PHOENIX – Every time Donovan McNabb Jr. runs a route at Phoenix Brophy College Prep practice, he hears a familiar voice shouting from the sidelines.
It’s the same voice that has followed him throughout basketball, flag football and now high school football: his father’s. For most teens, that would be an annoyance. For Donovan Jr., it’s just another Tuesday.
“I’m used to it ’cause he’s always coached me,” McNabb Jr. said of his father, Donovan McNabb, who played 13 seasons as an NFL quarterback. “Hearing his voice if I make a bad play, I’m used to it. So I always just take it as motivation and move on from it, use it to my advantage.”
Donovan McNabb Jr. is a rising senior on the Brophy College Prep varsity football team. The class of 2027 three-star wide receiver has received 19 Division I offers, according to 247sports. Last season, he corralled four touchdown receptions along with 280 yards receiving.
Among his college offers are Arizona, Washington, Iowa, Kansas State and his father’s alma mater, Syracuse.
McNabb Sr. spent four years at Syracuse from 1995-98. In his final season, he threw for 2,134 yards and tossed 22 touchdowns on his way to finishing fifth in Heisman Trophy voting.
The Philadelphia Eagles selected him second overall in the 1998 NFL Draft.
The McNabb family is deeply rooted in Syracuse. McNabb Sr.’s wife, Raquel-Ann, played basketball at Syracuse. Their oldest daughter, Lexi, is currently on the women’s basketball team
“It’s big because my daughter’s there,” McNabb Sr. said before turning his thoughts to his son. “It’s exciting to see the kind of rewards that he reaps from his hard work and ability. We’ll see how this thing goes with recruiting.”
McNabb Jr’s. twin sister Sariah may be the most successful athlete in the family. She has won three straight state softball titles and one basketball state championship at Phoenix Xavier Prep.
She has committed to Indiana for softball.
“Since me and Sariah are twins, it’s always been competitive ever since we’ve been young,” McNabb Jr. said. “Just playing sports, very competitive, even at home. But we always push each other. If we see one of us being lazy, we always get up – we got to do something to get better.”
McNabb Sr. smiled when the topic turned to his kids’ potential rivalry.
“They are so super supportive of each other and they challenge each other,” McNabb Sr. said. “He’s more excited for her going to Indiana than being able to compete at that level.”
Brophy hired McNabb Sr. as its quarterbacks coach before the 2025 season. It is his first high school coaching gig since retiring from the NFL.
“It’s more about developing and preparing these kids for what that looks like from the next level,” McNabb Sr. said. “You just still smell the grass. Like, I’m not back here throwing passes, but I’m still a part of it.”
Jason Jewell, Brophy’s coach, looked at more than pedigree when hiring McNabb.
“When I hire people, I don’t necessarily hire guys because they’re ex-NFL players or the methodology they have,” Jewell said. “I hire people because they’re good dudes.”
For Brophy’s McNabbs, the relationship goes beyond coach and player. It’s also about a father and a son.
“I can’t really split the two and it’s tough because once a coach, always a coach – you’re always a player,” McNabb Sr. said. “It’s all just trying to help him out, not to bring him down, but to lift him up.”
McNabb Jr. understands the thinking behind the wisdom his father passes down to him.
“You’ve seen it all playing in the league,” McNabb Jr. said. “He knows what the receiver needs to do, always tells me what I need to do, always recognizes the coverage that they’re running so I can run my route off of that.”
Jewell recognizes the transfer of knowledge from home to the gridiron.
“He coaches this kid hard,” Jewell said. “He coaches him at home. That’s what he’s going to get in college, too. Donovan’s been there and done that, so he’s just passing down that knowledge to his son.”
As a dad, McNabb Sr. knows there is a fine line between supporting his son and being heavily involved in his recruiting process.
“Am I a vital part of recruiting?” he asked. “Absolutely. As a father, you should be. But at the end of the day, it will be his decision because this is four or five years of his life that he’ll be on his own.”
With football Friday nights just months away, Jewell has high expectations for his coveted receiver.
“You expect the Division I receiver to be the man, and he’s going to step up and be the man,” Jewell said. “There’s a little more pressure on him just because the expectations are high — based on his last name, based on the offers that he has and the couple kids that left before him. But I have all the faith in the world that he’s going to be able to go and do that. The hard work and the effort shows it’s gonna happen.”
McNabb Jr. believes his true breakout is coming.
“I want to keep improving,” he said. “I’m excited, but I just want to take a step up, possibly move up to a four-star, or just present myself as a better player. Being the leader of the wide receiver room, I just want to be the best that I can be.”
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