Goal No. 9: ELIMINATE MISTAKES.Don’t beat yourself.

#9 Donovan McIntosh

Redshirt Junior* | 6-3 | 187 lbs. (-7) | St. Louis, Missouri

• Position: Cornerback
• Projection: Starter
• Remaining Eligibility: 2 years
• Status: On Scholarship

Donovan McIntosh (b. Sept. 16, 2004) is a speedy defensive back from St. Mary’s High School in Saint Louis who is majoring in sports nutrition. He excels in both zone and man and was one of four Wildcats to run 23 mph.

McIntosh redshirted* and did not see any game action in 2023, but he entered the 2024 season in contention for a backup cornerback position behind now-departed seniors Keenan Garber and Jacob Parrish.

He competed in all 13 games in 2024, seeing time on 55 defensive snaps and 46 special teams plays, including 42 punt return snaps.

McIntosh tallied three tackles on the season — against Arizona, West Virginia and Rutgers, the latter coming in the Rate Bowl when he started for the first time and also had a pass breakup on a third-down play.

He played on a career-high 19 defensive snaps against Rutgers in his first dedicated prep toward being a starter.

Last season, McIntosh played in 11 games with seven starts as he was in on 470 defensive snaps, recording 33 tackles, an interception and five pass breakups on the season.

He tallied his first career interception in the season finale against Colorado and set a career high with eight tackles in the season opener against Iowa State, a game that featured a career-high two pass breakups by him:

I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous making that first start against Iowa State, but stepping out there on that field, I was like, “It’s time.” That first drive, I got a tackle, and it got me up, and I said, “Oh yeah, it’s time, for sure.” I went out there and made plays. That’s the main thing. I went out there and guarded guys and made tackles.

McIntosh also had five stops against TCU, and four apiece against Baylor and Utah, while he had single pass breakups against Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech. He earned Academic All-Big 12 honors following the season.

This offseason, McIntosh increased his weight from 187 pounds to 195 pounds over winter conditioning:

I still feel my speed. I’ve been making plays, taking over my 1-on-1 matchups. I had a pick-6 when I was covering boundary side in zone coverage, jumped and made the play, then ran the ball back about 50 yards. That’s my favorite interception of the spring. Everything’s going pretty good.

The 50-yarder appears to be new defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson’s favorite interception of the spring, too:

I can neither confirm nor deny that happened (racing down the sideline with McIntosh the entire way). I just think it’s passion. When you’re passionate about something, whether it’s me correcting a guy with immediate reinforcements or me celebrating with a play that’s made, those go hand in hand. At times, coaches can be too one way or the other — too rah-rah or always negative. I think the reinforcements both ways really help the guys feel like you’re in it with them a little bit. I’ll challenge them to a race if I need to.

That effort by Peterson appears to have made an impact on McIntosh and his teammates during the offseason:

The energy is consistent. Everything is consistent in practice. If somebody on defense makes a play, the whole defense is running. If somebody on offense makes a play, the whole offense is running. The main thing is Coach Peterson’s energy. He’s into it. In practice, he’s into it. Whenever somebody makes a play, he’s running with us. I like how into it he is in practice. He’s one of the group.

I watch a lot of video, especially in learning new systems. I’m watching film every day just to make sure I get right what I messed up, or to see what I did right, so I can keep doing it right. Each day, us defensive backs are always together, and we’re learning this new scheme. We all help each other out, and we try to get each other better. We have plenty of different looks. I change how I play and how I look and scheme. It’s a big change.

One thing I like about this defense is we’re just able to play fast. We know what we have to do, and we’re going to play fast. We’re all learning and playing.

I’ve improved my eyes. That’s something I’ve worked on this spring. (Cornerbacks) Coach (Marcel) Yates, he came in, and first practice he started working on my eyes. He told me what to do, and I started doing it. I got better because of it.

I already see that aggressiveness and playing free in practice. Even from the first practice to now, we’re consistent. Everybody is flying around making plays and celebrating. The energy is real.

McIntosh prepped under head coach Ken Turner at St. Mary’s, where he was regarded as the 42nd-best cornerback in the Class of 2023 by On3 in addition to the 10th-best overall prospect in the state of Missouri.

He was a first-team all-state honoree as a senior from the Missouri Football Coaches Association after helping to lead the Dragons to a second straight state championship.

McIntosh committed to K-State over offers from Arkansas, Arkansas State, Ball State, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Iowa, Kansas, Lindenwood, Memphis, Miami (Ohio), Murray State, Nebraska, New Mexico State, North Alabama and Western Michigan.

His primary recruiter was former assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator Van Malone, who was his position coach and had this to say last August during a fall press conference:

I’ve been proud and pleased with the efforts Donovan McIntosh has made. He came in here as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but he’s been more competitive, communicative, and in better positions to make plays on the ball.

McIntosh’s cousin, Lawrence Johnson, was a safety at Southeast Missouri State University. Learn more about his family and his love of football growing up in this great profile piece by D. Scott Fritchen.

Here was 247Sports’ candid assessment of McIntosh’s potential at the Big 12 Conference level:

Has the desired height and length to play Power Five football in the secondary. Plays corner in high school and has shown man-to-man ability but frame suggests safety can also be a possibility. Has good change of direction and shows he can flip his hips and run with receivers. Long strider who has enough speed to play outside corner but can still get faster and more explosive. Also needs to add some weight and strength. Most likely projection is Power Five starter as a boundary corner.

*K-State has recently announced a new classification scheme that designates players by their year of eligibility regardless of whether they have “redshirted,” a term that will go out of use with the new “5-for-5” rule. Thus, the KSU SID lists McIntosh as a true senior even though he did not play in 2023. For the sake of consistency with past posts, I will continue to designate redshirts based on their playing history, but also note their remaining eligibility to stay consistent with the new designations as well.