Get to Know Your Orange Man: #81, DL Derek McDonald

Name: Derek McDonald

Position: Defensive line

Height: 6’4”

Weight: 230 lbs

Class: Freshman

Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.

High School: Marist School

2020 stats: McDonald had a pretty impressive final season in high school, collecting 70 tackles and 22 tackles for loss (five sacks), along with four forced fumbles.

2021 projections: McDonald’s on the lighter side for a defensive end and the top of the Syracuse Orange line depth chart’s already pretty veteran-laden. So expect a readshirt season.

How’d he get here?: Despite offers from various Ivy League programs (Penn, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and Harvard), he opted for a degree from my alma mater and many of yours, Syracuse University.

What’d recruiting sites say?: Everyone gave McDonald three stars, which is for the best.

Twitter feed: @derekmcd21

Tweets of wonder: Someone was going to get a Drake nod with these edits, and Derek was that guy.

What movie would Dino recommend for him?: Kelly Macdonald has been in numerous well-known films, but instead of opting for some of the most obvious ones (No Country for Old Men, Brave), how about her turn in Gosford Park? The 2001 movie turns a pretentious hunting retreat in the 1930s into a murder mystery. Not necessarily a novel concept, but one of the more recent spins on it anyway.

Interesting nugget o’interest: The Marist School’s actually had quite a few famous and notable alums, but it’s possible that its most notable attendee actually never graduated. David Hasselhoff spent some time at the school though didn’t receive his diploma there (he actually earned that at Lyons Township in La Grange, Ill.).

Let’s get a look at ya: Signing Day highlights? Absolutely.