Former walk-on Donny Navarro still out to prove doubters wrong

Donny Navarro caught Brandon Peters’ pass across the middle of the field and looked to turn it upfield but was quickly grabbed by a Nebraska defender.

The defender around his shoulders ripped his helmet off and drove the Illini slot wide receiver to the ground. Navarro – a former walk-on – quickly jumped up and looked his rival right in the eye and began chirping him about the helmetless tackle.

“I play with intensity and emotion,” Navarro said. “It may not come out as much as it did this weekend, but it was a good game, a couple of good teams going at it, and sometimes it just gets a little physical.”

Navarro will tell you that he has always had that competitive, emotionally charged streak to him, but he has come a long way since he got to Illinois after playing his freshman season at Valparaiso in 2017.

“I didn’t imagine him helping us as fast as he did, but it’s obviously a plus because to me he is what you want your players to be,” Offensive Coordinator Rod Smith said. “He is a guy that is out there early every day working on his craft, skills, route running, footwork by himself in the dark or early in the morning. This game means a lot to Donny Navarro.”

Navarro earned a scholarship after Illinois’ 38-10 win over Rutgers in 2019 – a game in which Navarro hauled in a circus catch reaching around the cornerback to catch the ball behind his defender’s back.

“I am going to do everything I can, whether it is watching film, getting out to the field early for practice, staying after practice to put myself in the best position to succeed,” Navarro said. “I have to claw, scratch for everything. Any success I have had in the past is not by accident. I have realized that and for that success to continue, I have to keep working my craft.”

Navarro is used to having to prove people wrong, he has done it his entire life – nobody thought when he was a senior at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois that he one day would end up being a wide receiver at the state’s premier institution – but he comes to work every day with a mentality that coaches dream of.

“I just come with a mentality of proving something every day,” Navarro said. “I am a firm believer in controlling what I can control and that comes down to practicing hard, preparing and I think that attitude is what is need to be successful or to reach new heights.”

Navarro’s quarterback, Brandon Peters, has a similar mindset. Peters was once a prized quarterback recruit who signed with Michigan out of high school. However, things didn’t work for Peters at Michigan the way he planned. Now, in his second year at Illinois, Peters has built a special relationship with Navarro as the two seeks to prove their doubters wrong.

“Donny and I are constantly communicating about certain looks and what he wants to do on a certain play,” Peters said. “He will send me a video recording of his iPad of a certain play saying what he is going to do on a certain play. Having that communication and that bond, it gives you confidence in that guy to find him on the field and to make plays.”

Peters enjoys seeing Navarro make plays – especially when Navarro lets his emotion come out – saying, “When he makes plays like that, he gets fired up; he has a chip on his shoulder. Donny is a competitor, it’s good to see that out of a guy.”

The emotion Navarro showed in his play over the middle showed Smith a more confident wide receiver – a player that had learned from his previous mistakes. “

“When you become more comfortable you let your inhibitions go a little bit more and become more of your true self and let your emotion come out a little bit,” Smith said about Navarro’s emotional words towards Nebraska defenders.

The extra work early in the morning and late at night means something to Navarro. Coming to practice with the mentality that he does also means something to his coaches.

“I think he wants to prove that he belongs, but not just that he belongs, but that he is one of the better ones out there,” Smith said.

Navarro wasn’t supposed to be here – plenty of people told have told him that – and he loves proving those people wrong, but that won’t ever be his only motivation.

“I wouldn’t say, that all my motivation is trying to prove my doubters wrong,” Navarro said. “Most of it is for me and trying to prove that I can be an elite player. There is a certain satisfaction of that, but there is also the satisfaction of working hard, putting so many hours into it and seeing something come out of that.”