Joe Donald
Linebacker Joe Donald returns after missing seven games last season due to injury.
Losing Joe Donald early last season left way more than just a 6-foot-3, 210-pound hole in the Mountain Brook High defense. It took away the Spartans’ emotional and physical leader.
“The thing that Joe brings to the table, to me, is everybody looks for that personality to gravitate toward and rally around,” said Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager. “He’s that personality for those guys [on defense]. I was proud of the way our defense played. They didn’t fall apart. But I felt like with him, we could play with anybody in the region.”
It was a difficult year for Mountain Brook. The Spartans finished 3-7 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009. How close was the difference between making the postseason and sitting at home? Four of the Spartans losses were by three points or less.
Donald, who broke a leg against Thompson in the third game of the year, certainly could have made a difference.
“Like I said, I felt like we continued to play well on defense,” Yeager said. “But, with Joe out there, we were pretty darn dominant to be honest with you. Joe makes plays from sideline to sideline. He’s a player.”
Yeager isn’t the lone coach on the Mountain Brook campus who knows Donald is a player. Donald is also a varsity letterman on the Spartans’ basketball and baseball teams. Yeager said his approach doesn’t change with the seasons.
“He’s an every day, every play guy, whatever he’s doing,” Yeager said. “He gives you all he’s got. The guy never stops, he goes from football to basketball to baseball and back to football. He understands what working is every day, all year round. He’s a special athlete.”
Donald worked his way on the field as a sophomore, but he was playing behind an experienced corps of linebackers, including standout Buddy Pell. Yeager said he still made an impact. Last season, the Spartans’ plans on building their linebacker corps around Donald ended too early. This year, Yeager said the plan is clear.
“When you run a three-man front like we do, the middle better be a strength,” Yeager said.
If so, then the Spartans are in good shape. Donald, who is drawing interest from several colleges, is just part of a strong group of starters in the middle of the defense. Senior McKinnon Cox is a 6-foot, 255-pound returning starter at nose tackle, and junior Zachary Carroll is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound playmaker at safety. It also helps that junior Will Wetzler will line up at the other inside linebacker spot after taking over as a sophomore for Donald following the standout linebacker’s injury last season.
“We are definitely strong in those three positions,” Yeager said.
Mountain Brook certainly needs that in a region filled with pitfall after pitfall. The Spartans play in perhaps the state’s toughest region with three-time state champion Hoover leading the way.
“It does not allow you a lot of margin for error,” Yeager said. “It’s not a very forgiving region. If you sit there [and say,] ‘Well we’re just not ready to play this week.’ Well, you can just about chalk it up that you’re going to lose. It is an unbelievably demanding region.”
With that being said, though, Yeager wouldn’t want it any other way for his program. He relishes the opportunity to play in the difficult region.
“I love the region that we’re in because it demands so much out of you,” Yeager said. “If you look at it from a big picture thing, that’s what you want. You want to be stretched. You want to grow and learn and do all those things.”
