Trending
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Lycoming's Cody Botts lines up at his left guard position against King's in a game last September. Botts has deveoped into one of the Warriors best players and students.
Time management is key for the Lycoming left tackle. He doesn't know how to approach the balance between football and being a college student any other way than to be all-in on both aspects of his life. His academics have always been a priority in his life. He was a National Honor Society member at Mifflinburg. He's been on the Dean's List at Lycoming and is the only player in Mike Clark's 12-year tenure to twice be selected to the Academic All-District team twice.
Life is currently hectic for the senior history major. He's currently working on his research methods which include a 30-page paper. And, oh yeah, there's also that little matter of having to calm a Widener defense which allowed just 2.4 yards per rush against Rowan last week.
"It's hard to balance everything," Botts said. "Time management is huge with a full class schedule, and football is crazy time-consuming, too. School is like the football field, you make no excuses and attack the day and get done everything you can get done and do your best."
Botts has always had ideas of being a high school history teacher and football coach. It's the direction he's running in as a history major at Lycoming. Something about hearing the stories behind historical events has always captured his interest.
It took no time for him to rattle off his favorite class since coming to Lycoming. History 324 with Dr. Christopher Pearl gave Botts an insight into colonial America and its laws still captures his attention.
Nearly two years ago, Botts was inducted into the college's Zeta Zeta Chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society. To receive an invitation to join, students have to finish four history classes with a minimum 3.1 GPA in those history courses as well as an overall GPA of 3.0 or better.
"I recognize that academics are really important here," Botts said. "But I still take football very seriously. We all came here because we love to play football. So having the focus on academics doesn't take away from the importance of football for me."
Botts has started 22 consecutive games at left tackle for the Warriors. Saturday's home opener at David Person Field against Widener will be No. 23. His consistency on the football field which has made him a mainstay on Clark's offensive line and is part of what made his teammates elect him as one of four team captains back in the spring.
It's players like Botts which Clark points at to recruits and other Lycoming players as the example of what players should try to be as student-athletes. It's not even about the numbers next to your GPA or the numbers on the stat sheet each Saturday, it's about effort.
Botts has epitomized the effort which leads to successful students and athletes since coming to Lycoming. He was by no means the top offensive lineman recruit when he graduated from Mifflinburg. Botts was behind a number of freshmen on the offensive line depth chart in his first season in 2016. But he understood the work he needed to do to get his mind and body right to play at the collegiate level.
He had to spend time in the weight room to get stronger and fill out his already stout 240-pound frame. Now, he's listed at 6-feet, 4-inches and 280 pounds. He also spent time ingesting the Warriors' playbook and working with offensive line coach Sami Caygoz to not only learn plays, but to understand the concepts behind the offense and the schemes of both his offense and the defenses he's playing against.
All that work led to a spring trip to Canada in 2017 where the Warriors played an exhibition game where Botts established himself as someone who could be working toward a starting spot on the line.
"He's really worked to make himself a pretty good player," Clark said. "He was a kid who had good size potential, but really wasn't as developed coming out of high school. But he really worked his freshman year to show glimpses that he could start at this level. To have a guy (at left tackle) that's pretty consistent is certainly good for us and good for the quarterback."
"Coach Caygoz has been such a good offensive line coach and I've learned so much about football and the offensive line here," Botts said. "I really think that contributes to my ability to play three years in a row here."
Botts doesn't take the idea of being voted a team captain lightly. He's always been a leader and it's a role he's always relished. Now, it carries just a little more weight because being a captain is voted on by his teammates.
As a senior, he already wants to be the guy younger players can rely on to talk through the things they need to learn in order to play their position. But that role is magnified as a captain. And Botts loves it.
"Any time we can meet after practice for film, or meet in the morning for film, we do that a lot," Botts said. "We talk about it in group chats and texts and we're always asking questions. I'll do anything I can to help them better understand the concepts and the plays and I definitely want to add that responsibility to myself."