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Donovan Garner's journey to play college football was a long one, but, his hard work paid off, and now, the Florida native is living out his dreams in Havre, and he's loving it
Montana State University-Northern senior Donovan Garner makes a snow angel after a practice last week in Havre. Before coming to Northern, Garner played football in the sunshine state's of Florida and California. But, over the last two years, he's made a home in Havre, and, while the cold weather might not have been his thing, he will leave MSU-N this spring as the first member of his family to graduate college.
MSU-Northern's Donovan Garner returns a kickoff during a game against Montana Tech last month.
MSU-Northern's Donovan Garner catches a pass on the snow-covered MSU-N practice field last week. Garner's journey to Northern was a long one, including having to sit out a year of football in order to afford to continue his dream. But it was a dream Garner never gave up on, and now, not only his he one of the Lights' top receivers, but he's also a veteran leader.
Donovan Garner made his way to Northern through a junior college in California.
Montana State University-Northern's Donovan Garner runs through the Montana Tech defense during a recent Frontier Conference game in Havre. Garner's road to playing four-year college football was a long one, and often times, was a difficult one. But, he never stopped trying to make his dream come true, and now, he's living out the final season of that dream, and making the most of it.
Not only did Northern's Donovan Garner never quit fighting to play college football, he is also achieving something equally important to him, earning a college degree, which he will do this spring.
The college football journey of Donovan Garner has been long, but it's also been rewarding and soon, he will play his final down for Montana State University-Northern. But even though his career on the gridiron is ending, he still has time to end it in style.
"I just want to finish my career strong," Garner said. "I want to continue to play hard and work hard for myself and my teammates. And I just want to finish as strong as I can."
When it comes to telling the story of how a kid from Miami, Florida came to be a wide receiver for a small college in Havre, Montana, there are some twists and turns, but the theme is the same. Garner, even when not recruited heavily out of high school, never gave up on himself or on his football career.
Following a solid high school career as a running back, Garner had some offers from NAIA college football teams in Florida. The only problem, was at the time, college was not affordable for Garner, who put his dream on the back burner and went to work, literally, with the goal of saving money for school.
"I had some NAIA offers coming out of high school," Garner said. "But even with that, I couldn't really afford to go to college. So I stayed home and worked and help my mom out."
However, even though Garner wasn't playing college football, he didn't want his skills to go to waste, so he joined a semi-pro football team to help keep them sharp.
"It was pretty cool," Garner said. "It was just a team in our county. A lot of people, because of my size and because of how young I was, didn't think it was a good idea. But it was a great learning experience for me. I was able to learn a lot of things from some of the older guys I played with. They had a lot knowledge and they passed it on to me."
Following his year away from football, Garner went to junior college in California, attending College of the Siskiyous and playing for two seasons, before transferring to Northern for his final two years of eligibility.
But even then, getting onto the field for the College of Siskiyous wasn't easy.
"They didn't really give out scholarships," Garner said. "But the coach would recruit people and if you did not get recruited, you probably weren't going to see the field. When I first met with the coach, he told me he didn't know much about me and that I was going to have to prove myself, so that's what I decided to do. I just wanted to do whatever I could to get on the field."
And eventually, Garner got himself on the field. But first, he needed a new position, which prompted his switch from running back to receiver.
"They had a couple of highly recruited running backs," Garner said. "So I knew it was going to be hard to get on the field there. So I decided to change to wide receiver and that's where I have been ever since."
Then following his two seasons in California, Garner caught the attention of the MSU-N coaching staff, and finally wound up in Havre.
"I think that it's pretty cool here," Garner said. "I remember that Northern really wanted me and they kept calling me. So I decided why not come and try to turn this around. It's a nice place, because you can focus on football and school and not have so many distractions."
While Garner is right, Havre has far less distractions than most other college towns, this past season, Garner had to deal with a different distraction: Hurricane Irma. Being from Miami and still having family there, made for some stressful times for Garner, as he awaited news of his family members back home.
"It was a very stressful time for me," Garner said. "I think it ended up being like two weeks before I finally heard from them. There was no way for them to communicate with me. They were without power for a long time and so it was tough, being up here and watching the news and not knowing what was going on with them."
Ultimately, all of Garner's family escaped unharmed, despite some damages to their property, which has allowed the senior to put his focus back on football. After hauling in nine passes for 139 yards and a touchdown a season ago, Garner has six catches for 54 yards, as well as 78 yards on kickoff returns.
He and the Lights, who are 1-5 on the season are still looking for their first Frontier Conference win and they are hoping it comes Saturday, at home against Rocky Mountain College. Earlier in the season, Northern had a lead late against the Battlin' Bears, before a kickoff return for a touchdown, handed the Lights a 32-25 defeat. Since then, Northern has been unable to get a win in Frontier Conference play, something they hope to change this weekend at Blue Pony Stadium.
"For us, it's really just about finishing what we started," Garner said. "They (Bears) are a good team, but we are a good team too and we just want to show that and finish what we started in that first game."
Whether Garner and the Lights win on Saturday or again this season, in the grand scheme of things, it won't be life changing. But when Garner earns his degree this spring, becoming the first in his family to do so, it will be, which in the end, will be the most valuable product of his long and winding football career.
"Being the first person in my family to go to college or to get a college degree, kept me going," Garner said. "And football really helped me get there. Basically, the experience of going from Miami to California for the first time and experiencing that all alone with no family, to moving to Montana all alone, that introduced me to a lot of new people and new experiences. I learned a lot of things and got some great advice and all of that just made me a better person and helped me grow."
Garner and the Lights will take on Rocky Mountain College, in search of their second win of the season Saturday at 1 p.m.
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