Excellence through Commitment: Dohnovan West's Journey to ASU

In 2019, the Arizona State Sun Devils Football Team was chock-full of entertaining and interesting characters that captured the attention of college football fans throughout the country. Under the leadership of head coach Herm Edwards, the flashy freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels and the athletic receiver duo of juniors Brandon Aiyuk and the boisterous Frank Darby were thrust into the national spotlight as the Sun Devils navigated a 2019 campaign full of ups and downs.

However, as all eyes fell on Edwards and the record-breaking freshman campaign of Daniels, there was another first-year Sun Devil who was making his presence felt in the trenches, protecting the young quarterback.

In January of that year, a bright-eyed 17-year-old Dohnovan West arrived in Tempe. Standing at 6-foot-3 and then weighing just shy of 280 pounds, the young freshman was a highly touted and sought-after interior lineman prospect fresh out of Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, California. Ranked as the No. 74 overall prospect from California by Rivals.com, West was recruited by a plethora of schools throughout the western U.S., garnering attention from members of Mountain West, Pac-12, and Big Ten.

West grew up in Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles. After playing flag football for several years as a child, West strapped on shoulder pads and buckled his chinstrap to play Pee Wee football for the first time in the third grade. However, at 8-years-old, he was 15 pounds too heavy to play with friends in his age group. Rather than play with the older groups, West cut the weight to play with his contemporaries.

West would go on to cultivate a love for football not only through his own experience, but also from watching his older brother, Danny, play in high school, “He was in high school when I first started playing football,” West recalled. “Just watching him play football made me fall in love with the game.”

As West transitioned through middle school and into high school, his love for the gridiron continued to grow, and his skills and size. When he enrolled at Alemany as a freshman, West had a primary goal in mind: try to make it to the next level. His skillset had already been noticed by his coaches and teammates, and it would not be long until his goals started to come to fruition.

Coach Brigham Harwell, Alemany’s defensive line coach from West’s freshman to junior year and West’s mentor described the lineman’s immediate commitment to the program, “Dohnovan knew what he wanted to do when he came to Alemany,” Harwell said. “He was a man on a mission.”

After playing on the junior varsity squad with his freshmen teammates West was called up to the varsity team as a sophomore and began to work harder than ever on the field and in the weight room.

Instead of doing offseason training, West chose a different route to keep himself in shape, and he started wrestling. Beginning his freshman year, West would go on to cultivate his stamina, balance, leverage, and mental sharpness on the mat, where he did not have four other offensive linemen to aid him. “In wrestling, it’s you versus the guy across from you, you don’t really have teammates that you can fall on,” West explained. “The majority of the time, you’re in the circle with another man, and if he beats you, it’s on you.”

The highlight of West’s first three years at Alemany came against Oaks Christian High School during his sophomore year. He was set to face his biggest challenge yet, another sophomore phenom from just down the road in southern Los Angeles, current University of Oregon defensive end and five-star prospect Kayvon Thibodeaux. The contest that ensued was a classic offensive slugfest that went deep into the night, with Oaks Christian emerging victorious with a razor-thin 63-62 in double overtime. Despite the loss, West had made his presence felt, preventing the explosive Thibodeaux from touching his quarterback.

By his junior year, West saw his hard work pay off and materializing into his first offer. UCLA, Harwell’s alma mater and one of the local colleges pursuing West, offered him a scholarship towards the tail end of that campaign.

Once West saw that a college career and more offers were feasibly on the horizon, his effort levels and commitment for improvement increased. He was relentless in practice, film study, and in the weight room, enabling his exploits and dedication to do the talking for him. “He was doing things that you expect college players to do,” Harwell noted. “He was always ahead of his time…he was ahead of the curve with a lot of players. He presents leadership with his actions , and you just have to watch it.”

Over the next year, West received offers from most of the Mountain West, four Pac-12 schools, and a mix of schools from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Ivy League.

ASU was in heavy consideration with West from the jump. Recruited by the Sun Devils’ offensive line coach Dave Christensen, West became exceedingly comfortable with the program, and was no stranger to the state of Arizona, visiting numerous times in the summer of 2018 for vacation. During his official visit, which came during the Sun Devils’ bye week that year, West bonded with the team and got an in-person introduction to the program and the values that came with it. West would go on to take official visits to Boise State, Nebraska, and Utah before inking his name with the Sun Devils and enrolling early in the spring of 2019.

