He’s never played football before. Now, he’s the starting QB on a state title contender.
With a quick flick of the wrist, Jesse Donohoe ripped a deep pass to a streaking wide receiver. The ball fell right into his teammate’s arms, who jogged into the end zone during a Wednesday practice at Calvary Christian.
Donohoe, at 6-foot-3, is one of the taller players on the Knights roster. And almost every play the Knights run goes directly through him. It’s an offense heavy in run-pass option, and Donohoe must read the safeties and linebackers each play to decide which option is best.
Donohoe is a baseball player at heart: He’s commited to play baseball at Georgia State.
He also never played football until two months ago.
“It’s crazy, because he started off the first week not knowing anything,” Knights running back Elijah Chestnut said. “And the next week, he was out there doing everything.”
Changing the culture
Donohoe had thought about playing football for a while, he said, but baseball commitments kept him off the gridiron.
He and several of his friends were on the fence before the season started and one visit from defensive coordinator David Spitzmiller at the beginning of the school year convinced the group to join.
“We were about to go do a workout for baseball, and he talked with us about the talent they had up here, and how they ran the team,” Donohoe said.
Playing football was a fun idea, but Donohoe said he wanted to be part of a team that changed the culture around the school.
Some individuals weren’t bought in to the school’s athletics programs as they should have been, he said. The talent level was there, especially in the football team, so if the mindset changed, things could really change for the better.
“We tried to change that so we can see success as a group instead of a lot of individuals,” Donohoe said. “Just improving things here at Calvary so that when we’re gone, it’ll be better for the people behind us, too.”
Getting in a rhythm — and gunning for state
Donohoe joined during the season, missing the team’s first game.
He got his first in-game experience in a 42-28 loss to Georgia Force, coming off the bench to throw for 207 yards, one touchdown and one interception in three quarters of action.
The senior averaged over 20 yards per completion in that loss.
“Especially those first few plays, it was a little nerve-wracking,” Donohoe said.
Calvary’s offense is a far cry from the wing-t the team traditionally uses. Quarterbacks rarely go under center in this spread-option attack, and the entire offense runs through the quarterback.
The “entire decision-making process,” flows through Donohoe, according to offensive coordinator Levi Dunn. The offense is built around certain universal rules for every position — except quarterback.
“To be able to grasp the ideas of things we do, and the concepts we do, with it being an offense that’s based upon the quarterback making a bunch of decisions is an amazing feat on his part alone,” Dunn said. “Because he’s caught on to the scheme of things within 3 weeks, (compared) to some guys, it would take months.”
His teammates and coaches say he caught on immediately. Chestnut said he knew after two practices that Donohoe could grasp the offense.
Donohoe saved his best, up to now, for last week: He threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-24 win over last year’s state runner-up King’s Academy. For the season, he’s completing over 51% of his passes and averages nearly 20 yards per completion.
Playoffs in GACA are two rounds this year due to COVID-19 scheduling changes, consisting of a semifinal round followed by a state championship. The semifinals are schedule for Black Friday.
There will no doubt be a learning curve for Donohoe: Until now, he’s only faced zone defenses, and this week’s opponent, Skipstone, runs primarily man defense.
But if the Knights’ quarterback can continue learning — and executing — the way he has in three games, they’re in good hands.
