Koah Ferrer is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Brophy College Preparatory for AZPreps365.com

The 2025 Brophy Prep locker room features three players who are the sons of former NFL players and a coach that is a former NFL quarterback, but only one gets to go home and call their coach “Dad.”

Father-and-son player-coach duos are not uncommon in professional and collegiate sports. Former NFL player Deion Sanders was the head coach at Jackson State when his son Shedeur committed to play before the pair transferred to Colorado in 2023. In 2015, the Los Angeles Clippers, coached by Doc Rivers, signed Rivers’ son Austin, making them the first father-son/coach-player duo in NBA history.

Brophy’s junior wide receiver Donovan McNabb Jr. is the son of former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb who is Brophy’s quarterbacks coach.

“Since I was younger, I’ve always had him as a coach,” McNabb Jr. said. “He is someone I could come to for advice for football because he’s been there and played every snap of the game and knows everything about football pretty much.”

While coaching the same team his son plays for is a bonus, McNabb said he isn’t there just to coach his son but rather help the kids on the team grow on and off the field.

“Some people get caught up in the daddy ball,” McNabb said. “I don’t do that. I’m here trying to prepare these kids for what the next level looks like and being able to teach them all around about the game.”

For McNabb, there is a time to be coach and a time to be dad.

“When coaching is over and we’re at home, I’m dad,” McNabb said. “I try not to bring football home with us, but sometimes you have to reiterate some things and go back over so he understands it, and then we move on.”

McNabb’s 13-year NFL career began in Philadelphia, where he was drafted second overall by the Eagles in the 1999 NFL Draft. He spent 11 seasons with the Eagles, earning six Pro-Bowl invites. He would go on to play two additional seasons in the league, one with the Washington Commanders and spending his last season with the Minnesota Vikings before retiring in 2011. 

But before the bright lights of the NFL, McNabb jumpstarted his football career at Syracuse University, spending four seasons with the Orange and earning the honor of Big East Player of the Year three times: 1996, 1997 and 1998. 

Fast forward to 2025, McNabb Jr. is being actively recruited by programs across the country, including the program that his father played for 26 years ago.

The McNabb family name is closely tied to Syracuse. In addition to McNabb attending Syracuse, McNabb’s wife, Raquel Nurse, played basketball for the Orange from 1994 to 1998. 

On top of those two going to Syracuse, McNabb’s daughter and McNabb Jr.’s sister, Lexi, currently plays basketball for the Syracuse women’s basketball team.

While McNabb Jr. has offers outside of Syracuse, his dad said that it would be special to see his son follow in his footsteps, but emphasized that it is his choice just like it was for Lexi.

“If it happens again and he feels comfortable about that decision, then I can do nothing but support him,” McNabb said. “For me as a dad, I just try to make sure that he’s ready in all facets, if it’s physically or mentally, and then also teach him about what college is about.”

Including Syracuse, McNabb Jr. has 21 offers from programs across the nation, most notably from schools such as Iowa, Iowa State, Arizona, Maryland and Washington. While Syracuse has the family history, McNabb Jr. said that he is still keeping his options open and is not trying to let his recruitment affect how he performs this season.

“For him it would be great because he had a legacy there,” McNabb Jr. said. “He would be very excited for me, but for now I’m not really focused on any of that so it’s just about finishing the season strong and making it to where we want to as a team.”

McNabb said he attended a high school similar to Brophy, so it was a “shoe-in” for him to have Jr. go to Brophy as well as for him to coach there.

“One thing I appreciate is academically how high the standards are and obviously how competitive the sports are,” McNabb said. “Under Coach Jewell, I was excited for this opportunity to come and help out and try to help out the passing game as well as the offense.”

The 2025 season marks McNabb’s first season as a high school coach. The former NFL quarterback brings experience that he can share with the players from the highest level that football has to offer.

“It’s the base things that the players need to know,” McNabb said. “How to prepare, how to be a leader, how to be prepared and how to make sure that each and every day you’re getting better and better.”

Head coach Jason Jewell said having McNabb is awesome to have McNabb as a part of his coaching staff with his experience being a pro-bowl quarterback is awesome.

“He helps Case and all of our other quarterbacks because he’s been there and done that,” Jewell said. “He’s come in and not had any ego and has been great to work with.”

Despite being a three-star recruit, McNabb Jr. does not want the name on the back of his jersey to do all of the talking for him.

“My dad has just been telling me to set an example,” McNabb Jr. said, “not only for myself, but for my teammates around me; and to work hard every day to prove that I’m bigger than him and the last name doesn’t mean anything.”