Raymondo Antoine McDonald (born September 2, 1984) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

. He was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, where he was a member of a

BCS National Championship The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college foo ...

team.

Early years

McDonald was born in

Pahokee, Florida Pahokee is a city located on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,649 in the 2010 census. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 57% of the residents of Pahokee were African American and 33% ...

, in 1984.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Ray McDonald
Retrieved May 7, 2011. He attended

Glades Central High School Glades Central Community High School is a high school located in Belle Glade, Florida. In the 2014–15 school year its enrollment numbered 992 students. It is known for having one of the best high school football teams in the nation, with more foo ...

Belle Glade, Florida Belle Glade is a city in south-central Florida and it is the far western part of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, on the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 17,467. Bell ...

,databaseFootball.con, Players
Ray McDonald
. Retrieved May 7, 2011. and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

for the Glades Central Raiders.GatorZone.com, Football History, 2006 Roster
Ray McDonald
Retrieved May 7, 2011. As a junior in 2000, he was a starting defensive lineman for the Glades Central Raiders team that won the Florida Class 3A state championship, and was named

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous count ...

Player of the Year as a senior in 2001.

College career

McDonald accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Ron Zook Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida fro ...

and coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fr ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division ...

teams from

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

to 2006.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 89, 97, 98, 99, 125, 154, 183 (2011). Retrieved August 30, 2011. The Gators coaching staff decided to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

him as a true freshman in 2002, and he worked with the Gators scout team. McDonald was a team captain of the 2006 Gators squad that finished with a 13–1 record and defeated the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

41–14 in the

2007 BCS National Championship Game The 2007 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game was an American football game played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on January 8, 2007, and featured the top-ranked Big Ten champion Ohio State Buckeyes against the 2nd-r ...

to win the Gators' second national championship. Following the 2006 season, he was recognized as a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) selection.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

The

selected McDonald in the third round (97th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft. In 2011, he signed a 5-year, $20 million extension, with $7 million guaranteed. McDonald registered a career-high 5.5 sacks and 39 tackles during the 2011 regular season. On November 16, 2012, McDonald was fined $21,000 for a helmet-to-helmet against

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

quarterback

Sam Bradford Samuel Jacob Bradford (born November 8, 1987) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, most notably with the St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings. He was also a member of the ...

. At the end of the 2012 season, McDonald and the 49ers appeared in

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

. In the game, he had one sack and three combined tackles as the 49ers fell to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

by a score of 34–31. On December 17, 2014, news outlets reported that McDonald was being investigated for a possible sexual assault. That same day, the 49ers released McDonald. In 115 games with the 49ers, McDonald made 68 starts, and totaled 210 tackles, 19.5 sacks, and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown.

Chicago Bears

On March 24, 2015, McDonald signed a one-year deal with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

. On May 25, 2015, McDonald was released after being arrested on charges for domestic violence and child endangerment.

Personal life

McDonald's father, Ray McDonald Sr., was a four-year letterman for the Florida Gators from

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and was a standout wide receiver on the 1985 Gators team that finished 9–1–1.

Legal troubles

On May 25, 2014, police arrived at McDonald's residence in response to a 911 call. A police report from that night states that an engaged couple "were in an argument when the female subject became upset, grabbed a firearm (handgun) registered to the male subject, and held it at her side. When the male subject informed the female subject that he was going to call 911, the female subject put the firearm away and fled without incident. The female subject did not make any threats or point the firearm at the male subject." Three months later on August 31, 2014, police were again called to McDonald's residence. According to an unnamed police source, McDonald's fiancée showed authorities bruises on her arm and neck that she sustained in an alleged altercation with McDonald. The San Jose police department released a brief statement to the media shortly afterward saying that she did have visible injuries. McDonald was then arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. No formal charges were filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney for either incident. In December 2014, the San Francisco 49ers terminated McDonald just hours after he was named as a suspect in another sexual assault investigation. San Jose Police Sexual Assaults and Investigation Unit searched McDonald's home, as part of the investigation. He was formally indicted by a grand jury for sexual assault on August 27, 2015. Charged with rape by intoxication, McDonald was arrested and then released after posting $100,000 bail. On May 25, 2015, McDonald was arrested once again on suspicion of domestic violence and possible child endangerment. On May 27, 2015, McDonald was arrested again, just two days after the prior arrest, for violating a restraining order. In July, he was charged with domestic violence, felony false imprisonment, child endangerment, and violating a court order."Ray McDonald charged with domestic violence, false imprisonment"
espn.go.com. July 9, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). .

External links

Florida Gators bio

San Francisco 49ers bio

Chicago Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Ray 1984 births Living people Players of American football from Belle Glade, Florida People from Pahokee, Florida African-American players of American football American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Florida Gators football players San Francisco 49ers players Chicago Bears players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people