Even from behind the metal bars of his facemask, Donovan McNabb’s ever-present, signature smile was always visible.

During one game, recalled former teammate Kyle Johnson, an official finally took notice.

“Hey, McNabb,” a referee called to him, “where’s your mouth piece?”

The protective mouthwear is required in college football, but McNabb never wore one. The quarterback shifted into MacGyver mode.

“He pulled his wristband with his fingers over his teeth so that the referee would leave him alone,” said Johnson, a Syracuse fullback from 1997-2001.

That’s the McNabb his teammates remember and Syracuse fans will remember when the quarterback returns to the Carrier Dome on Saturday to have his jersey retired at halftime of the Orange’s 12:30 p.m. game against Wake Forest. He was a transcendent superstar who was loved at SU from 1995-98 as much for his infectious personality as he was for his remarkable talent.

It helped make him a recognizable face in college, a marketable star in the NFL with his fair share of commercials and now a blossoming broadcaster on the Fox Sports 1 network and NBC Radio.

It seemed obvious that television would one day be his endeavor. Maybe even too obvious.

“I thought more of a comedian,” said Tebucky Jones, a running back and safety for the Orangemen from 1994-97.

During one spring practice, Jones said, McNabb took a big hit and just laughed.

McNabb would take time between plays to make lighthearted jabs at his teammates for their miscues. During plays, though, that sort of stuff was reserved for the opposition.

“If you ever watch highlight tapes of the West Virginia game, he’d make somebody miss, make them look stupid, then literally points to them during the play and laughs at them,” Johnson said. “And you can watch the tape and see. His head rolls back as he was running out of bounds.”

It led to the calm demeanor within the huddle to which football fans became accustomed. Even when he struggled — falling four times in the NFC championship with the Philadelphia Eagles — it was never evident.

With the Orangemen, there was rarely strife. Things were going too well too often, and teammates loved his carefree attitude.

Johnson recalls one team dinner. An awkward silence enveloped the room, so the obvious solution for McNabb was to smash a piece of cake in his own face.

“We just erupted,” Johnson said.

From the first second of his Eagles career, though, McNabb’s relationship with Philadelphia was bizarre. The No. 2 pick of the 1999 NFL Draft, McNabb was booed when the selection was announced. Eagles fans wanted Ricky Williams.

Even when he put together the most successful quarterbacking career in Philadelphia history, his connection with the city was always rocky.

He earned a reputation as a choker and had a famously unstable relationship with Terrell Owens after he joined the Eagles.

But McNabb was never the one who brought the barbs. His wit and charisma could have allowed him to take shots at other players, but he never did. It made some people think he was soft.

Rather, his personality wouldn’t let him do that.

“He was always team guy, always a selfless person, always about helping others,” said Malik Campbell, an SU receiver from 1999-2001. “As a teammate, he was one of the most down-to-earth stars that there was at the time.”

In 2000, when Johnson was still at Syracuse and injured, he went to watch McNabb play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a playoff game in Philadelphia. As he walked toward the field, McNabb saw him, called him over and asked how he was doing.

“He’s just won an NFC playoff wild-card game against the Bucs. He’s the star quarterback in the NFL,” Johnson said. “You’d think it’d be all about him.”

McNabb gave Johnson tickets for the next week’s game against the New York Giants.

McNabb struggled and the Eagles lost against New York. “And then,” Johnson said, “after the game, he literally drove us back to our car.”

It was the career he put together at the professional level, paired with his collegiate one, that has solidified his legacy.

Terrel Hunt was too young to remember much of McNabb at SU, but the New Yorker rooted for Philadelphia because of McNabb. McNabb has become a recruiting tool for young quarterbacks who want to come to Syracuse and emulate the superstar, he said.

Hunt will get to meet McNabb for the first time Friday. He’s excited to pick his brain about his “college time, career, everything.” It’s part of the reason why players come to Syracuse, and Hunt will see the benefits firsthand.

“I used to watch him growing up and I used to love his commercials with his mom, so that was a big influence because I wanted to get to where he was at,” Hunt said. “He’s done so many great things for this team and this school.”

Published on November 1, 2013 at 3:27 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2