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GENEVA, Ohio— Recently, Donovan Hunter has gone through a lot of changes in his life, which he does not forget. In recent months, he has taken some time to reflect on a number of things, things that didn’t begin with a basketball scholarship.
It was football that kickstarted a path that led Hunter to a recent college commitment. Not just to Kent State University, but a commitment to himself.
Seventh Grade
Throughout his life, Donovan Hunter has always looked up to his older brother, Dontay Hunter II. Considering Dontay was a three-star football prospect coming out of Westerville Central High School, it’s hard not to look up to your big brother, one who committed to Purdue University in June of 2018.
The younger brother first gained national attention during an off-season football camp in seventh grade. As a seventh grader, Donovan was six feet tall at a showcase in Kentucky, and the hype he was getting caught the eye of the Kentucky football coaching staff at the time.
After being pulled into the coach’s office during the showcase, Donovan received a scholarship offer right away. They even wanted him to play quarterback, something that made the seventh-grader feel confident at such a young age.
“At the time I was really skinny and they recruited me to play quarterback because they thought I was going to be a really good athlete,” Hunter said looking back at that moment. “So I was like alright, I’ll take it,” he continued with a smile on his face.
A torn ACL the following year put a sudden halt on all physical activity for a couple of months and during that time period, Hunter grew about five inches, he remembers. Already standing a little over six feet tall at the time, he swiftly began the transition into basketball.
After all, his father pushed him hard because he recognized his son’s potential in the sport.
“I grew like five inches when I was down and recovering,” he remembered. “I was in the gym every day, I got so much better I ended up dressing varsity (as a freshman) and then I got my first offer that next summer for basketball.”
High School
Throughout his sophomore and junior seasons at Westerville Central High School, it seemed like he had the potential to be a big man who could make a positive impact inside and outside the paint. The most enjoyable year of his high school career was his sophomore year.
That was for a reason. That year, his team made it to the state championship game, but ultimately lost to Centerville.
In the months leading up to his junior year, that spurred him to make a college decision, choosing Missouri State over schools like Arizona State, Toledo, George Washington and Kent State.
Exited for my next chapter!! @CoachDanaFord @COACHE_LSB #110%Commited pic.twitter.com/2au3QFuSiY
— Donovan LeBron Hunter ⚜ (@vh614_) September 21, 2021
The moment Hunter thought he could enjoy the next two years without worrying about college, he began to think.
Did he really want to be that far away from his family? Was not being able to see any of his closest friends and loved ones for most of the year really all that worth it? Is there similar competition any closer to home?
Within five months, he discovered some of the answers. Having decommitted from Missouri State in February of 2022, he found a new home just one month later.
One that is much closer to where he grew up and somewhere the coaching staff believed can build around him, his father noted.
Thank you Coach @CoachSendy @Randal_Holt @Jules_Sully @KentStMBB ⚡️⚡️
for believing in me the way you do! 1000% Committed⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/f4BfiBXD93— Donovan LeBron Hunter ⚜ (@vh614_) March 8, 2022
“Honestly, staying closer to home is way better than going 15 hours away for the same level of competition,” Hunter said about his decision to commit to Kent State University. “I went on my first visit and I really wasn’t expecting much,” he said. “I really wasn’t…All the coaches were real. All the players told me they were real and the way they talked to me, they talked to me like I was already a player there and it felt like that was the place to be.
“And it’s a beautiful campus, I didn’t expect it to be like that. Like it’s really, really nice.”
SPIRE Academy
During Hunter’s freshman year of high school, SPIRE Academy’s path was suggested to him, but at that time, he wasn’t even considering prep school. Three years later, it felt right to level up.
“My freshman year (SPIRE) started recruiting me, I wasn’t even thinking about going to prep school,” he said. “It’s the closest prep school to my house and we’re playing a national schedule so I was thinking I want to get better and get ready for college so I went to Spire”
For quite some time, Gravelle Craig has kept an eye on the six-foot-eight player while being the head coach at SPIRE Academy. After his junior year ended with a state championship loss, Craig decided to talk to him about challenging himself, taking him a little outside his comfort zone.
As a result of Hunter understanding the conversation, he decided to transfer to SPIRE Academy to finish out his high school career.
“I thought we can help him prepare for college better than high school can, nothing against Westerville Central. We kind of prepare you like a college team, play top competition,” Craig explained. “It’s a college experience for them, it’s getting them ready for college.”
Having coached at the collegiate level, Craig has a wealth of experience in developing kids. His coaching stops have included Chicago State, Stetson University and Bethune Cookman University before SPIRE Academy.
Eighteen years as a coach goes a long way and with each team, he finds ways of developing his student-athletes on and off the court.
“Everything (colleges) do I incorporate here so I can prepare them,” Craig said about the benefit of joining the competition at SPIRE Academy. “I take that very seriously so I can get them ready and they should be ahead of most freshmen in the country heading into next year.”
Every change comes with a challenge. Hunter has gone through that and still faces the difficulty of not just being a normal high school student.
“The biggest difference is being away from home, it’s totally different,” he said. “My parents, they push me and here, I gotta push myself and do everything on my own…Back home, my dad was really pushing me and now here, I don’t have anybody in my ear telling me to go to the gym and I got to do all that stuff on my own.”
The ups and downs have led him onto the national stage.
Again.
Being a consistent student-athlete of the game is the first step towards making him the next great athlete in the family and throughout Northeast Ohio.
“The biggest adjustment is probably just keep staying consistent and doing things on my own, pushing myself,” Hunter said. “I can’t focus on what’s going on back home, I got to focus on what’s going on here to get to the next level.”
