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Hawkeyes give McCall a lot to think about

Florida defensive end Taajhir McCall and his mom visited Iowa City this weekend.
Florida defensive end Taajhir McCall and his mom visited Iowa City this weekend.

Defensive end Taajhir McCall is headed back home to Florida today after an official visit with the Iowa Hawkeyes over the weekend. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound McCall was not quite sure what to expect going in, but left town impressed with what Iowa has to offer.

“It was nothing like what I expected it to be,” said McCall. “It was more lively and more of a city vibe than what I was expecting coming in. It was a good atmosphere.”

McCall’s host for the weekend was defensive end Chauncey Golston, who shared his experiences at Iowa with the high school senior and also introduced him to several other players, including some of the freshmen, who talked about their transition to college.

“There were a lot of great people I met,” McCall said. “Chauncey was cool and he plays defensive end like me, so that was good to hear about his experience, and then just being around some of the freshmen was interesting.”

“It was good to talk to Kaevon (Merriweather), Jayden (McDonald), and Terry (Roberts) and get their thoughts,” he continued. “They were all positive about it. They said they were the same as me where they didn’t know what Iowa was like before they visited, but once they got on campus they saw how it was. A lot of them were in the same position as me too where they didn’t decide until late, so it was hear about their experiences.”

Sitting down with the coaches, McCall learned more about the opportunity at defensive end with the Hawkeyes, who are looking to rebuild their depth at the position.

“The coaches want me to come in and play defensive end,” said McCall. “They were telling me my first year I might not come in and be a huge impact player right away because they still have some older guys on the roster, but the next couple years there will be some opportunities. Playing early on, I might get some reps, but by my sophomore year I could have more of a role if I come in ready to work for it.”

Prior to Iowa offering a scholarship this past week, McCall had mostly narrowed his options down to Army and Navy, but is going to revisit everything after he returns home to Pensacola on Sunday night.

“Coming in, I kind of had a decision in mind, but this city and these people have kind of made things a little more difficult,” McCall said. “These next couple of days, I’ll sit down and talk with my family and see what they think about it and get some other opinions.”

Leaving Iowa City on Sunday, McCall told the Hawkeye coaches that he would let them know a final decision as soon as possible with signing day just three days away now.

"I just let them know as soon as I know I’m going to let all of the coaches know,” said McCall. “Signing day is on Wednesday, so I don’t have a huge window of time to decide, but I’ll definitely let them know by then so I told them to go ahead and send out the papers."

With a decision that will involve a lot more than just football, McCall has a lot to think about over the next couple days as he works towards making a final college choice on Wednesday.

"I’m really looking at the opportunities that I’ll have after football," McCall said. "I know that with the service academies, they have opportunities set up for you so you don’t really have to go out looking for them, but with Iowa it’s what I can do that would be different. At the service academies, NFL opportunities won’t be as prevalent as they are here. At Iowa, I have more of an opportunity at that, but if I’m not a standout player the NFL is looking for, what else can I do if I did decide to go the school? That’s just some of the things that I have to research and talk about with my family."

One thing the Florida native is very appreciative of is Iowa finally coming through as the first Power 5 Conference school to offer him a scholarship after an impressive senior season that saw him rack up 88 tackles and 11 sacks at Pine Forest High School.

"It was a relief," said McCall. "For so long, coaches have been telling me that I should be able to go to a Power 5 school and that’s the type of player that I am, but after going through the whole spring, summer, and fall, it was coming towards the end and I still didn’t have a Power 5 offer. Now, actually having a bigger school take a chance on me and offering a scholarship means a lot. At least somebody was paying attention and saw the potential that I have to be a good football player. Nothing against Army and Navy because they play against some good competition as well, but the Big Ten is always going to be the Big Ten."

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