by Chad Schneider
Daily Lobo
Calvin McDonald earns his scholarship by knocking down 300-pound men and if they're smart, they stay down.
McDonald, starting quick guard on the Lobo football team, can only quantify his personal success by one statistic - knockdown blocks. Last year, McDonald tallied a healthy 130 of them.
Offensive linemen are universally lesser known, but are the lynchpin in the success of any football team. Unlike "skill" position players, McDonald has no lengthy list of averages, no rating that takes a computer to calculate and he will never be owned in a fantasy football league. McDonald's success is calculated by wins and losses, and the gain of the running backs he is blocking for.
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McDonald contributes a menacing 6-feet-4-inches and 323 lbs to the line whose goal is to have a 2,000-yard running back. This accomplishment would shatter the school record, quite possibly making tailback DonTrell Moore the nation's leading rusher and would vault the Lobos into national excellence.
However, McDonald will be watching the action from the sidelines this weekend, after suffering from a medial collateral ligament injury. Trainers expect McDonald to miss the first two weeks of the season and return for the conference opener against BYU. This news is more encouraging than the original diagnosis of an anterior cruciate ligament tear, which is a season-ending injury.
McDonald continues to rehab his knee and will begin non-contact drills next week.
"I just miss getting in there in the trenches." McDonald said. "I miss the contact of the game. I miss hitting people."
McDonald said nothing will keep him from missing the highly anticipated conference opener against BYU.
Last year he suffered a concussion during the NMSU game but didn't miss a snap the next week versus Texas Tech.
Despite his injury, McDonald continues to work on his game. As the team practices he maintains focus, studying the game and working through his blocking assignments. He wants to be in shape mentally and physically when the season begins. This is the type of work ethic that earned him a starting position. McDonald was a second team all-conference performer for Fort Scott Community College in Kansas and was highly recruited entering his junior year.
"A lot of schools guaranteed me a lot of things," McDonald said. "They all said you'll start right away with us, you're our guy. Coach Strauss and Coach Long were honest. They said 'You have to earn your playing time with us.' That's what I liked. Their honesty."
