Keynan Cotton is a key player in the family tree of athletes for the Cotton Family. His dad Curtis played defensive back at Nebraska in the early 90s and his older brothers Kenzo and KJ were state champions in track at Papillion La Vista. Both ran at the division one level. Kenzo ran at the University of Arkansas and KJ ran at Oklahoma State.
Keynan hopes to continue the tradition as long as he can both being the top receiver returning for the Warriors and also coming back as metro champion in the 100m where he ran a 10.6.
“The tradition is great,” said Cotton. “I’m trying to be the fastest in the family and break Kenzo’s record.”
Cotton is also related to former Millard North five-star and current Wake Forest guard Hunter Sallis. Cotton returns to the football side in 2024 looking to become a three-time state champion. He was the wide receiver two last year as a junior having hauled in 33 receptions, 501 yards, and nine touchdowns which were all second on the team.
Cotton has started out of the gates hot to begin his final year becoming the new top receiver for the new sophomore quarterback Braylen Warren. In his first three games of the season, he has four touchdowns, 13 receptions and 229 yards. Along with being the oldest, he is helping to train the young receivers for their upcoming roles for this season and the ones after he graduates next season.
“We’re trying to be leaders as best as possible to the young guys,” Cotton said. “We’re bringing them up with us and training them for when they step into the new rolls.” Cotton is one of many new receivers stepping into bigger roles this season leading one of the deepest receiving rooms of the entire state.
Being the top receiver has its perks but it also has a lot of responsibility especially with the team’s big changes over the offseason losing players to graduation and bringing in many transfers from all over the state. Cotton is also coming back on the track after winning metro’s last year running a 10.6 100m. Cotton has high hopes for this spring as well, having not done great in the state meet because of an injury. He looks to come back stronger and faster to beat his brother’s record.
“I feel like I have a really good chance this year,” Cotton said. “I feel like I can go lower and try to at least hit a 10.4.”
Cotton’s speed and shiftiness have also translated to the football field with him being one of the fastest guys out there running a 4.51 40-yard dash last season. He follows athletes out of the Westside who are dual-threat athletes who are receivers such as Jaylen Lloyd and Caleb Benning who are at Nebraska. Cotton has some ties to the defense and special teams as well though only recorded 12 tackles last season as a defensive back like his dad his special teams put him on the map for schools as a triple-threat athlete he got some kick returns last year along with Caleb Benning but this new year he is the number one as well for both punt and kick returns playing all three units on the field at different points during the games.
“I think I’m very versatile.” Cotton said, “I’ll do whatever my team needs to do to win.”
Cotton is looking to continue his dual sport aspirations at the next level on the recruiting end; the top schools that he has offers from are Iowa State and North Dakota State.
“It’s going pretty slow right now but I like Iowa State.”Once I get invited somewhere I’ll take a trip down wherever.”
He also visited Nebraska in January and said in an interview with On3 Sports: “I liked it, coach Rhule is building something special down there.” In the same interview, he also said “I would like to go to Iowa and Iowa State for a day, maybe even Texas A&M. I’m not worried about how many offers I get or how much attention I get. I just want to stay focused on what I’m doing right now.”
Cotton hopes his final season is a good one for both his football team and himself and is going for what his family hasn’t done yet: win state at a track event in the spring and win a state championship as a member of the football team this fall and he has a good shot to do it with the trajectory he is on.
“We’re trying to get three percent better every day.” Cotton said, “We’re focused on now but our goal if we keep putting in the work is to get back to that point and bring another championship back here.”
