Cole McDonald (born May 20, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Houston Roughnecks The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at TDECU Stadium. History ...

of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

. He most recently played for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and was drafted by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in the seventh round of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

Early life and high school

McDonald was born in

La Mirada, California La Mirada (Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre for ...

and grew up in

La Habra, California La Habra (archaic spelling of ''La Abra'', ) is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California, United States. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. A related city, La Habra Heights, is located to the north of ...

. He attended

Sonora High School Sonora High School (SOHS) is a public high school located at 401 S. Palm Street in La Habra, north Orange County, California. One of seven high schools in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, Sonora served over 1,944 students in the 2 ...

where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 Nicholas Robert Rolovich ( ; born February 16, 1979) is an American football coach and former player, who was most recently the head football coach at Washington State Cougars football, Washington State University (WSU). Rolovich majored in econ ...

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 The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

(MWC). 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 The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

and recorded the fastest

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

among quarterbacks with a time of 4.58 seconds and the highest

vertical jump A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...

at 36 inches.

Tennessee Titans

McDonald was drafted by the

in the seventh round with the 224th overall pick of the

. He was waived by the Titans on August 19, 2020. McDonald had a tryout with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

on August 23, 2020.

Arizona Cardinals

McDonald was signed to a futures contract with the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

on February 4, 2021. He was waived on May 27, 2021.

Toronto Argonauts

On September 13, 2021, McDonald signed with the

and was placed on the team's practice roster. He dressed as a backup for the last regular season game with the Argonauts resting starters for the playoffs. He completed four out of eight pass attempts for 45 yards and one interception. He was released on May 25, 2022, in the early stages of 2022 training camp.

Houston Roughnecks

On November 15, 2022, McDonald was assigned to the

of the

References

External links

*
Toronto Argonauts bioHawaii Rainbow Warriors bioTennessee Titans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Cole 1998 births Living people People from La Habra, California Players of American football from Orange County, California American football quarterbacks Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Tennessee Titans players The Spring League players Arizona Cardinals players Toronto Argonauts players Houston Roughnecks players