By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Every season comes with at least a few upsets and a couple surprises.  

West High was the biggest stunner in Class 4A last season going from 4-7 in 2015 to state runner-up.

One of the biggest reasons for the Trojans turnaround last fall, linebacker Dillon Doyle, is the exact opposite of a surprise.

The son of long-time Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chis Doyle the senior linebacker is precisely what you’d expect him to be – big, fast and strong.

“He is a football player, Dillon is just a straight football player,” West High coach Garrett Hartwig said. “That is the highest compliment I can give.”

Doyle put his combination of size, strength and speed to good use last fall, pounding ball carriers and turning heads in his first season as a full-time varsity starter.

His 54 tackles were third most of the team for West High which went 10-3 and returned to the 4A title game for the first time since 1999.

His junior season was impressive enough to earn a scholarship offer from Iowa which Doyle accepted, giving a verbal pledge to the Hawkeyes in March.

Nearly 30 pounds heavier and two inches taller than he was a year ago an even bigger, stronger and faster Doyle is back with plans to help West High finish what it came so close to doing last season.

“We are definitely trying to top last year,” Doyle said. “We want to get back to where we were last year and win one more game.”

Doyle got a small taste of varsity football as a sophomore during West High’s postseason in 2015.

Watching older brother Donovan Doyle play linebacker for West High that season the younger Doyle knew what he needed to improve on to make an impact the next season.

“I knew I had to get bigger and stronger,” Doyle said. “I worked hard at trying to do that.”

With a father that has spent a career helping football players maximize their physical potential it wasn’t a shock to anyone to see Doyle start getting bigger and stronger.  

Even less surprising to Hartwig was the work ethic that Doyle showed while building up his body.

“He works himself hard and he holds himself to his own standards first and everybody follows that,” Hartwig said. “He’s a special kid to coach, his leadership has been phenomenal.”

Doyle said he measured at 6-foot-1, 180-pounds at the Iowa football camp before his junior season.

Playing around that size he established himself as one of the top defenders in the state.

Doyle had 23 solo stops and 8.5 tackles for loss among his 54 tackles last season and also picked off a pass.

“He does everything well, the game is moving slow for him and he works so hard physically,” Hartwig said. “He is noticeable in pads. He’s just a football player and that’s what he wants to be and he’s got the motor to do it.”

Doyle spent the offseason adding strength and size.

He’s grown two inches and packed 30 pounds onto his frame. He earned the title of strongest player on the West High roster after lifting the most combined weight in the bench press, squat and hang clean.

“He’s strong and it’s a tribute to his diet and his understanding of the big picture and day in and day out work,” Hartwig said.

When it came time to weigh in at the Iowa camp this summer that worked showed when he checked in at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds.

“I always want to get bigger stronger faster,” Doyle said. “I think it’s paid off and I’m excited to see what it can do for me moving forward.”

It wasn’t just all physical work for Doyle this offseason. He also spent time dissecting his play and studying college defenses in the film room.

All in an effort to be even more productive in his final prep season.

I spent a lot of time in the film room this offseason and I think that has helped me a lot on the field,” Doyle said. “That has allowed me to have better field vision and lead better knowing the whole defense.”

An even bigger, strong, faster and more polished Doyle will be at the center of what West High believes could be its best defensive unit in years.

Doyle headlines a Trojan defense that also returns junior safety Cole Mabry and senior all-state defensive end Dillon Shephard.

“I feel a lot more powerful on the field, a lot faster and I am getting to where I want to go a lot faster and it’s a lot more fun to play the game when you can play it like that,” Doyle said. “We have three really good linebackers and some good other returning defensive guys so I’m excited to see what we can do.”