Ex-Hawkeye Chauncey Golston back where he started

FRISCO, Texas — Chauncey Golston is eagerly looking forward to the 2023 NFL season.

Heading into his third season with the Dallas Cowboys, he’s excited about the transition he made last year to a position he played at Iowa in 2022.

“I’ve been enjoying it,” Golston, 25, said of his time in Dallas thus far. “It was a good role change last year, position change. That was something to weather, but it wasn’t really anything (major). It was just more of a learning curve, but I’m really enjoying it.

“This year, I’m more embracing my new role and it’s been really fun. Yeah, (I feel fully adjusted now). That’s where I first started playing at Iowa is inside, so I was not really too new to it, but being a full-time inside guy is new.”

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A third-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Golston has appeared in 15 games in each of his first two seasons. However, the ex-Hawkeye had his breakout game at the end of last season when he had 11 tackles in a loss at Washington on Jan. 8.

“It was just fun. I remember coming to the sideline before halftime and was like I’ve got five tackles, but I’m going for 10,” said Golston, who was a first-team all-Big Ten selection as a senior in 2020 when he finished the COVID-shortened eight-game season with 45 tackles, 5 1/2 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. “... It was nice to see that if I’m doing what I need to do, I can thrive in that position. I really liked that.

“It just added more fuel to me knowing who I could be if I maximize my potential.”

And like many who played at Iowa, he credits his time as a Hawkeye from 2016 through 2020 for giving him a solid foundation which adequately prepared him for life in the NFL.

“That was a great opportunity playing in the state of Iowa and being that team,” he said. “The whole leadership aspect and stuff you learn there and the culture, it was really great. It really molded me and prepared me for the NFL. They live by that motto of ‘preparing to be the best.’ It’s really true there.”

When asked what he remembers most about playing for Kirk Ferentz, he cited the longtime Hawkeye coach’s habit of frequent note-taking.

“He’s always taking notes throughout the day. When we’d have the team meeting later in the day, he’s always quoting something from that day and referencing it to something else, always making a connection,” Golston said. “With him being a coach for so long, he has a lot of experience and has been through a lot of ups and downs.

“He’s a good source to pull from when you’re going through something.”

He considers himself incredibly grateful to have played four years for a coach like Ferentz and feels a similar sentiment toward Dan Quinn, the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator regarded as one of the top men at his position in the NFL.

“Coach Quinn, he’s a players’ coach and you have to love those type of people that allow you to be you and flourish within the defense by creating opportunities that you know are special for this guy,” Golston said. “(He will say) we’re running this call but for it to be maximized, I need him (the player) to be who he is.

“He’s a very personable guy, too. He’s a great coach, great guy, a great human. You’d be honored to be coached by someone like that.”

And now that Year 3 is rapidly approaching, Golston also remains grateful he is continuing his career in a league which many joke means “Not For Long” because for most players, their time in the NFL is rather short.

“I remember when I was in high school, I was at this camp called ‘Sound mind, Sound body.’ They put up this graphic saying the percentage of guys to make it to the NFL and the guys to make it to Year 3, it went from 2 million and then it dropped down,” he said.

“It showed this many people go to D-I colleges and then this many people get drafted, this many are in the league total, and this many play for three years. I’m super blessed to be out here doing what millions of people would love to do if given the opportunity. I can’t even put it into words how blessed I am.”

Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.