“One thing a wide receiver learns on the field is that you’re going to get hit. Almost every play, you have to focus on making a catch, trying to gain yards – and prepare yourself for a hit. Football taught me how to get right back up again and get ready for the next play. I plan to bring that same focus and toughness to my business career.”
Dontay Mayfield is a Homestead, Florida native whose family was always involved with sports. “My mom ran track, my dad played football and my uncles played basketball. I tried out all three, but football turned out to be my passion,” he says. He played for the intramural Florida City Razorbacks until middle school.
In his sophomore year of high school, Dontay transferred to Miami Gulliver Prep, located an hour away from Homestead, to find a better fit for him athletically and academically. His high school career as a wide receiver earned him football scholarship offers from 20 schools. Dontay chose to commit to The University of Central Florida in Orlando in his junior year. He wanted to play football close enough to home that his family could make trips to see him play and so he’d be able to visit them easily.
UCF has excellent academic programs, but in 2015, the year Dontay committed, the football team went 0 – 12. His friends were sure he’d made a terrible mistake in choosing UCF. When Dontay came in as a freshman, the UCF coach redshirted him (the practice of keeping a college athlete out of varsity competition for a year to develop skills and extend eligibility) because the team had a full roster of seniors.
After the seniors graduated, Dontay got his chance to play. The 2017 season was the team’s best; they were ranked number eight in the country with an undefeated record (13-0) and beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl. (His friends now thought he’d made a genius move in choosing UCF.) The following year brought a complete change in the coaching staff as the UCF head coach returned to his Nebraska alma mater and took his assistants with him.
Dontay was able to transfer to another school that felt like a good fit and wound up at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He had a great year on the field, with 800 yards receiving and five touchdowns. Then COVID -19 hit. He graduated with a degree in marketing and communications from Duquesne during a couple of tumultuous years of pandemic lockdowns and canceled seasons.
Although Dontay was invited to try out for the XFL, he decided to focus on his business career rather than pursue football as a player or coach. XPG Recruit connected him with Execu|Search, a staffing firm that places workers in healthcare, technology, pharmaceutical, and professional services. Dontay joined the Boca Raton, Florida office, where he’ll be specializing in placing finance and accounting professionals.
Dontay is excited about this next phase of his life and is not afraid to take chances and push himself. He likes the idea of having financial goals set by the company; he’s used to counting yards gained and completions and working to achieve a better record each year.
Dontay is realistic about being new to the staffing industry. There will be deals that fall through; there will be candidates who decline offers. He’s confident that he’ll be able to take the disappointment in stride and get right back up for the next opportunity. “Football is a great game and a great way to get ready for life,” he says. “It builds teamwork, discipline, the ability to set goals, and toughness. That’s what I plan to bring to the table in my new role.”