Devon Gonzalez wanted to talk right after school on Wednesday, but he had to do something first.
“Gotta go practice driving,” the 17-year-old said.
Like millions of other teens, Gonzalez, a Glen Cove senior is studying to get his driver’s license.
Asked if it’s difficult, he laughed.
“Nah, it’s just learning technique and patience,” he said.
“Just like football.”
Ah, football. That’s what Gonzalez does best in the world, and through three games this season, he’s been steering the Big Red through twists and turns and into the fast lane.
Gonzalez, a 5-foot-11 running back/linebacker, has had a dominating start to the season, leading Glen Cove to a 2-1 record so far.
With power and speed, the senior has scored eight touchdowns in three games, including four in a win over New Hyde Park on Sept. 28.
With 54 carries for 410 yards, Gonzalez is showing college coaches who didn’t see much of him last year after an early-season injury, that he’s the real deal.
“I am a little surprised, honestly, at the numbers I’ve put up so far,” Gonzalez admitted. “We have so many great individual players who we can get the ball to. “
Gonzalez admitted he had a little motivation against New Hyde Park.
“My freshman year we played them and they blew us out,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to get them back ever since.”
Big Red head coach Steve Tripp said his two-way star has always had this ability.
“He’s a bull, an absolute bull,” Tripp said. “He has such great field vision, and such great instincts. He sees the hole opening before it opens, and then is already through it.
“And once he’s running,” Tripp said, “he’s so hard to take down.”
That difficulty in bringing Gonzalez down may be the reason he got hurt last year.
After starting his Glen Cove football career on varsity as a freshman, Gonzalez transferred to Holy Trinity in Hicksville in 2022.
“I had personal connections to some of the coaches there from playing for a Freeport team, and I thought it might give me a better opportunity to play and be seen,” Gonzalez said. “I enjoyed the experience, and the work ethic there was crazy. But I wasn’t getting the ball as much as I thought I should, so I came back.”
Gonzalez came back and was off to a rip-roaring start in 2023, with more than 100 yards rushing in each of his first three games.
But disaster struck in the Big Red’s fourth contest against Valley Stream North. At the end of a long run, Gonzalez was tackled from behind.
He said he didn’t truly feel the pain until the next day. Gonzalez had injured the posterior cruciate ligament and would have to miss the rest of the season.
Glen Cove finished 4-5 last year, and the three-sport star, Gonzalez, was back to play basketball by mid-season.
“I really knew I needed to show everybody what I was about and that I was able to be really good again,” Gonzalez said. “I took the healing process very seriously and did 100 percent of what I was told to do to heal.”
Born to an athletic family, Gonzalez has cousins playing Division I basketball and track, and he said his mother was a three-sport athlete back in her day as well.
His combination of speed and strength came from many childhood competitions with the older cousins, who made him want to work harder.
My cousin Matthew (Armstrong) would always beat me in races, and it made me so mad,” he said. “All I wanted to do was beat him.”
Now Gonzalez wants other things, and that’s bringing football glory to Glen Cove. Listening to Meek Mill and, yes, Miley Cyrus to get psyched up before a game (he swears “Party in the USA” is a major part of his prep), Gonzalez said he hopes to attract college scouts and keep putting up big numbers on the scoreboard.
“Running someone over, that’s the best feeling in the world,” Gonzalez said. “Hearing the ooohs and ahhs in the crowd as you run past everyone is incredible. And on the road, hearing them all be quiet as I run past, that’s even better.”
