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Published Jan 23, 2023
Spotlight: 'Offers will come' for 2025 Cass Tech ATH Da'Jon Huff-McCallum
Ryan O'Bleness  •  Spartans Illustrated
Managing Editor
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@ryanobleness

There are thousands of high school football players hoping to make it to the college level. This is the case every year. For Da’Jon Huff-McCallum, a class of 2025 athlete from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, it’s a waiting game.

Huff-McCallum just completed his sophomore season at Cass Tech, which was actually his first year playing for the Technicians. He has plenty of time to attract potential college suitors and hopes to do so eventually.

“The offers will come,” Huff-McCallum told Spartans Illustrated via phone.

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He had an outstanding season in 2022, scoring 14 combined touchdowns and amassing around 800 total yards. After he was called up to the varsity level from the junior varsity squad, Huff-McCallum was used all over the field on offense by Cass Tech head coach Marvin Rushing: running back, H-back and slot wide receiver. In the fall of 2023, Huff-McCallum is expecting to see some time on defense as well at linebacker or safety.

At the college level, he hopes to play on the offensive side of the ball as a running back or H-back, but is open to playing anywhere if a college program is willing to give him a chance.

“I really can play anything on the field,” Huff-McCallum said. “I feel like I’ll be going to college to play running back or H-back because I know (some) colleges are starting to use H-back a lot. I can block, I can catch, I can go run a route – I can really do almost everything on the field. I’m a dynamic player. On defense, I can play linebacker, I can play safety.”

Off the field, Huff-McCallum is also a 3.0-student at Cass Tech and puts his studies before athletics. He noted that science is his favorite subject in school, and said that even if he doesn’t go to college to play football, he hopes to go to a “high-ranking school” for academics and wants to eventually pursue both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.

“I’m a student-athlete, so ‘student’ is always going to come first,” Huff-McCallum said.

A special connection on the Michigan State coaching staff

Huff-McCallum recently took a visit to Michigan State on Jan. 14 for “junior day” with several of his Cass Tech teammates, including Alex Graham, Khalief Canty Jr. and Lamont Wilcoxson Jr.

The Cass Tech athlete has visited Michigan State five times now, and was also on campus for MSU’s 52-0 victory over Akron on Sept. 10, 2022. The latest trip to East Lansing solidified Huff-McCallum’s love for the Spartans and the family atmosphere within the program.

During the visit, Huff-McCallum was able to spend time with running backs coach Effrem Reed, offensive analyst Rodney Freeman and director of community and high school relations Thomas Wilcher.

“The (MSU) coaches were really good and caring,” Huff-McCallum mentioned when asked what stood out to him about the visit. “It’s more than just football at State, it’s family there. They care about you in every way. Also, the food was amazing!”

Of course, before joining Michigan State’s staff, Wilcher was the head coach for Cass Tech for 24 seasons, winning three state titles in 2011, 2012 and 2016. While Huff-McCallum never played for Wilcher, his brother, Brigham Robinson, did, and Wilcher has still made a strong impact on Huff-McCallum.

While Huff-McCallum is starting to build bonds with Reed, Freeman and the rest of the MSU coaching staff, he already has that connection with Wilcher. Back when he played youth football in middle school, Huff-McCallum would talk to Wilcher. Additionally, several of his family members were coached by Wilcher at Cass Tech.

“He was a very, very big part of my football career,” Huff-McCallum said about Wilcher. “I had a brother who played under him, Brigham Robinson, and I had a few cousins who played at Cass Tech. They always talk about how Coach Wilcher was a great leader and very honorable.”

Michigan State is a dream school for Huff-McCallum

In addition to the multiple visits and camp competitions at Michigan State, Huff-McCallum has participated in various camps and/or visits with Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Kentucky and Penn State. He has also had conversations with Central Michigan.

Huff-McCallum, 5-foot-10, 201 pounds, also made some noise at the Supermax 100 Midwest Invitational in Detroit, which is where Spartans Illustrated first connected with him.

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While Huff-McCallum is building those relationships with various schools and getting exposure, he is still waiting for that first scholarship offer to come. It’s important to note that he still has his whole 2024 and 2025 seasons to earn those, but he is hoping his hard work pays off sooner rather than later. Still, he’s happy to even be on the radar of certain programs.

“It (would) really be a sign of my hard work starting to pay off,” Huff-McCallum said when asked what it would mean to him to get his first offer. “I can’t be greedy about offers, I really gotta stay humble – eventually they will come.”

While the Detroit athlete certainly wouldn’t be picky about offers, and would be grateful to any school willing to give him a shot, Michigan State would be a dream offer for Huff-McCallum. He includes MSU as one of his top-three favorite schools, along with Oregon and UCLA.

“One of my favorite places to come to is Michigan State, just because of the facilities and how the coaches treat me there,” Huff-McCallum said. “It would mean a lot (to get an offer from Michigan State). I might cry (if I did). All of the (MSU) coaches, they always just fully respect you, whether you’re a five-star or a no star, they treat you the same.”

Reflecting on Cass Tech’s 2022 season 

Cass Tech put together a strong 2022 season, but started the season poorly before fighting back. The Technicians started the campaign with a 1-3 record before winning eight games in a row. Cass Tech went on to advance to the semifinals of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) playoffs, but fell just one point short, 29-28, to eventual Division I state champions, Belleville.

The up-and-down season and heartbreaking playoff loss taught Huff-McCallum and his teammates to not take anything for granted, and the importance of playing as a unit.

“I learned you gotta stay humble and (be willing) to work on a lot of things,” Huff-McCallum said about what Cass Tech’s 2022 season taught him. “We started off the season pretty roughly. We didn’t really jell, we didn’t merge together as a team. It was really a lot of (guys) playing as individuals. So once we started learning to play together as a team, and jelled and broke through and everything, it was almost like we couldn’t be stopped.”

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One of Huff-McCallum’s high school teammates this past season was 2023 Michigan State signee Jalen Thompson. Huff-McCallum became a better player going up against Thompson every day in practice, and the two reconnected in East Lansing during the Jan. 14 visit.

“It was really (good), especially going up against (Thompson),” Huff-McCallum noted when reflecting on the 2022 season. “Since I was playing running back a lot when we went to scout team (in practice), he was always the person that was telling me what to do, and how to do it, and he was running at me hard every time (making me better).

“Jalen, he’s like a brother to me,” Huff-McCallum said proudly about Thompson. “Sometimes if I messed up in a game, and I doubted myself, he always pushed me back up on top, and he always helped me through adversity throughout the whole season — on and off the field.”

Huff-McCallum lists Rushing, the Cass Tech head coach, as a role model, along with his uncle. He also is proud of himself for how he has pushed through adversity and started to accomplish his goals. But he knows the job isn’t done yet, and he will continue to put in the work on and off the field.

"I'm still working hard to achieve better (for myself) and working harder to (hit) all of my goals and see all my goals through," Huff-McCallum said.

MichiganState
FOOTBALL
Scores / Schedule
footballfootball
10 - 2
Overall Record
2 - 0
Conference Record
Finished
Michigan St.
86
Arrow
Michigan St.
Florida Atlantic
69
Florida Atlantic
Michigan St.
77
Arrow
Michigan St.
Oakland
58
Oakland
Michigan St.
89
Arrow
Michigan St.
Nebraska
52
Nebraska
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