The breakthrough came deep into the night, when all hope had been lost. Cole McDonald was putting the finishing touches on a school project sometime around 1 a.m. when his phone rang. A number bearing an 808 area code appeared on his screen.
It was the eve of national signing day in February 2016, and McDonald, then a senior quarterback at Sonora High School in La Habra, California, a small school 45 minutes east of Los Angeles, had made up his mind. With zero Division I scholarship offers, McDonald had emotionally committed to playing the following season for a junior college.