Cody Lindenberg sat down with his NIL representatives at Team IFA last offseason to talk about how the Minneapolis-based agency could help the Gophers’ standout linebacker this fall.

Team IFA would set out plans for name, image and likeness deals for Lindenberg with Thousand Hills Cattle Company and Powerade. The new age of college sports allows Lindenberg to make money via marketing opportunities, but that’s not what the Anoka native really wanted.

“The first thing I said was I want to continue with the Dylan Witschen Foundation,” Lindenberg shared with the Pioneer Press.

That small foundation was started in 2010 after Witschen, an Anoka High School football player, died of brain cancer. His parents, Ed and Debbie started fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and awarding scholarships to Anoka students. And given Dylan’s love for the game, the Anoka team started handing down the honor of the No. 7 jersey Dylan wore.

Lindenberg, who wore No. 7 during his senior year in 2019, is five years removed from his high school era and would be forgiven for looking toward the likelihood of making his NFL dream become a reality next year.

Instead, he wants to keep giving back to his hometown and cancer research in the name of Witschen.

NFL agent Jackson Magnini works on NIL deals with roughly 30 college players, including a handful of Gophers. He said a lot of college players have a sentiment to give back to the community and some do, but not quite like Lindenberg.

“He is all-in with it; that’s probably the biggest difference,” Magnini said.

That meeting led to the Tackles for Dylan campaign to benefit the foundation. For every tackle Lindenberg makes this season — so far it’s 58 and counting — real estate agent Isaac Johnson and others have pledged to donate to the foundation. Johnson of Next Move Twin Cities is giving $25 dollars per tackle up to $2,500. So far, $4,295 has been raised and fans can join the campaign at pledgeit.org. Lindenberg is entering the final month of the season.

Since Witschen, 14 players have worn the No. 7 jersey for the Anoka Tornadoes. None quite like Lindenberg. He is the only one to go on to play Division I football, while others have played at smaller schools.

“These guys reach out to us and Cody was the number one person,” Ed Witschen said. “He wore that with pride, and always talked to me and my wife, and would talk about Dylan.”

When Lindenberg started the Tackles for Dylan fundraiser, he held it at the Witschen’s Riversbend Bar & Grill in Ramsey.

Ed sees a resemblance between Cody and Dylan. Similar facial features, blonde hair and a love for football. Dylan would tell his dad he wanted to play for the Gophers — or wear No. 7 at LSU.

“Cody is what Dylan would have been, I think, in my mind,” Ed Witschen said. “It honestly brings tears in my eyes. My son, Dylan, he wasn’t the kid that wanted to play the video games. … He’d say, ‘Dad, let’s play catch.’ ‘Dad, walk me through my footwork.’”

Lindenberg played — and excelled — in nearly all sports he tried, including basketball, baseball and track and field. Central Park in Ramsay was only a bike path away from his home and that’s often where you could find young Cody.

Football became his focus around his sophomore season on varsity. “I had a lot a lot of fun that year, but I mean, I’m pretty sure we didn’t win a game,” he said.

His junior year came with a freak injury in practice. He was the personal protector on the punt team and one his best friends, a big lineman, ran through the line. Lindenberg fronted him with a block, but the punter accidentally kicked him in the midsection.

Lindenberg fractured a rib but played through it for one game.

“Eventually, I was like, I can’t do this anymore,” he said. “That was way too wickedly painful. But I was so stubborn, like, I didn’t want to tell anybody. I wanted to keep playing.”

Ironically, his senior year, he played nearly every position besides linebacker. He played safety, wide receiver, quarterback and running back. A young Cody was pictured with Goldy the Gopher and playing at the U was always going to be his first college choice, his dad Ron Lindenberg said.

Before an Anoka player is bestowed with Dylan Witschen’s No. 7 jersey, potential recipients in their junior year need to write an essay on how they best fit seven characteristics outlined by Dylan — compassion, giving, team player, determination, strength, leadership and confidence.

When a player gets picked to wear the No. 7, his letter is added to the stack of previous honorees. Ed Witschen said he hasn’t even seen the letters as they are only passed down to the next guy.

“It was awesome when I got it,” Lindenberg said. “You able to read through all the previous letters to see different ways people talked about the guys before them and after them.”

Lindenberg passed the No. 7 on to David Ayeni, who is now a senior linebacker at St. Thomas.

Ed Witschen said Lindenberg’s character “is a testament to his parents,” Ron and Kristi Haight. Cody said he was thinking about his mom when a September team meeting focused on interpersonal communication.

Kristi will chat up anyone, including random people at a store.

“Mom, leave this poor person alone,” Cody said he will think when it happens. “They just want to go about their day, but I think it’s more than that, like she, I think she just truly wants to meet another person, see how their day is going. It’s genuine.”

Ron calls Kristi an “energizer bunny” — putting effort into her family and making sure everyone around her is OK and having a good time. That has rubbed off on Cody. When he sat down with the Pioneer Press earlier this year, thirty minutes had passed and he was still chatting away.

Lindenberg has had to overcome injuries that stole most of the 2021 and 2023 seasons, but they’ve helped enrich his faith in God.

While other teammates have undergraduate degrees and can take a bare minimum of class load to stay eligible, Lindenberg has his kinesiology degree and is taking more courses toward a master’s in sport and exercise science.

Lindenberg had predecessor Mariano Sori-Marin as a mentor in the Gophers’ linebacker room and Lindenberg is now influencing younger players such as Maverick Baranowski.

“Last year, I was a young guy and that is like my big brother,” Baranowski said. “ Anyone who has been around the facility knows that me and him walk around everywhere together. We go everything together. He was like a big mentor. … It’s great to have just a great leader and a great person next to me that betters me in every area of my life.”

Baranowski wears No. 6 and Lindenberg dons No. 45 for the Gophers, but No. 7 is in between there.

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