By the time February rolled around, spring practice was in the air at ASU, and like many freshmen recruits, West had forgone prom, graduation, and other aspects of the spring semester of a high school senior year in favor of arriving at college early to acclimate to his college team. West began to impress immediately during spring practices, capturing the attention of the coaches with his ability, understanding, and, most importantly, his utmost dedication. West showed no apprehension of getting in the mix with the older offensive linemen, something he would ultimately be rewarded for in the fall.

Fast forward to August, and West had solidified a job as a backup for the interior positions on the offensive line, a rarity for most newcomers on the front five. As a freshman, West doubted he would get meaningful playing time and considered the option of redshirting that season. However, just days before the season kicked off, starting center Cade Cote broke his foot at Sunday practice, and suddenly West was thrown into the mix for a starting job.

When news of West’s promotion reached back home to Southern California, his family and supporters naturally responded with jubilation.

Harwell, who was also West’s strength and conditioning coach, described what all of the young lineman’s inner circle felt at the time.

“(Just talking about it) I could cry right now,” he admitted. “I wasn’t surprised, but it just reminded me of all the hard work he did in high school. Training on the weekends with me, he did all those camps to get noticed…. I was able to see firsthand all of his hard work. It was a true example of how hard work pays off.”

West started at center against the Kent State Golden Flashes in the Sun Devils’ 2019 opener and was one of less than 20 true freshmen in the FBS to start on the offensive line in that season’s first game. Even for someone who rarely played center in high school, and doing so mostly at camps and showcases, West performed well.

The center position requires the utmost knowledge of any member of the offensive line: they identify fronts, the direction of pass protection and various other calls. This occurs while still being tasked as the first person on each play to touch the ball, snapping to the quarterback and then fulfilling the various duties of blocking.

West faced the challenge of the position change head-on and played the first two contests of the season snapping to Daniels. In week three, a challenging road game between ASU and Michigan State, West slid to right guard and dominated his competition in one of his best performances to date. He remained at right guard for the remainder of the season, assisting in a historical season for his freshman quarterback Daniels and his running back, former Sun Devil and current Arizona Cardinal, Eno Benjamin, who eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive year.

West was one of eight true freshmen in the Pac-12 to play at least 200 snaps and was the highest-graded by Pro Football Focus out of the group by over 10 points. He will be the second-highest graded guard in the Pac-12 returning this season. Christensen said at season’s end that West was consistently ASU’s highest-rated offensive lineman each week.

As ASU wrapped up the 2019 football season, West began to rack up accolades and achievements that he had only dreamed about a short few years ago. He was named to The Athletic’s Freshman All-America First Team and USA Today Sports Freshman All-America Team, listed as a Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention and made the Pro Football Focus Third Team as an offensive guard. This July West was named to the preseason watch list for the 2020 Outland Trophy, recognizing 85 of the best interior linemen across all 10 FBS Division I conferences and independents.

West himself described the degree of attention as “eye opening,” yet remained humble when looking at the bigger picture of the preseason attention he is receiving.

“It shows that I can be up there with some of the best players,” West said. “I’m in a blessed situation, and I can make the best out of it and come back here and be better.”

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, West’s chance to return and improve on his stellar freshman season has been placed on hold, although we may be just days away from a Pac-12 announcement on a Fall schedule. In the meantime, the now sophomore offensive guard has primarily shifted his focus to attacking the weight room and bettering himself as a player. West gained around 30 pounds in the offseason, moving up from 275 lbs when he first arrived on campus to tipping the scales at 305 these days.

After reaching his goal of playing college football, West has his hopes set on an eventual career in the NFL, but for now, his primary focus is to be the best player he can be for the Sun Devils, contributing any way possible despite the hardships and limitations associated with the pandemic.

“We are still going in there every day and attacking the weight room,” West described. “We are just trying to stay focused because even though we don’t have a season right now, we have other things we have to look forward to. At the end of the day, most of us here have goals to play past the college level, so everyone’s here trying to grind.”

In football, the skill position players will often stand out to the crowd and viewers; that’s just the nature of the game. In comparison, the offensive line is the workhorse unit behind the scenes, operating on the frontlines to create opportunities for the skill players behind and beside them. An offensive lineman embraces the hardships presented by a defensive front and works hard to protect his teammates or open lanes for them to run off to glory.

Dohnovan West perfectly fits the bill of the characteristics demonstrated by an offensive lineman.

As a quiet, humble player, West uses his commitment to the work diligently in practice, the weight room, or the classroom to drive others around him to realize their respective potential. West’s passion for the work process and the will to win, even at such a young age, sets him apart from many of his peers.

However, it’s Harwell who describes West’s football mentality best, “He’s always about the team, he never really considers himself as an individual,” he said. “He competes in the classroom and on the field…He’s a winner, he wants to win so bad.”

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