BLUE CHIP CHAT ’ 20
Donovan McMillon I Peters Twp. I WR- DB
( Second in a series on top high school football players in the area.)
THE SKINNY
Two years ago, McMillon was a 5- foot- 9, 150- pound sophomore who was hoping to get varsity time. Now, he’s one of the top players in the WPIAL and one of the most heavily recruited players in the state. McMillon is a talented defensive back who was the leading tackler on a Peters Township team that made it to the WPIAL Class 5A title game last year. He also is an outstanding wrestler, finishing second in the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A tournaments ( 182- pound division) as a junior. McMillon’s father, Darrin, is Peters Township’s co- defensive coordinator. Donovan has three younger brothers, Darius, Dane and Davin.
COLLEGE TALK
McMillon’s recruiting took off in February and colleges across the country ended up offering scholarships. McMillon made a verbal commitment this summer to the University of Florida and is believed to be the first WPIAL player to choose Florida since the early 1970s. His other finalists were Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas A& M and Virginia Tech.
OUR QUESTIONS, HIS ANSWERS
Everyone asks adults for comments on sports and COVID- 19, but do you have any worries about playing football? I don’t think I have too many. There are some guidelines that I think, as a community of football players, we have to follow and do the right things. Anything in the guidelines
that bothers you? Not so much. This is a serious thing. It has killed people. Not only do we have to follow the rules, but with football we have to get a little lucky, too, in getting to play the whole season.
Do you think Peters Township could be just as good as last year? I think we can be better.
With Josh Casilli gone ( last year’s leading receiver), will you have a bigger role in the passing game? I think we have a bunch of threats like we did last year. I think the ball can be thrown around to a bunch of guys. Plus, we have Michael Peyton back at running back. He tore his ACL last year. I think he’s going to do some good things.
Did you practice wrestling at all this summer? Yes, of course. It’s the thing that kept me in shape. Once we started heat practices for football [ last week], I cut off wrestling. Wrestlers are pretty crazy. It can get your schedule too filled.
Will you wrestle this season? I don’t know yet. To be honest, I would do it to keep in shape. I also love the sport and there are a lot of people there that I like to be around.
So, it’s up in the air if you will enroll at Florida for the spring semester? That will be a decision to make in the coming weeks.
AND FINALLY …
What’s with all the “D” first names of you and your younger brothers? I think my parents always loved the name Donovan, for a boy or girl. Then they did the name Darius and didn’t even notice. Once they saw two D’s, they thought they had to keep it that way ( laugh).
Are any of your brothers going to be good? Oh yes. I think there’s going to be a lot of talent coming up in the future. Darius is already doing things 10 times better than I did at the same age. Dane plays three sports. And the youngest one [ Davin] is a terror. He’s the scary one. This is his first year playing football and he’s a head taller than everyone. Doctors are predicting he’ll be 6- 6 or 6- 8. He’ll be a crazy defensive end or a big baseball player.