Dillon Botner felt he had a good reason to step away from football after a senior season in which he made three starts on the offensive line: Med school.

But then he learned he could play one more year — and get it in before he was due to start those clinicals. 

“I got talked into it by Coach (Bobby) Hauck,” the Whitefish product said Monday. “I sat down with him ... and I told him I was applying for med school and what that entails. I explained I’m applying in May, and you don’t find out if you got in until January or February of next year. And you don’t actually go until the following July. 

“So, he was like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be sitting around for a year doing nothing, and you have a year of eligibility, you should come back.’ I was like, ‘All right.’” 

Hauck, in his eighth year of his second tenure as Griz coach, told a slightly different version of events. 

“I was pretty excited when he came in and said, I think I can get another year,” he said. “He shares my opinion that you make them take your helmet away from you and tell you you’re done, rather than give it up before you have to.  

“That was his sentiment exactly and I’m pretty enthused with how he’s performed this spring.” 

Botner, listed at 6-foot-6 and 290 pounds, was “retired” long enough to drop about 30 pounds. Which still left him several banana splits above the 212 he weighed at his first Griz fall camp in 2019.  

“Eighty pounds is a lot,” he noted. “It took a long time. Then I thought I was done playing, so I dropped back down to 260. Now I’ve put it back on to 280.” 

Botner should figure prominently into the 2025 offensive line. Two Griz on the two-deep last year, starting guard Journey Grimsrud and center Declan McCabe, did forego their senior years. Right tackle Brandon Casey — Botner played both tackle spots and started inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium against Northern Arizona and UC Davis — graduated. 

“I wasn’t completely satisfied with how I played last year,” Botner said. “I know I have a lot more to give, and that I could play a lot better than I did. I’m glad I get to come back and prove myself a little bit.” 

Botner will turn 25 this coming season, which probably isn’t that rare given how the Covid-19 pandemic rattled things across the NCAA. When he was (lightly) recruited, the Griz didn’t know if he was a tight end or O-lineman. 

“They were my one offer,” said Botner, who got tuition paid for. “I didn’t talk to many schools. I didn’t play my junior year and got recruited pretty late my senior year.” 

The reason? “Dislocated my patella,” he said. “Same thing I did the year we went to the national championship.” 

At Whitefish he was a receiver, then a tight end, then an O-lineman. At UM, he got pushed into the trenches right away. There he stayed, working his way up. Now he gets eight more chances at least to run out of the tunnel at Wa-Griz. 

That’s not counting Friday’s spring scrimmage, set for 6 p.m. The offensive line will work on replacing Grimsrud and Co. 

“That’s college football, you always have spots to fill,” Hauck said. “But specifically, to Dillon, he’s filled a couple of those spots pretty well. We’ll have to do decide where he’s playing.” 

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or at [email protected].