Teammates excited to bring partnership to Iowa

Iowa football commits Max Llewellyn and Jaden Harrell are a team.

They were a team when they first stepped on a football field together in third grade. They were a team throughout middle school and high school. Now, the Urbandale stars will remain a team when they move to Iowa City next year to play for the Hawkeyes.

While their journeys to Kinnick Stadium didn’t look the same, they’re excited to keep their partnership going.

“Obviously, now we’re getting the chance to play in college on the same team,” Harrell said. “It’s just been a little special thing we have between the two of us being good friends. [Now we can] keep it going in the future.”

Both J-Hawks are three-star prospects, but Harrell committed to Iowa first — before his junior season — after receiving offers from the Hawkeyes and Nebraska.

Llewellyn fielded offers from Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan State, Iowa State, and Missouri, among others, and took more time to make his decision.

Harrell helped walk him through the process, pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses of the schools that had offered his teammate.

Ultimately, Iowa won out. Llewellyn committed in April, joining his friend in the Hawkeyes’ 2021 recruiting class.

“I had a couple of options, and it wasn’t so much that Jaden was going to Iowa — I mean, that was a big bonus — but Iowa was just a great fit for me,” Llewellyn said. “It’s even better that I get to play with one of my best friends.”

Just as their friendship is important off the field, it plays a role on the field as well.

Llewellyn and Harrell play both offense and defense, and they tend to feed off of each other when one of them finds their groove.

In Urbandale’s 36-0 victory over Council Bluffs-Lincoln on Friday night, it happened on both sides of the ball.

Shortly after Harrell blew up a run by the Lynx, Llewellyn hauled in a pass and outran the whole Council Bluffs-Lincoln defense en route to a 60-yard touchdown.

Not to be outdone, Harrell busted into the end zone on a physical run from three yards out, laying his shoulder into a Lynx defender to cross the goal line.

Both finished with a touchdown on the offensive side of the ball while racking up at least five tackles on defense.

“If I see Jaden get a tackle, it’s like, “Oh, now I want one,’” Llewellyn said. “It just goes back and forth. If I get a tackle, here comes Jaden. It’s just back and forth, and it’s awesome.”

The same thing happens when it’s not Friday night.

“Even off the football field, it happens,” Harrell said. “In the weight room, we’re partners. We lift outside of school. We condition outside of school. We’re always together, pushing each other just to go the extra length. That’s what sets us apart from the rest of the other guys.”

Their talent on both sides of the ball bodes well for the future, especially since they are expected to play defense at the next level.

In addition to helping them physically, playing both sides of the ball allows them to understand the intricacies of the offensive side.

“I think Jaden and I going both ways is huge,” Llewellyn said. “You don’t see many D-linemen getting receiving drills and a lot of linebackers doing running back drills, so that’s just adding to our strengths and moving abilities. It’s honestly one of the best things that could happen to us.”

And at the high school level, it’s extremely difficult to game plan against.

“He’ll play on one side of the defense, I’ll play on the other side of the defense, so they can’t run away from Max on the line or me in the backfield,” Harrell said. “On the field, we obviously have [running back] Tucker [Langenberg], He’s a huge run threat. I’m a big run threat, and Max is a huge air threat. You’ve got to be sound all the way around.”