Football: He just keeps going...

Scott Britton generally isn’t the biggest player on the field. He’s rarely the fastest. But if it’s a question about energy, you’d be hard-pressed to find a linebacker in the Ivy League who plays at a more frenetic and relentless pace than Britton, Princeton’s senior co-captain and returning all-Ivy League performer.

“From the moment he walks on the practice field each and every day, it’s like winding up the old energizer bunny,” defensive coordinator Steve Verbit said. “We kid him about that all the time. You wind him up, and as soon as he comes out of the tunnel, that’s what he does, and that’s what makes him who he is.”

Since arriving at Princeton in 2006, Britton has made a name for himself by playing at an energy level that often surprises his teammates. Senior defensive back Wilson Cates recalled the first time Britton played against the first-team offense during preseason their freshman year.

“Scott got the opportunity to play one snap of goal-line defense against our first-team offense. He made the most of it,” Cates said. “As the offense ran the ball to the left, Scott darted through the line to stick our then-first-team running back Rob Toresco [’08]. I remember everyone was shocked by his ability to stop the ball on short yardage, especially as a freshman. He has continually done that since.”

When Britton arrived at Princeton, he was already a known commodity.

Britton attended the same high school as Verbit’s children. By the time his freshman season was in full swing, Britton had already played his way onto the starting special teams unit.

“Scott was making great strides as a freshman,” Verbit explained. “He got to the point early on where we had him on a number of special teams, and he was actually working his way into a position of playing when he tore his ACL as a freshman. That kind of slowed him down just a bit, but we always had great expectations of him.”

Following the injury, Britton approached his rehab with the same gusto that had earned him a spot on the team as a rookie: Britton made it a point to work as hard as possible during his rehab from surgery to ensure he would return to the fullest of his abilities.

“I had never been injured in my life. Coming back from that, especially freshman year, doing all the rehabilitation, was really difficult for me both physically and emotionally,” Britton said. “It was something that I worked really hard on, because I told myself that I was never going to skip one repetition or one exercise the entire rehab, because I never wanted to look back at the entire rehab process and wonder what would have been if I’d gotten back better than I was.”

Even with his focused approach to rehabbing his injury, it still took Britton until his junior season to return to full strength. Last year, Britton was finally healthy enough to measure up to the promise he had displayed in freshman camp.

Britton finished the season with 81 tackles. That number was good for second on the team and eighth in the Ivy League and was one of the reasons Britton received honorable mention all-Ivy League honors for the season.

Just as important as the statistics Britton posted last season was the example that he set for his teammates through his great work ethic, teammates said.

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“Scott is the definition of what a Princeton linebacker should be. Not only is he extremely vocal on the field, but he backs it up with his play,” Cates said. “As a leader of the defense, it’s very important to lead by example, and Scott does that with his hard hits, sure tackling and big play abilities.”

This season, Britton has been asked to play a more integral role as one of the team’s co-captains and senior leaders.

Not surprisingly, he has embraced the opportunity to take on a greater leadership role with this year’s team.

“It’s definitely an honor. I think it’s a position that’s been very important,” Britton said. “It’s been a lot of responsibility, but it’s a responsibility that I’m happy and grateful to take on. It has allowed me, as well as the other captains, to become closer to everyone on the team, because it’s so important that we make sure everyone is on the same page.”

Junior linebacker Steven Cody — Britton’s partner-in-crime patrolling the field on defense — praised Britton’s work as a captain. “He has set a great example for me and a lot of other guys because of his work ethic and by being a vocal leader on and off the field,” Cody said.

So far this year, Britton has recorded 16 tackles in the Tigers’ opening two games. In Princeton’s game against Lehigh, Britton teamed with Cody to force the opposition’s offense into numerous rushed plays and two turnovers.

“Scott is one of the hardest hitters on our team,” Cates said. “Ever since I’ve known him, he thrives to be the first player to deliver a big hit. When we need a stop on short yardage or a momentum change, we rely on Scott to make that happen through a powerful collision.”

Britton attributes his high-energy on the field to the fact that he is never the biggest linebacker on the field.

“I’m an undersized player. I don’t necessarily have a lot of physical gifts that a lot of other players have at this level,” Britton said. “A place where I can make up the difference and maximize my potential is in the weight room [and] during film study, doing all the little things I can to be the best that I can be. My work ethic is kind of a competitive advantage for me that helps me combat some of the differences in natural ability that I wasn’t blessed with.”

It’s that competitive advantage that makes Britton — though rarely the biggest or the fastest — one of the most feared linebackers in the Ivy League.