Volson brings ‘lunch-pail mentality’ to Bengals’ line
Cordell Volson is the player who has made the biggest name for himself in Bengals training camp.
But when he was 11-years old, he was trying to sheer sheep on his family farm in rural North Dakota.
“The population of Balfour is 27,” Volson said. “I grew up three miles from there. We had a grocery store, a gas station and a few other businesses.”
Volson went to school in nearby Drake, a town with about 15 kids in his grade and with a football team that had a roster of around 20 players. The team played in a conference where nine players were on the field instead of 11.
“To me, growing up in a small blue collar town, I knew how to show up with a hard-hat, lunch-pail mentality,” Volson said. “That was the way I was brought up. It’s something I continue to carry with me.”
At Drake, Volson played offensive and defensive line, tight end, fullback, linebacker, punter and kicker.
Volson saw North Dakota State, the team his older brother Tanner played for, as the closest thing to a professional football team in his home state. He committed, but he still had a long road in front of him.
When he arrived, Volson had never played 11-man football. He did, however, have a lot of chances to develop. They called it “double reps.” North Dakota State’s coaches split up the first-team and second-team units onto different practice fields, so they were both going at the same time.
Volson ended up filling Tanner’s spot as a starter in 2019, and became a standout right tackle. In 2020 and again in 2021, he was named a first team FCS Allamerican.
He became an NFL draft prospect, and the Bengals selected him in the fourth round.
In college, Volson only played about one half at left guard. It was an emergency situation in which two offensive linemen got hurt versus Illinois State. Volson stepped up even though he hadn’t taken a single practice rep there.
Two years later, that’s his new fulltime position.
“He’s tough, he’s physical, and he’s a finisher,” said Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack. “He comes from a winning team (and) winning culture. You love his intangibles. He’s a worker; that’s how he was raised, (which is) what you’re looking for.”