As a former walk-on, Cameron Botticelli started his career as an underdog. The senior defensive tackle even jokes that he’s still a “two star walk-on.” Now one of the senior leaders on the defense, Botticelli will need to be a major factor in limiting the effectiveness of two of the best running backs in the country in Ameer Abdullah and Melvin Gordon in the two upcoming weeks.
Botticelli started off his career as a walk on and redshirt freshman, and when Coach Jerry Kill arrived, he noticed how Cameron “busted his butt” to improve. The team gave Botticelli a scholarship, and he appeared in all 12 games of his freshman year. He has played in every game since his freshman year.
Botticelli admits that he has come a long way since his freshman year to where he and the defense is now. He attributes a lot of the success to the work Director of Video Services Matt Schilling has done in regards to film observations. “I got blown off the ball as a freshman,” Botticelli said. “That’s not happening anymore.”
With the incredibly talented Rasheed Hageman receiving most of the defensive tackle attention last year, Botticelli wasn’t talked about much. He still had a steady season, but this year he’s gotten some attention with big games against Michigan and Iowa in particular. Botticelli recorded two sacks in those games, and his pressure was one of the main reasons for the severe rattling of Wolverine quarterback Shane Morris. This season, Botticelli has racked up 7.5 tackles for a loss, and 3 sacks.
Coach Kill has high praise for the play of Botticelli over his career. “You know what you’re going to get with him… He does what he’s supposed to do all the time,” said Jerry Kill.
Botticelli currently rooms with true freshman defensive tackle Gary Moore, and Botticelli has been using this opportunity to help Moore be next in line as a successful defensive tackle. “He’s been great for Gary, and Gary’s gonna be a great player. All those kids have bonded together and Cameron’s certainly a part of it.”
Coming off a bittersweet loss, Botticelli says that he and the other seniors are using it as a fuel for their motivation to finish out the season on top of the West. “You’ve got something else coming if you don’t think we’re gonna use that against Nebraska, and finish out our season the way it needs to be finished out,” Botticelli said.
With two games to close out the seasons on the road against top 25 teams, the Gophers cannot afford another slow start on defense. If the Gophers misses tackles like it has against Illinois, Purdue, and Ohio State, opportunistic backs like Gordon and Abdullah are going to run all over the Gophers. Botticelli says that the defense has redoubled its efforts on tackling, and is focusing on stopping those big plays.
With the “one game at a time” mentality repeated by the Gophers throughout the season, the focus on the team right now is solely on Nebraska. Even with Abdullah recently struggling with a knee injury that limited him against Purdue and Wisconsin, the Doak Walker finalist is by far the biggest threat on Nebraska’s offense. “He’s pretty agile, he’s got tremendous speed. He’s shifty, he can make you miss. And those are the guys that can hurt you,” said Botticelli.
Stopping Abdullah and Nebraska’s running game has been the main focus for the Gophers’ defense this week in practice. “When you go against a premiere athlete like that he has the ability to make you miss. And that’s one big thing that we’re going to have to take away from him,” Botticelli said.
After the upset victory last year, Bo Pelini said that the Gophers “out-physicalled” the Huskers. If the Gophers come out with the physical play they have in many games this season, the West title is well within reach. “It’s basically a rat race to the conference championship. And we’re in it, we have our ticket,” Botticelli said.