Kevin Dotson (born September 18, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Early life and high school

Dotson was born in

West Point, Mississippi West Point is a city in Clay County, Mississippi, United States, in the Golden Triangle region of the state. The population was 11,307 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Clay County and the principal city of the West Point Micropolitan ...

and grew up in

Plaquemine, Louisiana Plaquemine is a city in and the parish seat of Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. At the 2010 United States census, the population was 7,119; the 2020 census determined its ...

. He attended

Plaquemine High School Plaquemine High School is a public high school located at 59595 Belleview Drive in unincorporated Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States, south of the City of Plaquemine. It serves grades from seven to twelve and is administered by the Ibervil ...

, where he played football with his twin brother Kenny.

College career

Dotson

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season. He became the Ragin' Cajuns right guard two weeks into his redshirt freshman and was named to the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

All-Newcomer Team. Dotson was named second-team All-Sun Belt as a redshirt sophomore after starting all 12 of Louisiana's games. He was named first-team All-Sun Belt as a redshirt junior after starting 14 games at right guard. Dotson started all 14 of the Ragin' Cajuns games and was again named first-team All-Sun Belt as a redshirt senior and was also named a first-team All-American by the

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and to the second-team by the ''

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''.

Professional career

Dotson was selected in the fourth round of the

2020 NFL draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

, 135th overall, by the

. He made his NFL debut on September 14, 2020, in the season opener against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, entering the game at right guard to replace injured starter

Stefen Wisniewski Stefen David Wisniewski (born March 22, 1989) is a former American football guard and center. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft out of Penn State. He also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Philad ...

. Dotson made his first career start the following week on September 20, 2020, against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. He was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the team on November 14, 2020, and activated on November 30. Dotson entered the 2021 season as the Steelers starting left guard. He started the first nine games before suffering an ankle injury in Week 10. He was placed on injured reserve on November 20, 2021.

References

External links

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns bio
Living people American football offensive guards Players of American football from Louisiana Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football players People from Plaquemine, Louisiana People from West Point, Mississippi Pittsburgh Steelers players 1996 births All-American college football players {{Offensive-lineman-1990s-stub