By Bill Huber
Special to D3sports.com

Jeff Donovan quarterbacked the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to the national championship last season.

Oh, wait. That was Danny Jones.

Seventeen months ago, Donovan, then a sophomore, figured he was going to replace Justin Jacobs as the starting quarterback for a Warhawks team gunning for its third consecutive trip to the Stagg Bowl. Instead, Danny Jones transferred from Cal Lutheran in time for training camp and won the job. The rest, as they say, is history, with the team Jones quarterbacked beating Mount Union for the school's first national title.

Now, it's Donovan's turn. Donovan, who hit 12 home runs to help the Warhawks reach the Division III World Series this spring, has thrown six touchdown passes against two interceptions in Whitewater's playoff run, including a 5-to-0 ratio in a quarterfinal win over Wartburg and semifinal romp against Mary Hardin-Baylor.

"Very honestly, there was a time right before the first game of (last) year that Jeff was pretty down and disappointed," said Lance Leipold, who was in his first year as the Warhawks' coach at the time. "And that wasn't easy, because we were going through a lot of transition as a program -- a new coach and all of a sudden, a new quarterback shows up, and guys are looking at a lot of different things.

"Jeff didn't know what to do. Should he just go concentrate on baseball? We asked Jeff to just hang with us. It was a trying time. He came here to play both sports and to excel, and I think he looked at it as a chance where he could be a three-year starter, and it didn't turn out that way.

"Looking back at it now and talking to Jeff, he knows it was a very good thing that happened. It gave him an extra year to mature."

Donovan isn't so sure he's a better quarterback today because he spent another year watching from the sideline, but he harbors no bitterness toward how things worked out.

"The only thing I was disappointed of is the fact that I felt that I didn't even get an opportunity to win the job," Donovan said. "Coming into that year, Danny was a transfer. I didn't even know we had a transfer until real late, right before camp. That was a little surprising to me. When we got to camp, I felt my chances of winning the job were very limited."

No second thoughts -- not even for a second -- after passing up a full scholarship to play baseball at Division I UW-Milwaukee so he could play both sports at Whitewater?

"At the time coming out of high school, I didn't really understand the importance of a free education," Donovan said. "Looking back, that would have been sweet, but I don't have any regrets."

Photo by Larry Radloff, D3sports.com

It helped that his competition with Jones didn't get in the way of what turned into a strong friendship.

"He's such a great guy," Donovan said. "He deserved everything that happened. He wasn't cocky or anything. He was real supportive all the time. He would always say, ‘Jeff, you're going to be great someday. Your time is going to come.' I can't say enough about how he handled the situation. I couldn't help but root for him."

Donovan got his chance this year as one of many first-time starters for Whitewater. The Warhawks are making their fourth consecutive trip to Salem for the Stagg Bowl, but this trek wasn't expected and wasn't easy.

The Warhawks started the season 6-0 before being stunned in the final seconds at home by UW-Stevens Point. The next week, against UW-Eau Claire, Donovan exited with an injured throwing shoulder. With Donovan on the sideline for the next game, Whitewater avoided a season-killing upset against UW-Stout.

Donovan returned to the lineup the next week, and the Warhawks' offense has been firing on all cylinders ever since, averaging 38.4 points per game. He's completed at least 61.9 percent of his passes in four of those games, including a 16-for-25 effort with a career-high three touchdowns last week at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Donovan says he's "definitely not 100 percent healthy," but there was no way he was going to miss any more games. Not after what he's gone through and not with what was at stake.

"It's no option, really," Donovan said when asked about fighting through the injury. "I can make these throws. I'm going to do everything I can to be there for the seniors and my teammates. I never even considered not playing."

"He's been able to put himself together," was how Leipold put it. "He's one of those guys who's going to show up and compete for you."

Leipold marvels at Donovan's ability, which is somewhere between Jacobs' passing ability and Jones' combination of running and passing. Plus, he's been clutch. Two of the three touchdown passes against the Cru came on third down. Against Wartburg, he set up Whitewater's first touchdown by converting a third-and-15, and he put the Warhawks ahead 17-3 with a third-down touchdown pass.

"He's really the backyard competitive kid who just loves playing the game," Leipold said. "But he's very savvy for a quarterback. He uses the clock very well. What he's been able to do is make throws on third-and-long this year that I haven't seen in a long time. I can't even remember a quarterback who's been as consistent as he has been on third-and-long situations to keep drives alive. He's got great confidence. Jeff has just been able to make that downfield throw that keeps drives alive for us, and I think that's been a huge difference in our season."

That season will end on Saturday against Mount Union, with Division III's titans slugging it out for the fourth consecutive year.

Donovan knows what must be done: Start fast, ride the Warhawks' strong running game, make smart decisions in the passing game and avoid turnovers.

"It's always more anxious," Donovan said when asked if he'd be nervous. "I'm excited, so excited for the game. I can't wait for it to come. I want the game to last five days."