INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Long before Donaven McCulley even entered high school, he had the attention of Lawrence North head coach Pat Mallory.
“I watched him as that little kid running around wanting to play football and playing I saw him at that early age,” Mallory said.
Donovan is a Lawrence North football legacy. His dad, and two other brothers, were all Wildcats before him. So coach Mallory knew early on that the youngest McCulley would follow suit.
“It was about his 7th grade year when I was like we’re gonna have someone special and it’s our job not to mess him up,” Mallory said.
Coach Mallory wanted everyone to see that special talent too. So in 2018, when Donovan was just a sophomore, he named the underclassman as the the starting quarterback.
"Not gonna lie. I was pretty nervous and my brother told me to calm down," Donaven said.
“I don't know who was more nervous, me or him. It's a great conference so I didn’t wanna overwhelm him," Mallory said. "But I knew he could be great so I threw him out there. He really did a good job of it.”
Donaven’s sophomore year was far from perfect, the wildcats only won three games but he grew. And heading into his second season under center, expectations are high.
Donaven is now one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the country with offers already from IU, Kentucky and Cincinnati. But if you ask coach Mallory, it’s more than talent that makes Donovan the special player he always saw.
"A kid like Donovan doesn’t come around often, so you try to get as much out of him as you can while you have him," Mallory said.
Papa John’s is proud to begin a new partnership with WTHR honoring student athletes in Central Indiana via the Student Athlete of the Month program. The Student Athlete of the Month program honors well rounded central Indiana high school students who have demonstrated excellence in athletics, academics, or clubs/ co-curricular school related hobbies. Monthly winners receive a $500 scholarship funded by Papa John’s and WTHR donated to the winner’s high school in the winner’s name.