Cole McDonald completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 8,032 yards, with 70 touchdowns and 24 interceptions at Hawaii. McDonald had to split time his final year and chose to leave school early. McDonald is the dangerous kind of quarterback. He is a pocket quarterback with the ability to run and he showed that at the NFL Combine.
Cole had the fastest forty at the combine, running a 4.58-second 40-yard dash. In 33 games McDonald rushed for 880 yards and 12 touchdowns on a 3.5 yard average. McDonald also had a 36" vertical jump, a 7.13 three cone and 4.52 20 hard shuttle.
Anyone who has followed Hawaii knows McDonald can throw the ball well in wet conditions and is a great leader on the field. McDonald has good Intelligence but needs some work on his mechanics. McDonald could make a tall slot or flanker receiver if he wanted to change positions.
"Big frame and a strong arm. Has ideal size for the position. In the run-and-shoot offense, McDonald is a natural when it comes to making the most of his size by pushing the ball down the field with distance and velocity. He’s a fearless thrower who will challenge coverages and take the chances necessary to win football games. Has a good sense of pressure and knows when to bail on a pocket." - Sikkema TDN
"McDonald has plenty of NFL traits. He has prototypical size for a pocket passer and good arm talent for the NFL level, capable of maintaining zip on the ball on off-platform throws. He’s also a pretty good athlete, capable of extending plays and a threat to scramble for yardage. He’s an anticipatory thrower who’s more than willing to test tight windows. He’ll stare down the gun barrel and absorb contact as he throws. Cole McDonald certainly looks the part when comparing him to other quarterbacks in the 2020 NFL Draft. The Hawaii signal-caller has the size and arm talent necessary to succeed at the next level. But he's far from a finished project and will need to find a team that's willing to refine his mechanics while living with his gunslinger mentality." - Athlon Sports
"Cole McDonald projects as a developmental quarterback at the NFL level. McDonald has several desirable traits, including flashes of arm talent, athleticism and the size of a prototypical passer — but he is a point and shoot passer by design in Hawaii's Run-N-Shoot offense. The mental side of the game is going to need to be reconstructed from the foundation and as such McDonald should be considered a low risk, high reward prospect late in the NFL Draft. Great tools but a long way out." - Crabbs TDN
Getting to develop behind Brian Hoyer in a Josh McDaniels system would help any flaws McDaniels has. Stidham spent a year learning behind Tom Brady and could pass off any positives picked up from Brady on to McDonald. The Patriots have better receivers than the 2019 Warriors fielded and because the Patriots don't throw the ball deep on almost every play, McDonald's accuracy would improve greatly.
"If you want a low-risk long-term project, Cole McDonald is your guy. His work ethic and love for the game are unmatched, and teams will surely fall in love with that.
His playstyle is perfectly applicable to the current NFL landscape, and at worst he can be a backup for many years to come. The fact he played for a small school is clearly a concern for most, but I don’t think it’s a big deal at all. In games against higher competition, he seemed fairly comfortable and showed his arm talent transferred at that next level.
There’s obvious talent here. He has much more talent and a higher ceiling than most are giving him credit for. In a couple of years, McDonald could be a legitimate fringe starter in the league. A team would be wise to use a mid to late-round flyer on him as they might’ve just found the next diamond in the rough." - Xaiver Aguiar
"If Grier, a quarterback with vastly inferior arm talent to that of McDonald, can land in the top-100 of the draft, then there is no reason that the Rainbow Warrior himself should not merit the same recognition. Sure, McDonald can be a bit reckless with the ball far too often, but with some solid coaching around him, some team may be able to sharpen him into a solid NFL quarterback in the near future." - Cory Kinnan
Go Bows 🌈
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