Years of waiting on the sideline for an opportunity to become a starter can be grueling for any football player.
For Navy senior Xavier McDonald, that feeling was all too familiar. Before the 2023 season, McDonald had only started one game for the Midshipmen, and his chances at becoming a full-time starter were dwindling.
“X had a deal where he had gotten some playing time and sort of the MO on him was he would get tired quickly and just would become a shell of himself,” Navy defensive coordinator P.J. Volker said.
McDonald began spring ball and summer workouts as a reserve player, but with patience and the resilience he has shown throughout his life, McDonald’s name rose on the depth chart. Before the season began, the Midshipmen listed McDonald as their starting striker, a defensive back-linebacker hybrid in Navy’s defense. He hasn’t looked back.
The Rise To Starter
In 2019, McDonald graduated from Northeast High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., as a two-sport athlete (football and track). As a senior in high school, McDonald earned All-City and All-County honors in football.
When he arrived in Annapolis, McDonald saw little playing time as a freshman in 2020, appearing in three games. As a sophomore, McDonald played in 10 games, racking up 11 total tackles. His first two solo tackles came in Navy’s 31-24 loss against SMU on Oct. 9, 2021.
However, his junior year looked a lot different, as McDonald was primarily used on special teams. He appeared in 11 games and posted just two total tackles on the season. However, after a strong performance in the offseason leading up to this year, McDonald made a case to be a starter.
Volker said the major thing that impressed him was that McDonald was “probably in the best shape that he’s been in.”
“It just took a lot of time and commitment — commitment to the process, commitment to the work that I had to put in just to get where I am right now,” McDonald said.
McDonald has improved game by game throughout the 2023 season. He recorded three tackles in the season-opening, 42-3 loss to Notre Dame on Aug. 26, adapting to his new role as a starter and showing flashes that Navy liked.
“Slowly but surely, I’m starting to get more and more comfortable in that spot. It always takes time trying to work at different things,” McDonald said. “There’s always something I can improve on.”
McDonald recorded his first career sack for the Mids in a 28-24 loss to Memphis on Sept. 14. He picked up another sack, forced two fumbles and had a career-high seven total tackles the following game, a 44-30 loss to South Florida on Sept. 30. He then had five tackles and a strip-sack during Navy’s 27-24 win against North Texas on Oct. 7.
“Whenever my number is called, I need to go and make that play,” McDonald said.
McDonald credits some of his playing style to what he learned from upperclassmen like former Mids striker John Marshall, who recorded 212 total tackles (28.5 for loss) in 34 games from 2020-2022.
“I’ve been underneath him for three years,” McDonald said. “Being able to learn and watch him play has helped grow my own game.”
Bringing Leadership
McDonald has served as a role model for many since he was a high school freshman, when he stepped up to take care of his four younger siblings while his parents were incarcerated at the same time, as detailed by the Capital Gazette in 2021. While at Navy, McDonald has stepped into a leadership role on and off the field.
“His ability to articulate those things to the younger guys has been monumental for us, and he’s comfortable in his own skin to be able to talk about the things that have happened to him here at the Academy and just in his life,” Volker said. “The guys here know the situation and are able to gravitate toward him and really lean on him for leadership and for advice.”
McDonald was among 20 football players in the nation to be selected as a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award in 2022 and 2023. According to Witten’s foundation, the award is presented to an FBS college football player “who has demonstrated a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both on and off the field.”
Throughout his time at the Naval Academy, McDonald has given his time for others in need with community service and tutoring.
“One thing I was taught growing up was whatever I’m good at, try and do it to the best of my abilities [and] try to help others in that area,” McDonald said.
McDonald credits his leadership qualities and perseverance to everyone who helped raise him, including the Compton family, with whom he lived during his junior year of high school.
McDonald says his leadership skills also come from Marshall, who in 2022 was voted a tri-captain, the highest honor at the Naval Academy for a student-athlete.
Even with everything that has come his way, McDonald never gave up and has become a leader through his perseverance.
“I am extremely proud of him,” Volker said.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 283: October/November 2023
Originally published Oct. 18, 2023