Should I get a recommendation letter from my CC physics professor for Uni admissions?

I’m applying to Marshall University, and they’re requiring transcripts from both of my previous CCs. At the current CC I have about 31 hours of courses with straight As. At my previous CC I have 19 hours of straight Fs. My ACT is no problem (my first scores were plenty good enough to get in, and I’m retaking it in about 2 months for a higher score). I’m a little worried about the first CC though, because I did so poorly. I tell myself not to be because it was long ago, and my new grades from the current CC and my new ACT scores will show a lot of improvement. I’ve tried contact admissions about this two times in the past but they wont answer any of my questions until I pay the transfer evaluation fee, which I don’t want to do until they receive my new ACT scores. Otherwise, they’ll start the evaluation process before they even see the new scores.

So, I have this professor for both physics and chemistry at the current CC. He and I have talked before on several occasions, and he knows I want to be an engineer one day. I’m also doing exceedingly well in his class (over 110% on the last two tests; over 100% on the last two labs). I was thinking about having him write a letter of recommendation for me to give to the folks at the admission’s office at Marshall.

Is this something that is common and/or that helps out with the admission decision?