbell’s house. He invited us over for the the draft party. And, you know, we’re driving down there and we’re trying to figure out like, oh, when’s he going to go? When’s he going to go? We’re there and the draft starts and, you know, us being big football fans, we want to watch the draft. Well, Will wanted to play Connect Four against me cuz his teammates were telling me, “Will’s the best connect four player of all time, you know, yada yada.” Well, I played him. Haven’t played Connect Four in 10 years. and I beat him the first two games and he was madder than I’ve ever seen him in my entire life. And you know, we’re on pick five now of the NFL draft that night and he’s like, “No, that’s that’s BS. I’m beating you. I’m beating you.” What a surreal moment, you know, like kind of cool because Coach Campbell’s first year like Will McDonald’s was basically coach Campbell’s first snee. I I would say it was one of the most powerful nights that I’ve ever watched as a coach. And um you know it was great that you know he didn’t want to be at the draft night. He you know we ended up being at my house with coach Rasheed, his high school coach, some family friends. The only way to really describe it is that it was surreal. I remember like we were all at the coach’s house uh were like watching it. That was a blessing because I knew it was something that I had asked for. I knew it was something that he had worked very hard for and something that we all supported and ultimately what you believe and what you say will happen. I thought I was I thought I was dreaming then. I really couldn’t even talk. When we first got there, the coach pulled me to the side and he was like, “I just want to tell you something. I just really want you to know if he didn’t want anybody else here, he wanted you here with those kids. My kids are a big a big part of who he is. Well, uh, his his nieces and nephews were his why. Um, I think they’re seven now, and he knew how hard it was for him growing up in the situation back in Milwaukee. uh and he wanted to really kind of put those guys on at least second base uh his nieces and nephews and supported them. He always talked about he didn’t want his nieces and nephews to go to things uh to to go through the stuff that he went through back in Milwaukee. Um and that was his why. It was really powerful. I was so thankful to to Coach Campbell, coach Rasheed, and coach Uger for what they did for Will McDonald. It did. It didn’t feel real at the moment for me. I’m like, “No way.” Like, I was real proud of real proud. We were sitting there and he checked his phone and and I could see it said New York on it. I kind of glance at the screen and I see it’s like the Kelly Green Jets and he picks it up and lo and behold, it was it was the call. Hell yeah, man. Right. We getting ready. We getting ready. Oh my god. Get him, bro. Get Coach C. You know, I remember, you know, just kind of the the inner workings of like where we all were and like kind of what he was doing just for it all just to kind of like stop and like, oh my, that’s that’s the phone. And I I think that’s one you should probably take. What’s up, coach? How you doing? Yeah, I’m ready, man. I’ve been ready, you know. I’m just enjoying my time, man. I appreciate the honor. I think Will is certainly a shining example of a young man that came here in every aspect of his life. From how he took care of his body to how he grew from young man to man to how he grew as a football player. He transformed from 18-year-old Will McDonald to 22, 23-year-old Will McDonald, the man. And and I think one of the most powerful parts of that night was one of his nephews um said to my wife that night is, “Man, I want to I I want to go to Iowa State someday.” And I just I’m I’m just so proud of him. Like he’s the baby of the family and the baby of the family is the one that that made it somewhere. Um like I’m so proud of him. I love him so bad. Um, I don’t want to be crying, but I love that boy so bad, and I’m just so proud of everything he overcame. Um, no matter what it was, no matter how it made him feel. Um, I’m just proud of him. With the 15th pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the New York Jets Jets Jets select Will McDonald. [Applause] Afterwards, Jets Media is calling him and stuff and he just he doesn’t like that stuff at all. And he just got up and walked to the front of the house in the driveway and he’s just he needed a moment to himself. And I go walking out there and he he says to me, he goes, “You know what? You’re the you’re the only person I want to talk to right now.” And it was very special for me at that moment. And so we just started, you know, reminiscing on all the things he’s been through. In this journey, we all have a story and every player has a story that they’re coming from. You know, like I’m not trying to just leave a leg. Like I’m trying to be generational. No matter what adversity strikes you, you can you can make it. Your dreams can come true. Life is about overcoming adversity and the only way you can do it is you got to do it with great people. You know their their photographers nailed the picture. They nailed the picture and it was with myself, Will, Coach Rasheed, Coach Domo, and Coach Peterson. And the joy in our faces like you know like I I’ll never I that will stick in my mind for the rest of my life. He did so much for me. And you know, I think that was the moment where he was like, I’m good, man. I’m good. And I was just happy. I was happy. And I was happy to be there. And you know, it was it was a great moment.

Growing up, Will McDonald had to hurdle life’s obstacles to survive. From living in his car to becoming one of the most decorated athletes in the state of Wisconsin, he overcame the odds behind an incredible village to become a first round pick of the Jets after being Iowa State’s all-time sack leader. For the first time, experience his incredible story of resilience and perseverance in this documentary from 1JD Films.

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