“I love that guy and what he meant to me,” McVay said. “Like I’ve said, the most important thing was he let me into his life and you got some insight into knowing what really mattered to him, but he sure was a hell of a football player too. I’m damn grateful and there are a lot of blessings that have come my way because I was fortunate enough to be able to coach him.”
As for his teammates on defense and the younger players who either played with him in his final season or arrived after it, one of the greatest examples is the continuation of breaking down position group huddles with “DAWG WORK!” – a nod to the work ethic mantra former defensive line coach Eric Henderson established that Donald helped grow.
Defensive end Kobie Turner most remembers Donald’s daily approach and the hunger that drove it, as well as his preparedness for every opponent. It’s a standard that still resonates and is followed by the current group of defensive linemen.
“The fact that, I mean, he approached each and every day like he wasn’t the greatest player in the world, and he was,” Turner said. “I mean, he had his process, and he stuck with it, and that ultimately continued to lead to his success. And I think that’s something that’s resonated with us, too. Whether it be that, whether it be his mentality as well, people fear him, quarterbacks feared him, and it was because of the work that he put in, it was because of the way that he hunted, it was the way that he knew his craft and was always prepared. Regardless who he was playing, what he was doing, he was always ready.”
Turner said Donald set the standard and showed the way from when he came in when he was younger by the way he played in those early stages of his career, a standard this group of Rams defensive linemen is consciously and subconsciously aware of.
“His legacy continues to live on through us, because you know, ‘All right, we’re the Rams defensive line, like, we can’t be slacking, we have to go and hunt,'” Turner said. “And it’s not even something that we think about so much, it’s more of something that we live. We live in the process of each and every day coming in and putting in the work that’s going to garner us the success that we want on Sundays. We live in being so locked in and focused and prepared for each and every opportunity. That’s another thing that people don’t often talk about him, but he was prepared for each and every opportunity. So yeah, like, there’s times where he just outworked somebody, or where he out-physicaled somebody, or he was just faster, but he also knew exactly what was coming because (of) his film study and because of his preparation. And so at the end of the day, there’s a standard that’s that’s held here. You can’t slack. You have to always be prepared, and you have to always hunt and be relentless. And that’s something that we try to uphold, whether it be front of mind where you’re actually thinking about it, or whether that be you just know that there’s a standard and you just got to work.”
