2021 LSU Target Donovan McMillon's Recruitment Has Taken Off Recently, Talks "Dream" Offer from Tigers

Meet the soft spoken McMillon, who's finding creative ways to workout including a broomstick and old weights as a barbell

A week ago, 2021 safety Donovan McMillon received a call from LSU safety coach Bill Busch. McMillon has burst onto the recruiting scene in recent months, garnering interest from a number of top notch programs since a breakout junior season at Peters Township High School in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

"We just talked and he said he really loves watching me play football, he watched my film multiple times but he ultimately gave me the offer," McMillon said. "It's a dream come true. I've always watched guys like Tyrann Mathieu when I was younger and watching him play for LSU, really made me love LSU as a kid. 

"LSU coming to offer is one of the coolest things that's ever happened in my life."

McMillon says there's between 15 and 20 schools that are showing significant interest and he has the 250 text messages on his phone to prove it. As part of McMillon's late surge in the last four months or so, he's earned scholarship offers from the Tigers, Michigan State, Tennessee, Stanford and Miami.

He's hoping to whittle down his top-10 in the next month or so but with the offers continuing to pile on, he also wants to take his time in case other opportunities pop up.

"Pretty much my day is calls, FaceTimes and text messages but I try to set them up to where I have time to workout, hang with the family and get outside and run a little bit," McMillon said. 

McMillon's day is not unlike any other from the 2021 class as the novel coronavirus has kept everyone, including college coaches and recruiters, inside. The dream for McMillon has always been to play Division I football and after a breakout junior season, it's been fascinating to watch those dreams start to come true.

His first offer came in November of 2019 from the Akron Zips and since he's reeled in close to 20 big time college scholarship offers.

"When Akron did offer, it was just surreal and I was amazed and I had that smile on for about a week straight," McMillon said. "Then January hit and it's been a snowball effect and now I have offers from LSU and Georgia is showing interest. It's just so crazy that this is happening to me."

His plan is to go on unofficial visits during the summer and make it to as many games as possible for his official visits. A few of the schools he's hoping to visit in the fall are LSU, Michigan, Georgia and Texas A&M. 

In regards to LSU specifically, McMillon is just starting the process of getting to know Busch a little bit better but said the two have had some really great conversations.

"He told me I kind of compare a little bit to JaCoby Stevens," McMillon said. "He can play safety but there's a lot of times this year that he came into the box and played that hybrid position. That's what most schools are recruiting me as, a hybrid that can play all five defensive back positions and come up in the box as well. Everyday I wake up excited because this is all so new and surprising to me."

As he approaches his senior year, McMillon wants to take more quantum strides in a positive direction and that means improving in coming underneath routes a little quicker.

"Last year I was missing interceptions by a quarter of a second because I'm just not getting underneath the route quick enough," McMillon said. "So I'm working on opening my hips and getting under those routes which should help me get three or four more picks just from that alone."

McMillon is always thinking of creative ways to stay in shape while the gyms are closed and came up with a pretty ingenious idea to help him with weight lifting. 

"I used a broomstick and some old weights as a barbell so I'm keeping myself busy and making up workouts as I go," McMillon said. "I'll do pushups and situps in my room and then have my younger brothers help me out with coverage to practice my footwork."

McMillon said the chance to play for LSU goes hand in hand with his excitement about receiving the offer from the Tigers, saying it would be an incredible opportunity.

"It'd be unbelievable to be honest," McMillon said. "Just being that kid watching them all of these years and then taking the same field, that would be a dream come true. Ultimately, I have no idea because it would be a dream come true for whatever team I end up with. It's still so early."