Sunday Q&A: Gophers' lineman Cameron Botticelli

If any one player embodies the turnaround with the Gophers football team under coach Jerry Kill, it might be Cameron Botticelli. The defensive lineman started out as a walk-on during the leanest of Gophers years. Now a senior starter on scholarship, Botticelli is about to play in the Gophers' third consecutive bowl game. As the Gophers prepared for the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl vs. Missouri, Botticelli chatted with the Star Tribune's Michael Rand.

Q You've been here basically from the ground floor up. What's your explanation for, day in and day out, why Jerry Kill has been able to do what he's done?

A I think you can't look at the success he's had in his career and the success we've had in this program without looking at the disciplined, organized, regimented plan that Coach Kill works off of. There aren't too many variables. You know what you're going to get every day and you know what's expected of you every day as a player. When the expectation is laid out, it's really easy to come in and perform.

Q Minnesota has lost six bowl games in a row. How important is it to win one?

A Tremendously important. It's the last football game that a lot of guys on our team are going to play. ... The seniors need to walk away from the program with a win. More importantly for the program and moving the program forward, for Coach Kill and the rest of the staff, this needs to be the next brick. We talk about "brick by brick" all the time. Well, winning a bowl game is a brick.

Q Looking back over your bio, I saw you caught a touchdown in high school. What do you remember, and is that the only TD you scored in high school or college?

A Yes, it was the only one. I remember I was playing tight end. It was a delayed blocking pattern, so I pretended to block and then rolled. Nobody was expecting me to get the ball, and I was uncovered. It was a pretty routine pass. … The only thing that comes close is getting a sack as a defensive lineman.

A No, there wasn't at all. Maxx knew he was wrong for wearing those Crocs and he didn't seek any retribution.

Q I also saw a picture of you with a cat at the football complex. Why did you bring a cat to the football complex?

A That's my cat, Tinkerbell. I've had her for three years now. And every time we beat the Northwestern Wildcats, Tinkerbell gets paraded into the complex as a pseudo-Wildcat.

Q What's your greatest memory of your time with the Gophers — and maybe one regret, too?

A Greatest memory has to be running across and getting the pig the first time against Iowa. Just from where our program was, just a huge swing in momentum that trophy game was. Probably the biggest regret I have doesn't have anything to do with football. If I could go back and do it all again, I would have gotten more involved in student groups and become more involved in the student body at large. Football eats up an awful lot of time in terms of investment, but I would have gone back and gotten more involved.