Kansas State football: 15 best wide receivers in Wildcats history
By John Buhler
Greatest wide receivers in Kansas State football history: 12. Darnell McDonald
Darnell McDonald might have only played two seasons at K-State, but he came to Manhattan at just about the right time in 1997. The program was coming into its own under head coach Bill Snyder. The Wildcats were two years removed from their second-ever 10-win season in 1995 and a year after making it to the Cotton Bowl Classic in 1996.
McDonald would never win fewer than 11 games in his K-State career, suffering just three losses during his two years in Manhattan. In 1997, McDonald had 21 catches for 441 yards and six touchdown receptions. The Wildcats went 11-1 and defeated the Syracuse Orangemen in the Fiesta Bowl. They finished the year as the No. 8 team in the country in the final AP Poll. K-State’s only loss that year would be to the then-rival Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, which ultimately prevented the Wildcats from playing for a Big 12 Championship.
Despite coming up a game short of a perfect season, McDonald and the Wildcats program rebounded marvelously in 1998. Led by Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback Michael Bishop, K-State went 11-2 that fall. They went a perfect 8-0 in Big 12 play, winning the Big 12 North, but lost their last two games of the season to the Texas A&M Aggies in the Big 12 Championship Game and the Purdue Boilermakers in the Alamo Bowl.
1998 was not just a banner year for Snyder, Bishop and the K-State program. McDonald left his mark on the team in what was his final year in Manhattan. He had 75 catches for 1,092 yards and nine touchdown catches. McDonald finished his two-year run at K-State with 96 catches for 1,533 yards and 15 touchdowns.
He was able to crack this top 15 for largely two reasons: Yards per catch and career touchdowns. McDonald ranks sixth all time in both yards per reception at 16.0 (min. 90 catches) and receiving touchdowns with 15. Had he played with the program for longer than two years, odds are that he would find himself certainly inside of the top 10.
After K-State, McDonald would briefly play in the NFL for the 1999 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent time in the XFL with the Los Angeles Xtreme and the New Orleans Voodoo in the Arena Football League. However, most of McDonald’s pro career took place in the CFL, playing for franchises like the BC Lions, the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.