By Erika Yohn
of high school
football players make it on the
roster of Division I programs.
The number is 1.9% for track
and field runners.
Athletes that do both? The
chances are even slimmer.
Despite the odds, Malcolm
Dotson has been able to
compete – and excel – for
Purdue as a dual-sport
athlete.
But striking a balance
between both sports and making a mark is
always a challenge. Football and track seasons
do not overlap, but offseason training is always
going on for single-sport athletes. Dotson has to
give up some of that training time to compete in
his other sport, which sometimes feels like he is
not giving his all.
Dotson tries his best to split the difference. “On a
week when we don’t have a track meet, I’ll try to
secretly go to football without track knowing. If
they found out they’d probably kill me,” he joked.
Doing multiple sports has always been a part of
Dotson’s life. Throughout his childhood as an
Indiana native, he can remember a long list of
sports he tried out: basketball, football, baseball,
tennis, soccer, track. Eventually the list dwindled
down to the two he was the best at, and he was
most passionate about. He competed for
Cathedral High School in Indianapolis in both
sports, contributing to a state championship for
football and several broken school records for
track.
His athleticism drew comparisons with a previous
athlete at Cathedral: Terry McLaurin. Now a
redshirt sophomore on Ohio State’s football
squad, McLaurin constantly came up in
conversations about Dotson’s times. McLaurin
Dotson running the 4x100m relay in the outdoor 2016 season.
held track sprinting records in the 100m and
200m races for Cathedral, and was named the
2013 Indiana Mr. Football.
“I just always wanted to be better than him,”
Dotson said. “People would always compare me
to him, ‘you’re going to be the next Terry when
you get older’, stuff like that, and I wanted to get
away from that.”
Dotson went on to break McLaurin’s track
records, and still holds the top two times for the
100 meter dash for Cathedral.
When it came time to decide if he wanted to
pursue athletics in college, the wide receiver
knew football was his dream. Despite his talent
in track, football was his first sport and his
primary passion. But even after huge success by
his Cathedral High School football team, he
knew he was still a little behind the curve when it
came to recruiting.
“I started my senior year, but I didn’t play enough
to get game film or anything, so I was promoting
myself through track,” he explained.
Track became Dotson’s gateway to the Big Ten.
He ran well, and impressed former Purdue head
football coach Darrell Hazel with his times. He
joined both squads for the Boilermakers,
redshirting his first year in football but running for
track as a true freshman.
“I like football better, but I’d say that I’ve
produced more collegiately in track, stats wise,”
he said.
And produced he has. In
2016, he placed in the top
five for both the 100m and
the 200m dash for the Big
Ten Outdoor
Championships, and was
part of the 4x100m relay
team that finished 17th in
the NCAA Outdoor
Championships.
Despite his early
contributions as a
Boilermaker, high school
was not the end of
comparisons for Dotson.
When he arrived at Purdue,
there were still more
legacies overshadowing his
collegiate goals. In
particular, his track
coaches brought up
Raheem Mostert, who now
plays for the San Francisco
49ers in the NFL. He was a
dual sport athlete at
Purdue from 2011 to 2014,
participating in both track
against each other in the 200m, but are together
on the 4x100m relay team.
Knowing his passion for football is realistically
overshadowed by his track performance, Dotson
accepts his role and sets his goals after
collegiate competition high. He admits that his
class fell into a lucky year with the last Olympics
being in summer of 2016, and is setting his sights
on the qualifying for Tokyo in 2020 as he exits his
collegiate career.
“After I’m done, I’ll still have
my redshirt senior year of
football, so hopefully after
that football season I’ll just
go train with track,” he said
of the 2019 football
season. That gives him an
 All-America Honorable
Mention for 4x100m
performance at NCAA
Outdoor Championships
(relay team placed 17th)
 4th at Big Ten Outdoor
Championships in 200m –
21.34 seconds
 5th at Big Ten Outdoor
Championships in 100m –
10.75 seconds
 Bronze medal for 4x100m
relay at Big Ten
Championships
 60m PR of 6.78 seconds, tied
for sixth in school history
advantage moving into
qualifiers; he can still finish
his degree and train with
the track team as an
athletic alum, unlike other
people in his true class that
will be finished with their
collegiate experience
already. This gives him the
chance to keep training at
a high level, and hopefully
make it to the Olympics.
Regardless of if he
qualifies for Tokyo or not,
Dotson hopes to be
traveling after he
graduates. “I want to be a
pediatrician,” he said of his
Public Health major. “And
and football like Dotson. Like Dotson, Mostert
competed in the 100m, and won the Big Ten title
for it in 2014.
I’m also minoring in French and Spanish. So I’m
hoping to study abroad, or work abroad early in
my life.”
But Mostert’s success just fuels Dotson’s fire as
he enters his second year. “I want to be faster
than him and excel at football as well,” he said.
But for now, Dotson has some work to do. First
things first, get some titles under his belt at the
Big Ten Outdoor Championships this year, and
place at nationals. For someone that wants to
break away from all the comparison, the task
seems daunting. Dotson seems more determined
than intimidated, though.
Dotson’s teammates are also a source of
competition. Kyle Webb, a fellow sprinter, is
definitely a positive challenge in Dotson’s mind.
“We train together, we push each other, and I
push myself to be better than him. I really look up
to him,” he said. Webb and Dotson compete
“I just want to be the next Malcolm Dotson, and
just leave that legacy. And so that’s what I work
for.” ♦