With a father that played football at the University of Iowa, a recruiting visit to Iowa City on Saturday was special for Solon linebacker Seamus Poynton.

“It was a pretty cool experience, especially with parents being former athletes there," said Poynton. "We got there around 11:30 and worked our way through the tailgating to the Hansen Football Center. We then ate and got a tour of the facility. Then we moved to the stadium and down to the field for warmups. After that, all the recruits were brought into the tunnel and led out. We got a front row look as the Hawks swarmed Kinnick.”

Poynton felt that his highlight of the day came shortly before the game kicked off.

“Definitely being down on the field for the Swarm," Poynton said. "The atmosphere was unreal. I’ve been there in the crowd and I always thought it was awesome, but finally being down there for myself was something really amazing.”

As a school that Poynton has followed since he was younger, Iowa is a program that he has a lot of respect for.

“I feel like it’s what college football is all about," he said. "They play tough physical football and it’s awesome.”

Poynton, whose father Jim played right guard for the Hawkeyes from 1985 to 1990, recently appeared on the radar of the Hawkeye coaches.

“I sent them all my information maybe a week before the state semifinals," said Poynton. "I heard back pretty quickly.”

The visit allowed Poynton to get a better feel for some of the Iowa coaches.

“Coach Niemann gave a speech right before the game to the recruits, but I had a lot of small talk with a couple assistants but nothing big.”

Staying patient with the Hawkeyes is the approach that Poynton is taking.

“I personally feel like I’ll be a later recruit so I’m just going to continue to expose myself to as many people and programs as possible.”

Poynton mentioned some of the changes in attending a game as a recruit versus watching the game as a fan.

“The biggest difference was the Swarm, "Poynton said. "Experiencing that was way different. It just shows that no matter what, you got 74,000 people, give or take a few, that want you to succeed and that was extremely cool.”

Two other programs have been able to get Poynton onto their campus as well.

“I’ve taken two other visits at Northwest Missouri State and Coe College," he said. "I really enjoyed both visits and I’d love to get down there again.”

Poynton and his high school teammates are playing in the Class 3A state title game this week.

“I’m absolutely pumped," said Poynton. "Western Dubuque is an all-around good team that is going to be extremely tough to beat so it should be a good one.”