Doyle ready to enroll at Iowa
Growing up around the Iowa football program with his father as the Hawkeyes' strength and conditioning coach, Dillon Doyle is obviously very familiar with all the facilities on campus. This past weekend, the 6-foot-3, 223-pound Doyle made his official visit with the Hawkeyes, which for him was less about all that stuff and more about getting to know his future teammates. We caught up with Doyle, who will start classes at semester in January, to talk about the experience and his future at Iowa.
Q: First, can you take us through the official visit and what some of the highlights were for you?
DOYLE: The official visit was a lot of fun with all of the committed guys. My host was Nick Niemann and the highlights were probably the food and just being able to be around my future teammates. I already know the area so I didn't see anything new, but experiencing it with new people was a lot of fun.
Q: Talking with the coaches, what did they say about the opportunity and the plan for you coming in?
DOYLE: I'll be coming into the program in January. As far as the depth chart is concerned, there's really no way to tell how I fit in right now. I'm just excited to get a spring ball under my belt and start working towards being a contributor to the team.
Q: When you look back at your decision, what was it about Iowa that made it the right place for you?
DOYLE: I would make the same decision a hundred times over again. Iowa is a special place with special people that fits me. I fit in well with the team socially and it's a place that will get me to where I want to be academically and athletically in the future.
Q: What do you have planned for signing day on December 20th?
DOYLE: I'm already out of school because I'll begin classes in January, so I'll probably just sign my NLI at my house or something like that. I'm certainly excited about what it means, but I don't think it has to be a big ceremony.
Q: What will that day mean to you and your family?
DOYLE: Signing day will be a good day to look back on my accomplishments up to this point and see how far I've come. I don't want to put too much value into it, but it will be good to have everything official.
Q: Going back to enrolling early, what all went into that decision for you?
DOYLE: I wanted to enroll early because, academically, I'm already done with all of my credits in high school and I didn't want to be waiting around all spring taking extra classes in high school when I could start making progress towards a college diploma. Athletically, I'll be able to fully train and eat with the team for a whole semester as well as getting spring practices to gain knowledge of the defense and work on becoming a better linebacker. I plan on studying neuroscience at the University. I'm excited about it because it's a brand new major and I'll be one of the first to graduate here with it. It was a tough decision because I could've run track my senior year at West High, but I decided it would be best for me to jump into college a bit early.
A three-star prospect, Doyle committed to Iowa in March, choosing the Hawkeyes over scholarship offers from Central Florida, Northern Illinois, and South Dakota.
As a senior, Doyle finished the season with 73 tackles and 9 TFL on defense to go along with 19 catches for 242 yards and 4 touchdowns on offense for Iowa City West.
See highlights from Doyle's senior year at West High in the video below.