The Cincinnati Bearcats needed to find a new blindside protector for Brendan Sorsby following their star’s departure. John Williams, their talented starting left tackle over the past two seasons, exhausted his college eligibility, leaving a void at the position. Xavier Lozowicki, their projected starter, hasn’t played much to start his career, only playing 248 total snaps in his first two seasons.
Because of this, the Bearcats could add talent in the spring portal.
Cincinnati Bearcats officially land standout offensive tackle
According to Pete Nakos, the Bearcats officially landed former South Dakota standout left tackle Joe Cotton from the spring transfer portal for the 2025 season. As Nakos points out, he committed on Friday, but it wasn’t finalized until Saturday. He has two years of college eligibility remaining.
South Dakota standout left tackle Joe Cotton has officially signed with Cincinnati, @On3sports has learned. https://t.co/NzYcm0CV17
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) April 19, 2025
He had a great start to his college career
Joe Cotton committed to the South Dakota Coyotes for the 2022 season unranked. Cotton had a great start to his college career with South Dakota after redshirting in 2022 and taking over as the starting left tackle in each of his last two seasons. His accolades include being an FCS Freshman All-American in 2023 and a Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection in 2024.
Cotton had a breakout 2024 campaign, holding steady in pass protection and improving in run blocking. He gave up 11 pressures, nine hurries, one quarterback hit, and one sack in 14 games. He also posted a 77.8 pass-blocking, an 82.8 run-blocking, and an 81.5 overall PFF grade, ranking 42nd in pass-blocking, 6th in run-blocking, and 8th in overall grade among 200 qualified offensive tackles who played at least 50% of snaps.
