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111 "Iowa was a good fit for me; they develop people and I needed a lot of developing," Ott said. "It was a no-brainer for me, but it took me awhile to even pronounce coach Ferentz's name and I was pretty confused at first. I didn't know anything about Iowa. I came in pretty blind." Ott is one of three Hawkeyes on the defensive line that played 8-man football in high school. e others are senior Nate Meier (Fremont-Mills in Iowa) and sophomore Nathan Bazata (Howells- Dodge in Nebraska). Like so many great Hawkeye linemen, Ott is a good old farm boy. In fact, when he is through with football, he wants to run the 2,500-acre family farm in the middle of Nebraska. "e closest town to me is 210 people so there wasn't much going on," Ott said. "Since a young age, dad always had me on a tractor or feeding (100 head of ) cows. I was always with him doing something." He also helped with the crops: corn, hay, soybeans, and wheat. But gathering eggs wasn't a specialty. "I don't know if I always gathered the eggs the best," he said. "I got yelled at for that." While much is made about a 275-pound football player riding around campus on a moped, Ott also has a trucker's license and drives semis full of grain. "ere aren't a lot of Division I athletes that can say that," Ott said. "It is a little bigger than the scooter and a little more responsibility behind that wheel." From a leadership perspective, Ott was a scooter in 2012, now he is a semi. e lessons he learned from his role model Dom Alvis, as well as interior defensive linemen like Carl Davis and Louis- Trinca Pasat, is being passed on to the next group of potential all-conference Hawkeyes. "is year I have to help the younger kids work on their technique because that is how you get the job done," Ott said. "I want to work hard every day to improve. Hopefully people can follow that leadership and get things going in the right direction."