Early years

McDonald was born in Beaumont, Texas. He attended East Chambers High School in Winnie, and played for the East Chambers Buccaneers high school football team. He was a three-year letterman, earning all-district 24-2A honors as both a tight end and defensive end as a senior. East Chambers won district titles in both his junior and senior year. He also competed in basketball and was a standout athlete for the East Chambers High School track team. He was a member of the relay team. He also had personal bests of 6.28 meters in the long jump and 12.53 meters in the triple jump.

College career

McDonald attended Rice University, where he played for the Rice Owls football team from 2009 to 2012. He earned Conference USA All-Freshman honors after catching 12 passes in his first season. As a sophomore, he posted a career high eight touchdowns, to go along with 396 yards receiving on 28 receptions. In his final two seasons, he recorded 999 receiving yards on 80 receptions and seven touchdowns. He was a first-team All-C-USA selection at tight end as a senior.

McDonald's position coach at Rice was former NFL Pro Bowl tight end David Sloan.

Professional career

2013 NFL Combine

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
6 ft 4 in	267 lb	4.60 s	1.68 s	2.78 s	4.53 s	7.08 s	33.5 in	9 ft 11 in	31 reps

2013 NFL Draft

He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round, with the 55th overall pick, of the 2013 NFL Draft.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]