WELLINGTON – After one complete season, Donovan Hoilette has been getting noticed by several colleges.
The recruiting process has been relatively smooth for the Palm Beach Central incoming senior linebacker, as he has garnered six offers to date. The schools that have extended their offers to Hoilette are Virginia, Pittsburgh, Gardner-Webb, FAU, Navy, and South Dakota.
Hoilette provided some insight on his experience.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s different, but it’s something I never thought I would be doing, so it’s pretty interesting. Until last year, I didn’t start and no one really told me how the process was like. So now it’s like a surprise.”
At this time, Hoilette has received two official offers from Navy and South Dakota. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound linebacker got them both on Sunday, Aug. 2.
Hoilette on the Navy official offer:
“My recruiting process with Navy has been a great experience,” he said. “They have been showing me a lot of love.”
Hoilette on the South Dakota official offer:
“Same thing as Navy,” he said. “They have shown love from the moment they took interest. An official offer validates just that.”
Meanwhile, Hoilette made it clear where he stands with all the schools that have offered him to date, whether it is official or not.
“They are all candidates that could be schools I would go to,” he said. “No front runners as of yet.”
Hoilette is in this position largely because of how he performed as a junior at Palm Beach Central. The No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 11 overall player in Palm Beach County finished the 2019 season with 104 tackles (18 tackles for loss), 9 sacks, 9 quarterback hurries, and 2 fumble recoveries, while adding 3 blocked punts and 1 blocked field goal on special teams.
“For my first full season I think it was a good start,” Hoilette said. “While good, I see room for a lot of improvement this year.”
Hoilette’s best game was in Week 4 at Wellington, when he had 15 tackles (3 TFL’s), 2 sacks, and 2 punt blocks in Palm Beach Central’s 30-7 comeback win to claim the Wellington Cup.
“The atmoshepere and coming out with the win and seeing all my teammates’ emotion, it was great,” Hoilette said. “It was like 7-3 going into the fourth, and our defense as a whole probably played the best game we played all year. We had a good stop and then on punt, Ced (then-senior and now-alum Cedric Johnson) picked it up and took it to the crib. After that, Dee (incoming senior wide receiver De’Angelo Pompey) picked up another punt and returned it. That was some of the best defense I had ever seen.”
With that said, Hoilette has been been working to keep himself in top shape through the coronavirus pandemic and offseason as a whole.
“I go to the gym at 5 a.m. and then go out to do some type of field work at noon,” he said. “I do my workouts whether that be the field, the hills, the sand, or pushing a car.”
Hoilette is excited about the potential for an even better season ahead.
“I’m trying to improve in all my stats,” he said. “I want to get close to 20 sacks and finally catch a pick this year.”
Hoilette envisions a memorable fall season for Palm Beach Central.
“As far as the team goes this year, Central has a whole new mindset,” he said. “I believe that this team is going to do something no other Central team has done. Whether that’s going deep into the playoffs or going undefeated, those are the goals we are looking for. This year is going to be something historic.”
PHOTO CREDITS: Gene Nardi, Navy Football, and South Dakota Football
