JUCO LB Willie O'Hara walking on at Iowa

JUCO linebacker Willie O'Hara has made his college decision. The 6-foot-1, 235-pounder from Iowa Western Community College is turning down scholarship offers elsewhere and accepting a preferred walk-on opportunity with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

O'Hara, who went to high school at West Des Moines Dowling, picked up scholarship offers from Akron, Indiana State, UTSA, South Alabama, Southeast Missouri State, Chattanooga, Missouri State, and Tennessee-Martin during the recruiting process.

"It was a tough decision," O'Hara told HawkeyeReport.com. "I had some offers that would have been good places for me to go, but my goal has always been to play at the highest level."

"I grew up being a Hawkeye, so when the preferred walk-on opportunity came from Iowa it’s something I really had to consider," said O'Hara. "At the end of the day, I don’t want to look back 20 years from now and regret not taking a chance on myself."

A mid-year enrollee, O'Hara will be starting classes at the University of Iowa this month. He has two years of eligibility remaining plus a redshirt year available if needed.

This past season, O'Hara led all of NJCAA with 143 tackles, a school record for Iowa Western.

Iowa's Class of 2019 walk-ons:

Willie O'Hara - 6-foot-1, 235-pound LB from Des Moines, IA (Iowa Western)

Quinn Schulte - 6-foot-1, 175-pound DB from Cedar Rapids, IA (Xavier)

Kyler Fisher - 6-foot-0, 197-pound DB from Gowrie, IA (Southeast Valley)

Nick DeJong - 6-foot-6, 260-pound OL from Pella, IA (Pella)

Lucas Amaya - 6-foot-3, 205-pound K from Muskego, WI (Muskego)

Zach Kluver - 6-foot-2, 205-pound LS from Ankeny, IA (Centennial)

Taylor Fox - 6-foot-3, 265-pound OL from Winthrop, IA (East Buchanan)