It was a rather mundane way for graduate wide receiver Donaven McCulley to find out. There was no big announcement at a receivers room meeting, no phone call from any coach to congratulate him.
The No. 1 jersey was just there hanging in his locker, ready for him to put it on, not for any game or even practice, but ahead of a media photoshoot.
Theatrics aren’t really McCulley’s thing anyway. He’d earned that jersey by letting his actions speak louder than his words. A grand announcement wasn’t fitting given the behind-closed-doors, hard-nosed offseason work that entitled him to a historic number with a historic program.
Nor was the moment one for celebration, even if it invigorated a brief sense of pride for earning the trust of his coaches. The jersey was instead — as McCulley saw it — an exhortation, it was a call for him to be great.
“It just gave me a sense of, ‘OK, now it’s really go time,’ ” McCulley told The Michigan Daily. “It didn’t give me a sense of, ‘OK, I’m here.’ No, it’s, ‘All right, now you’ve got to work to keep this number every day.’ ”
Transferring to the Michigan football team from Indiana, the jersey was the first on a long list of what McCulley wants to accomplish. Like every action he’s taken in his career, he transferred for the chance to be the best version of himself. He wanted to be the Wolverines’ X-receiver and wear the coveted No. 1. Now that he’s accomplished that, he’s back to work, quietly confident in himself and what he has to show the world.
***
When McCulley was growing up in Indianapolis, his world was his family. The only people he needed to prove himself to were his older brothers, Derick and Derin.
They, however, were on the opposite mission: to not let their younger brother win, at anything. Still, a young Donaven was out playing basketball everyday. And when his time came, he was ready.
“I can’t remember what summer it was, but we were playing at one of Derin’s friend’s house, and Donaven, he wanted the ball,” Derick told The Daily. “He wanted to play with us. He wanted the ball. So, we’re like, ‘Really, all right, we’re gonna let him play.’ So like, he played with us. And it’s not like he had never played before, but this time he just wanted to be involved so we got him the ball, and this little dude ran through everybody, like not through, but he was shifting everywhere, around everybody.”
As Donaven grew older, he continued looking up to and looking to be better than his brothers in everything. He was always playing against kids Derin’s age, confident he could compete.
Though Donaven wasn’t the “little dude” for very long even against older competition, he was still unsuspecting in many ways. Even at an imposing 6-foot-5 now, Donaven is quiet and plays football with a smile. He was always that way, and still is on the field, hiding the self-belief in his abilities behind a disarming grin and a calm demeanor.
“He’s an easy going guy, and probably, if he weren’t so easy going, he’d be twice as good in football even,” Donaven’s high school basketball coach Jack Keefer jokingly told The Daily. “But he’s a good guy, and he’s very talented, athletic wise.”
Even if Donaven’s demeanor is atypical for an athlete of his pedigree, Donaven’s always been aware of how good he is and how good he wants to be. Going back to his days at Lawrence North high school playing basketball under Keefer, he’s always preferred to show people rather than tell them.
It depends on who you ask, whether Donaven knew his near-half-court buzzer beater to force overtime against Fishers was going in or not. To most people, he’d calmly say he had no idea.
“He made a game shot that put us in overtime against Fishers, that we’re supposed to lose his senior year,” Antionette Welch, the bookstore manager and director of basketball operations at Lawrence North High School, told The Daily. “And it was so funny because he hit the shot, it was a half-court 3-point shot, and actually got put on ESPN. And he was so laid back, and so cool about that. He was really laid back. He was actually shocked that he made the shot.”
To his family, however, Donaven assured them he knew the shot was going to fall the whole time. In a huge moment for his high school basketball team, Donaven was as poised as ever. He was embracing another opportunity to compete and to perform.
It was only outwardly that Donaven claimed to be surprised to see the ball fall through the net. But that’s just the other side of Donaven, confident that he will hit the shot, and humble when he does.
In everything he does, Donaven exhibits that humility. Just a month before his season with the Wolverines started, Donaven hosted a football camp in Indianapolis. There wasn’t a sign-up website online and it wasn’t highly publicized. It was free.
