Darrius Heyward-Bey first began playing football as a freshman in high school. He played on the JV squad as a freshman and earned the attention of the coaches, albeit probably not in the way he envisioned.

“I was actually late for my first-ever practice,” Heyward-Bey said. “We had to run laps because of me. I was way ahead of the other guys and I wasn’t getting tired. I knew I had to make up for being late. Running laps was my fault, so I had to show the rest of the guys I was serious about playing. The coaches saw how fast I was and they were impressed.”

Though he possessed tremendous speed, Heyward-Bey did not see significant playing time until his junior season last year. McDonogh Head Coach Dominic Damico told him to practice hard following a sophomore season where he hardly saw the field.

“As a sophomore I didn’t see a lot of playing time because my hands weren’t that great,” Heyward-Bey said. “Coach Dom told me to work hard on my game and I could get more playing time the next season. I’m the type of guy that when someone says something like that, I’ll respond. I worked hard and had by far my best year last year.”

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