Cole McDonald


Cole McDonald is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League. He played college football at Hawaii and was drafted by the Titans in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Early life and high school

McDonald was born in Orange, California and grew up in La Habra, California. He attended Sonora High School where he played football and ran track. As a senior, McDonald completed 63% of his passes for 2,313 yards and 19 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,091 yards and 10 touchdowns. McDonald was lightly recruited in high school and initially received no scholarship offers from Division I schools. He initially intended on playing at a junior college for a year until he received a last-minute offer from Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich the night before national signing day.

College career

McDonald redshirted his true freshman season. As a redshirt freshman, McDonald served as the Rainbow Warriors's backup quarterback and played in six games, completing five of nine passes for 22 yards and a touchdown and finishing third on the team in rushing with 138 and one touchdown on 16 carries. He was named the team's starting quarterback going into his redshirt sophomore season and passed for 3,875 yards and 36 touchdowns and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference. He tightened his motion after consulting quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann and completed 38 percent of his deep throws. Following the end of the season McDonald revealed that he had played through a sprained MCL and internal bleeding.
As a redshirt junior, McDonald passed for 4,135 and 33 touchdowns with 14 interceptions while also rushing for 383 yards and seven touchdowns and was named second team All-MWC. Following the end of the season, he announced that he would forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility to enter the 2020 NFL Draft.

College statistics

Professional career

McDonald received an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine and recorded the fastest 40-yard dash among quarterbacks with a time of 4.58 seconds and the highest vertical jump at 36 inches.
McDonald was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round with the 224th overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.