Alongside his dad, brothers, high school coach Patrick Mallory and other members of the community, Donaven hosted the event to be accessible to children growing up in the same community he did, the same one that helped him when he needed it.
“He’s very loyal — very, very loyal,” Keefer said. “And he loved my wife and I know during those years during COVID, he was struggling, his family was struggling, and she could tell he just needed a little more to eat. So she would bring basically wonderful meals to the whole team. And basically they were to make sure Donaven had enough to eat. But she didn’t want to embarrass him. So he would just eat and eat and eat and eat and and so that you get that beautiful smile out of him when that happens, and that opens him up a little bit.”
For as self-assured as Donaven is, as eager to show off his talent in everything he does, he’s slow to open up. He’s always been about actions rather than words.
***
Donaven joined Indiana as the highest-rated quarterback recruit in program history. But by year two, he was playing out wide instead of under center.
He wasn’t buried in the depth chart — even starting a game at Michigan as a freshman — nor was he forced to switch positions. Rather, he knew his own abilities best and knew they’d make him an elite wide receiver and give him the best chance at playing in the NFL.
“He was kind of all in on playing receiver,” Kyle Schmidt, then a Hoosiers graduate assistant working with the wide receivers, told The Daily. “My first spring there, he played a little bit of quarterback and a little bit of receiver. I think we played him at quarterback for maybe the first three or four days, kind of split in time between the two, which is super impressive that he’d be able to get both of those things down, kind of dual training, both positions. And he did a great job, first in the spring and then in the fall transitioning full time to receiver.”
Donaven got to work the same way he had playing basketball in the neighborhood, then playing basketball, football and running track in high school. First, he listened, eager to be coached.
Schmidt believes Donaven’s quarterback background helped him learn the position faster, understanding progressions and reads. Though he was still raw learning to run routes that sophomore season, Donaven earned his way onto the field for 10 games.
Then everything came together the following year, with a full year of experience at wideout under his belt. Donaven accounted for 644 yards as one of the few bright spots on a 3-9 team, earning an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.
After coach Tom Allen was fired, Donaven entered the transfer portal. Despite interest from the Wolverines, Donaven was lured to stay home another year under new coach Curt Cignetti and finish his degree at Indiana.
But the promise Donaven showed as a junior didn’t translate to Cignetti’s program. First, Cignetti publicly called out Donaven, saying, “he needs to pick it up.” From there, things deteriorated as Donaven struggled to see the field before ultimately entering the transfer portal during the season.
This time, after the most noticeably poor part of a disappointing 2024 season was the passing attack, Michigan didn’t miss on its future No. 1 receiver.
***
Currently that No. 1 jersey sits in Donaven’s locker. With it is all the history and records that Donaven has become well versed in, he’s prepared to keep putting the jersey on for at least 10 more Saturdays.
“He definitely talked a lot about it when he found out,” Derrick said. “… It was a lot of the stuff that came with the number, he did his history, he watched a lot of film on the past players that wore No. 1. And he saw that this is something big, you gotta show you’re No. 1. … He’s ready to prove to people that he’s No. 1.”
Donaven’s entire athletic career has been about showing people how good he is. He’s soft spoken despite thriving in the spotlight. He wanted the attention Michigan drew, he wanted the expectation of his number.
Transferring to the Wolverines was a decision made on the same basis as his position switch. It’s all to give himself the best opportunity to play in big moments and to achieve his goal of playing at the next level.
“He just looks at the brighter side of things like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna take a chance,’ ” Donaven’s mom Melissa told The Daily. “… He’s my quiet child, but he likes to show and prove. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s like, ‘I can show you better than I can tell you.’ ”
His entire life, Donaven has embraced expectation, tackling it with quiet confidence. Playing at Michigan and wearing the No. 1 jersey is just another opportunity for Donaven to show himself to the world.
Donaven knows it doesn’t matter how he was awarded the number. He knows it puts the onus on him to be remembered among the lineage of players who’ve worn it — that’s the way Donaven wants it to be. That’s what he’s ready to prove.
The post ‘He’s ready to prove to people that he’s No. 1’: The quiet confidence behind Donaven McCulley’s rise appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
Leave a Reply