Local lineman Cotton making a name

Joe Cotton’s emergence as a football player at the University of South Dakota does a nice job of mirroring what has gone on with the Coyotes overall. He started humble, he worked hard, he saw results. 

That’s the way it’s supposed to go, right? 

“I feel like I was able to establish myself as someone who can play in the Missouri Valley Conference and contribute to the team,” Cotton said. “I feel like my coaches know they can count on me to bring the effort every single game throughout the season. I went into last season knowing I was going to do my job, work my hardest and stay level-headed.”

The 6-foot-7, 310-pound Sioux Falls Roosevelt graduate redshirted his 2022 season and then earned a starting spot at left tackle in his second year in the program. He earned MVFC All-Newcomer honors as a freshman and will enter the 2024 season being counted on to continue to make the Coyote offensive line a team strength. 

“We’re bringing back a lot of starters and we’re going to have another year with this offense,” Cotton said. “We feel more confident in this system now under Coach (Josh) Davis and the staff. They don’t butt-heads, they all have a common goal and it’s been great to play under them because they’re all confident and they all communicate with each other to create the best offense possible.”

Cotton was an all-state player in high school but that alone is rarely an assurance an offensive lineman will be worth bragging about so soon at the Missouri Valley Conference level. More commonly, recent high school grads who play in the line are going to have to wait a few years to become first-stringers.

 “I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself when I committed to play here,” Cotton said. “I was looking at the way these guys were pushing big guys around and it was like, ‘No way I’m ever going to see the field. I don’t think I can do that.’”

 That first fall camp during his redshirt year gave him a new perspective, however. He had more ability than he thought.

“That first practice I didn’t know anything about the offense,” he said. “I was running with the ‘three’ group. My mindset was to give it my best and not worry about anything else.”

After practice there were meetings and a video session with the coaching staff. Cotton heard the kind of encouraging words that dramatically changed his outlook.

“I heard, ‘Dude, you could be a player here. This looks really good. There is a lot we can build on,’” Cotton said. “It was at that moment I knew I could actually compete with the guys out here.”

That led to becoming one of the best young linemen in the conference a year later.  It wasn’t an automatic improvement, of course, and the process is far from complete.

“He had some mobility issues and strength issues to start out with, but he has really committed himself to the weight room,” said Clete McLeod, USD’s head strength and conditioning coach. “He has really come along. I think he’s definitely going to be a formidable force on Saturdays. He has become a guy who can really move some weight.”

Cotton’s twin sister, Kaylee, is also a student at USD and an impact player in her own right as part of the Coyotes’ spirit squad and a presence in the weight room. McLeod, who has been the Coyote strength and conditioning leader since 2018, can be a good-natured needler if it serves as a motivator. He makes sure Joe is reminded often of what an athlete his sister is.

“It’s entertaining, for me at least, to give Joe a hard time about how much better of an athlete she is,” McLeod said. “Motivating Joe has been easy. I just keep reminding him he has to keep up with his sister.”

Joe Cotton committed to USD the summer before his senior year at Roosevelt. Months later he learned his twin was also going to be a Coyote. 

Suffice it to say the idea took a little getting used to.

“People would ask me if I was in favor of her going to USD,” Joe said. “I’d be like, ‘Well, honestly, it’s her choice but I sorta wish USD wasn’t her choice.’ But our mom, who went to school with her brother in college, said we’d end up loving it. I didn’t believe her, but now -- I have to hand it to her – it’s true. We hang out with the same group of people and we talk a lot – she’s not just a sister, she’s a best friend.”

Joe also has an older brother and considers himself the middle sibling, with all its traditional obligations, when in their company. You hear that and you have to ask: What does it mean being assigned the middle child’s role in the Cotton family? 

As an example, Joe said that when he’s in a car with them, they’ll sometimes make him drive and then sit in the back seat.

“They do this to make me feel like an Uber driver,” he said. “They team up on me. One time a cousin and my sister took the chains off a hammock they were playing on. When I sat on the hammock, I flipped over and I sliced my leg open. It took 15 stitches. Now I look like I had knee surgery. Another time we were playing Star Wars with bats. All of a sudden I got a bald spot from that one. I know our parents don’t love hearing about some of it, but it happened.”

He has quickly become part of the family known as the offensive line at USD under the guidance of assistant coach Jeff Nady. In many ways they behave similarly in the way they encourage each other, look out for each other, and occasionally razz each other. 

“When I first got here, I was lifting the least amount of weight of all of the freshmen,” Cotton said. “I saw that, and I knew I had to make a change. The guys I lift with now are great motivators – they’re always talking about putting more weight on the bar and giving more effort. We all bring a ton of energy to really push each other.”

Their continued progress will be a huge part of the 2024 season for the Coyotes, whose return to the playoffs last season represented what they hope is just the first step toward something greater.

“We’re very eager to get going,” Cotton said. “Obviously, last year was a historic season but that last loss to NDSU left a bitter taste. Like Coach Nady tells us, ‘Guys, we’re meeting at 5 a.m., on a Tuesday – we’re putting in all this work -- why not go to a championship and win it?’”