A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

2017 Prep Football Previews: Wide receiver’s speed gives Brossart a big-play threat on offense


The NKyTribune is featuring each of the 21 high school football teams in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties leading up to the first games of the 2017 season on Aug. 18. We will then provide focused coverage of our local teams throughout the regular season and into the playoffs.

By Christopher Decker
NKyTribune contributor

The move back to Class 1A two years ago has proven to be a success for the Bishop Brossart football team. The Mustangs finished last season with an 8-3 record and a trip to the playoffs, but they lost to Raceland in the first round once again.

Bryce Donnelly was Brossart’s leading receiver last season with 33 receptions for 862 yards and 16 touchdowns.

“Playoffs are kind of new to this program,” head coach Paul Wiggins said. “We have to win that playoff game so we learn how to do it. Once that happens, we can figure out the scheme of things.”

As the Mustang program has evolved with the return to Class 1A, so has the skill set of senior wide receiver Bryce Donnelly.

After catching nine passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns as a sophomore, Donnelly transformed himself into an offensive weapon with 33 receptions for 862 yards and 16 TDs last season.

“When he first started coming out, every time he would catch, a ball would be at his chest and he would jump for it,” Wiggins said. “Now he has learned. He’s really athletic.”

An avid Notre Dame football fan since he was five years old, Donnelly says he learned how to play his position from watching Fighting Irish games. Before he takes the field for the Mustangs, he often studies video highlights of former Notre Dame wide receiver Will Fuller, who now plays in the NFL.

“He’s actually not the biggest guy, just like me,” Donnelly said of Fuller. “So I just learned how to use my speed to get off the line and just get by people and just use my best weapon, just like he does.”

The speed that makes Donnelly a big-play threat on the football field also carried him to runner-up finishes in the 200 and 400 meter dashes at the Class A track and field state championship meet last spring. He improved his explosiveness as a wide receiver by practicing the same techniques he uses to get off the line in a track meet.

“If I can get off the line, I don’t think anyone is going to catch me,” he said.

The Mustangs will have first-year starter Tyler McDonald at quarterback this season. He replaces Chase Keller, who ran mostly option plays during his senior season and finished with a team-high 718 rushing yards.

Bryce Donnelly

“He (McDonald) stepped in and won us a game last year when Chase got hurt,” Wiggins said. “Tyler is taller and has a great arm, but doesn’t have the speed Chase does.”

Donnelly and McDonald are good friends, but they’re still adjusting to each other in the team’s pre-season practice sessions and 7-on-7 scrimmage games.

“We were playing 7-on-7 and he didn’t really know how to throw the ball to me. He threw it just a little bit off,” Donnelly said. “Chase and I were spot on at the end of (last) year. He knew exactly what I was going to do, exactly how my routes were going to look and exactly when to throw it. I’m trying to build that right now with T-Mac, just running as many routes as we can and figuring out each other so we can be a dynamic duo during the season.”

Wiggins believes opposing defenses will be keying more on Donnelly this year. To offset that, he may have to incorporate some different looks in the offensive scheme.

“We might have to get creative with getting him the ball because I’m pretty sure after last season teams are going to pay a lot of attention (to him),” Wiggins said.

Donnelly will also be playing safety on the defensive side of the ball for the Mustangs. He’s moving to that position after he recorded 45 tackles and intercepted three passes as a cornerback last season.

“That’s going to give him time to see the field and react, and he can cover a lot of ground,” Wiggins said of switching him to safety.

Donnelly would like to see his high school career end with Brossart making a good run in the Class 1A playoffs. That would leave something for future Mustangs build on.

“I want to enforce a winning attitude,” he said. “If I can try to leave one thing in this program, I don’t really care about the stats, I want to have a winning attitude and let everyone else know in Northern Kentucky we aren’t going to be bossed around. You come here to play football because we are just as good as everyone else.”

BISHOP BROSSART MUSTANGS
2016 SEASON:
8-3 record, lost in first round of Class 1A playoffs.
DISTRICT: Class 1A, District 5 with Berea, Bracken County, Nicholas County, Paris.
HEAD COACH: Paul Wiggins Jr. (18-13 in three seasons at Brossart).

2017 SCHEDULE
Aug. 19 – DAYTON, 7 p.m.
Aug. 25 – at Holmes, 7 p.m.
Sept. 1 – at Bellevue, 7 p.m.
Sept. 8 – NEWPORT, 7 p.m.
Sept. 22 – NICHOLAS COUNTY, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 29 – at Ludlow, 7 p.m.
Oct. 5 – at Bracken County, 7 p.m.
Oct. 13 – at Paris, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 21 – BEREA, 6 p.m.
Oct. 27 – at Pendleton County, 7 p.m.

Other NKyTribune prep football previews:
DAYTON GREENDEVILS
COVINGTON CATHOLIC COLONELS

 


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