In a lot of ways, Sacramento State junior Elijah Dotson is your typical college student. He plays Fortnite, listens to Drake and watches movies in his free time. On the football field, Dotson slices through defenses en-route to game-breaking touchdowns — and off the field, he runs circles around his opponents in track.  

Dotson is the Sac State football team’s running back with over 2,300 rushing yards and over 1,000 yards receiving in his career at the university, which started back in 2017. Dotson joined the track and field team in 2020, and ran the 60-meter and 200-meter, qualifying for the Big Sky Championship in both events.

“I had this hidden love for track,” Dotson said. “It’s been something I’ve always wanted to do once I got into college.”

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Dotson, an Antelope High School alumnus, competed in both track and football throughout high school and opted to go to Sac State to be able to stay close to home while also fulfilling his dream of  playing Division 1 football.

“It was kind of surprising to me because I didn’t think I’d make it,” Dotson said about the track and field team.

One thing that has helped Dotson at the collegiate level is his tireless work ethic, according to Sac State director of track and field Kenny McDaniel.

“You know it’s hard doing two sports, especially at the Division 1 level, and his mentality is that if you tell him he can’t do something, he’s gonna go do it,” McDaniel said. “That’s his number one asset — his overall mentality.” 

McDaniel had nothing but the highest praise for Dotson. 

“If my son would be like him, then I’d be one happy parent,” McDaniel said. “He’s just a good person, you can take away athletics.”

Dotson said he has set goals for himself in both football and track, as well as outside athletics.

“The goal for Elijah Dotson is to be the best person I can be everyday,” Dotson said. “I want to get one percent better every single day. I want to be a better person than I was yesterday. That’s just my goal every single time.”

Dotson added he looks to attain another level of speed during track that he can transfer onto the football field.

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Training aside, Dotson said he had interest in doing collegiate track and field since he was a youth and now he gets the chance to do so. 

“I’m doing track to have fun, also because that’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Dotson said.

Dotson said one of the biggest differences between the two sports was “tunnel vision.” For track  and field, Dotson tries to focus on himself in his “tunnel” rather than watching his opponents. 

“As soon as you watch someone run past you, that’s when you lose yourself,” Dotson said about track.

In football however, Dotson said when he is rushing the ball or catching a pass in the open field, he wants to eliminate the tunnel vision, see the whole game and use his vision and elusiveness to evade defenders. 

“You gotta have that swag that can’t nobody tackle me,” Dotson said. “That’s how you gotta play. You gotta play like you’re not going to get tackled by one person — It’s gonna take at least two people or the whole team to take you down.”

Dotson said he prefers the behind the scenes in football such as practices, workouts and building camaraderie with his teammates while preparing for games.

Freshman Patrick Dean, Dotson’s teammate in both football and track and field, said he has gotten close to Dotson throughout the seasons. 

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During football practices last year, Dean said he noted that he and Dotson weren’t all that close, but being on track brought the two athletes together. Dean said he has taken notice of Dotson’s work ethic as well. 

“Anyone can be good,” Dean said. “But his mindset, the way he works, he works harder than everybody I’ve seen.”

The men’s track and field season begins with a meet with the University of Nevada, Reno and University of California, Davis on Saturday, February 27.

“I just want to be that guy, and me working everyday is the best way for me to do it,” Dotson said.