Grizzlies' Botner wins Doris Robinson Award

MISSOULA — The tail end of the college football calendar is when the postseason accolades start pouring in. All-conference, all-district, All-American — they’re all meaningful, all important, and all impactful in their own way. They are, for the most part, a small token or a tip of the hat, to the on-field accomplishments that years of work behind the scenes bring about. 

But there are some awards that are just a bit more important.  

The Doris Robinson FCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year is just that award, and Montana starting center Dillon Botner of Whitefish is the man for it.  

On Tuesday, Stats Perform named Botner its winner of the 2025 Robinson Award, honoring the FCS student-athlete that best personifies the ideals of excellence on the field, in the classroom, and across the community. 

It’s named for Robinson, a former schoolteacher and the wife of legendary Grambling State University coach Eddie Robinson, who championed the values of leadership and integrity. During his career at Montanan, Botner has lived up to those values and more.  

Now a graduate student in his final season at UM, Botner has overcome adversity and injury to earn a starting job at center on one of the greatest offenses in program history. He’s done it all while completing three degrees, a minor (in physics, no less), and a professional certificate with an eye toward becoming an orthopedic surgeon.  

He has mastered the art of balancing student-athlete demands on a playoff team while maintaining that same standard of excellence off the field. 

Botner has also logged nearly 50 hours of community service in the precious few spare moments he has in his life. 

“Dillon Botner personifies what’s best about college football. He’s a terrific player and teammate, and he’s done it all while completing three degrees in the sciences with straight A’s. Then when he was granted another year of eligibility, he came back to complete a minor in physics. Immediately after the season ends he is going to attend medical school,” Griz coach Bobby Hauck said. “He has also been a major part of our participation in the National Marrow Donor Program, through which we have saved nine lives, and been active volunteering in the Missoula community. He is an amazing example of what a student-athlete can be.” 

Botner was selected from 13 Doris Robinson Award finalists — one from each conference involved in the FCS. He’s the fourth finalist from Montana, joining Derek Crittenden (2015), Reggie Tillman (2018) and Dante Olson (2019), and will be honored at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on Jan. 3 in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Botner is the second Big Sky Conference player to win the award, which began in 2015: Montana State’s Tommy Mellott won it in 2023. 

He’s earned three Bachelor of Science degrees with Magna Cum Laude honors in each, specializing in Biochemistry (Health Professions), Biology (Human Biological Sciences) and Neuroscience (Cellular and Molecular), as well as a minor in Physics. 

Botner will graduate on Friday afternoon with a certificate in Business Entrepreneurship as well, and has maintained a 3.70 GPA throughout. He’s striving to qualify for medical school. 

He twice earned Academic All-Big Sky honors and was a semifinalist for the 2025 William V. Campbell Trophy after being named to the NFF New Hampshire Honors Society this past spring. 

He worked at high school sporting events and youth football camps, seeded a burn scar on Mt. Sentinel, worked Earth Day trail cleanups, Neighbors Helping Neighbors leaf raking, and the Missoula Food Bank Sack Lunch program. 

On the field Botner has been a leader in the UM locker room since 2019. He’s a four-time letterman, though he missed the entire 2023 season due to an injury suffered in fall camp. He returned last season and received the Tony Barbour Award, given to the team’s most inspirational player. 

In Botner’s time the Griz have gone 64-20. This year’s squad has scored the most touchdowns (72) and points (540) in program history. Botner and the Grizzlies continue their quest to reach the FCS title game this week with a nationally-televised (ABC) quarterfinal home game against South Dakota, set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.