Botner named FCS Scholar Athlete of the Year in Nashville

Montana offensive lineman and Whitefish native Dillon Botner was officially recognized as the FCS Scholar Athlete of the Year on Saturday as the recipient of the 2025 Doris Robinson Award at the historic Woolworth Theater in Nashville, Tennessee.

He was one of six standouts honored at the FCS National Awards Show that presents the top individual awards in college football's Division I subdivision.

In addition to the Robinson Award, Stats Perform presented the HBCU National Player of the Year to Adrew Body of Alabama State, the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award to Lehigh's Kevin Cahill, the Jerry Rice Freshman of the Year award to Mercer QB Braden Atkinson, the Buck Buchanan Defensive Player of the Year award to Andrew Zock of Mercer, and the Walter Payton Offensive Player of the Year to Youngstown State's Beau Brungard.

The award named for Robinson, a former schoolteacher and the wife of legendary Grambling State University coach Eddie Robinson, who championed the values represented by the award of leadership and integrity. During his career at Montana, Botner has lived up to those values and more.

During his seven years at UM, Botner overcame adversity and injury to earn a starting job at center on one of the greatest offenses in program history.

At Montana he 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 and most recently a certificate in Business Entrepreneurship. All the while he maintained a 3.70 GPA, mastering the art of balancing student-athlete demands on a playoff-caliber team while maintaining that same standard of excellence off the field.

After graduating in December, he's now interviewing for medical school, where he hopes to pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon.

"I had some incredible coaches and some incredible professors that helped me along the way. I always knew football was just going to be a temporary part of my life and I'd have to hang the cleats up at some point, but hopefully I've been able to set myself up for the future. It's been an incredible part of my life, and very blessed to be a part of this event, and there's some incredible players here tonight, and to be recognized for academics is pretty special," said Botner.

"I think a lot of the players here tonight know that college football is not an easy thing. It's hard schedules, it's mentally tough, it's physically tough. If I can take a little bit of that into the next part of my life, in the next chapter, hopefully I'll be able to have some success there."

He's earned him Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors in back-to-back years with a third coming in the spring. He was a semifinalist for the 2025 William V. Campbell Trophy after being named to the NFF Hampshire Honors Society last spring as well.

He's been a leader in the Montana locker room since 2019. A five-time letterman, he overcame adversity when 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.

Botner had been a part of teams with a combined 65-20 record. This season he was the starting center on an offense that scored more touchdowns and more points than any other team in program history.

Botner's commitment to community service mirrors his success in the classroom. He's volunteered nearly 50 hours across campus and in the Missoula community during his UM career, supporting youth development, health initiatives, civic programs, environmental conservation and campus life.

He's worked at high school sporting events and youth football camps, and 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 among many other community service activities.

"It's a pretty incredible community we have there in Missoula, and they love the football team. And when I could, and I had time, I'd love to give back to them and be a part of what I could. I didn't do as much time as I'd like, but hopefully I made a difference to some of the folks around the community, because I wouldn't be here without them. I love our fans, I love our football team, and I just wanted to be able to get back to them," he added.

Botner was selected as the Doris Robinson Award winner from 13 finalists – one from each conference involved in the FCS. He's the first winner and the fourth finalist from Montana, joining Derek Crittenden (2015), Reggie Tillman (2018) and Dante Olson (2019).

University of Montana Athletics

Botner named FCS Scholar Athlete of the Year in Nashville

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