Bulldogs Look To Young Talent
A lot of familiar faces are gone.
Graduation and off-season departures stripped 16 starters from last
year’s Butler football squad, including the No. 1 passing duo
in school history.
Those departures have assured that the Bulldogs
will have a different look in 2012. They’ve also
created an opportunity for many of Butler’s younger players,
and head coach Jeff Voris likes the way those players have
responded.
“There’s a lot of energy,”
said Voris. “It really started back in January.
We have so many young guys who are getting their first chance to
play that the energy, the excitement, the passion, the work-ethic
and those kinds of things have been outstanding.”
“We’ve seen it in practice and in
the weight room,” continued the Butler coach.
“These guys have really worked hard on preparation.
They’ve studied film and they’ve done the things that
you expect out of veterans. We’re excited to see how
that translates on the field.”
The new guys will have some big shoes to
fill. Gone from last year’s 5-6 squad are All-PFL
performers Zach Watkins (WR), Nick Caldicott (LB), Ross Teare (DL),
Pete Mattingly (OL), Michael Wilson (P), David Lang (PK), Andrew
Huck (QB) Jordan Koopman (RS), Grant Hunter (DL), Andy Dauch (DB)
and Jay Howard (OL). Watkins finished his career as
Butler’s all-time leading pass receiver, while Huck finished
second on Butler’s all-time passing list. Lang set a
Butler career record for field goals, and Hunter finished among
Butler’s all-time leaders in quarterback sacks.
Voris can call on 30 letterwinners from last
year’s squad, including eight returning starters.
Leading that group is senior linebacker Jordan Ridley, who’s
topped the Pioneer Football League in tackles for two consecutive
years. Also on hand are All-PFL players Matt Storey (OL),
Trae Heeter (RB), Matt Jenson (TE) and Sean Grady (DB).
“We have some great senior leadership and
some veteran players who have really done a good job of showing the
young guys the right way to do things,” noted Voris.
“We’ll enter the season with some
guys who will be getting their first collegiate experience.
But what we’ve seen in practice and what we’ve seen in
the off-season, we feel good about the guys who are going to be out
there.”
Offense
Huck passed for 6,560 yards and 53 touchdowns
while leading Butler’s offense for the past three
seasons. His favorite target was Watkins, who finished his
career with school records for receptions (254) and receiving yards
(2,994). Replacing that production will be a major task for
the 2012 Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs came out of spring drills with
junior Matt Lancaster and sophomore Wade Markley as the leading
candidates to replace Huck. Lancaster sat out last season
after transferring from Illinois State, where he played in 16 games
over two seasons. He earned Butler’s 2011 Offensive
“Unsung Hero” Award for scout team performance.
Markley started one game in 2011 and finished second on the team in
passing with 301 yards and three touchdowns. Both had solid
spring performances.
“We can with with both of them,”
said Voris of his two signal callers. “Wade (Markley)
does an excellent job. He understands the system, he
distributes the football, he does the things we need from a
quarterback. Matt (Lancaster) has really caught up in his
knowledge of what we’re doing and what we expect from that
position. At this point, we feel good about both of
them.”
The winner of the quarterback sweepstakes will
be throwing to a young, but promising group of receivers. The
top three pass catchers from last season are gone, and the top
returning receiver was tailback Trae Heeter. But Voris does
have letterwinner Brendan Shannon and starting tight end Matt
Jenson returning, and he can call on underclassmen Derek
O’Connor, JT Mesch, Brian Akialis, and Brayton Deckard.
He can also look to former quarterback Tom Judge, who made the
switch to wide receiver this fall. Shannon caught 25 passes
for 295 yards last fall, while Jenson had four touchdown grabs
among his nine catches.
“(Our wide receivers) might be as athletic
and talented as we’ve had, but they don’t have those
multiple game starts that we had last year,” said
Voris. “It’s all going to come down to how they
respond to adversity and how they compete when they walk between
the lines, and we think they’ll do both of those.”
Fewer questions exist among the running backs
with the presence of Heeter (left), sophomore Don Stewart and
junior David Thomas. Heeter led the Bulldogs with 713 rushing
yards and four rushing touchdowns last season, while Stewart
finished second on the squad with 283 rushing yards. Thomas
played primarily on special teams a year ago, but he had a good
spring performance in the backfield. Several newcomers have
added solid depth to the offensive backfield.
The offensive line presents the biggest
rebuilding challenge, with just one full-time starter
returning. Senior Matt Storey started all 11 games a year ago
and has started 22 consecutive games for the
Bulldogs. He’s joined by part-time starters
Charles Perrecone and Greg Ambrose as Butler’s lone returning
letterwinners in the offensive line. Junior Doug Petty, who saw
action in one game in 2011, is Butler’s only other offensive
lineman with previous varsity playing
experience.
Defense
Butler returns five starters from last
year’s defensive unit, and key among those returnees is
Ridley. The senior from Indianapolis has been a dominant
force from his middle linebacker position, where he has already
racked up two of the top six single season totals for tackles in
Butler football history. Ridley ranked fifth in the NCAA
Division I FCS last year with 140 total tackles, and he was seventh
in the nation in tackles with 130 in 2010. He’s
Butler’s lone returning first team All-PFL performer, an
honor he’s held for two straight years.
“You put Jordan Ridley in the middle of
anything and it looks really good,” said Voris in assessing
this year’s defensive unit.
Ridley will anchor a linebacking corps that
includes three additional players who saw considerable action last
season. Junior Phillip Powell and sophomores Paul Yanow and
Zack Sedivy each started at least one game in 2011. Sedivy
finished eighth on the squad in tackles, while Yanow was ninth and
Powell eleventh. Voris also can look to returning
letterwinners Bryce Barry and Thad Satre, plus several
newcomers.
The defensive secondary boasts a host of
veterans, including returning starters Jayme Szafranski and Sean
Grady (right), and may be the deepest position on the
Bulldogs’ roster. Szafranski finished third on the
squad with 66 tackles last season, while Grady was fourth with
62. Grady shared the team lead in pass interceptions with
three, one ahead of Szafranski. The two returning regulars
will be joined by letterwinners Jay Brummel, David Burke, Kevin
Cook, Greg Egan, Dan Haber, Bobby McDonald and Jimmy Schwabe, all
of whom saw action in the secondary and/or on special teams a year
ago. Returning players JoJo Ciancio, Rhyan Henson and Ryan
Kelsen also showed promise during spring drills.
Junior Jeremy Stephens is the lone returning
starter on Butler’s defensive line, though senior Jace
Tennant has played in 33 games during his time with the
Bulldogs. Stephens finished fifth on the team with 54 tackles
last season, and he was second on the squad in quarterback sacks
with three. Tennant has been among the team leaders in
quarterback sacks in each of his previous three seasons. The
two will anchor Butler’s defensive line from their defensive
end positions. Only two other letterwinners, sophomores Glen
Somers and Bret Shannon, return to the Bulldogs’ defensive
line. Somers played in nine games at defensive tackle in
2011, while Shannon saw action in eight games, primarily on special
teams. Several redshirt-freshmen, including Nick McInally,
Kyle Annis, Steven Sreniawski and Ian Luscombe, figure to get an
early look on the defensive line.
“I think we have great depth on
defense,” noted Voris. “It’s young depth
that needs game experience, but we feel good about the potential of
this unit.”
Special Teams
Graduation took a heavy toll on the
Bulldogs’ kicking game. Lang and Wilson were proven
performers, who handled their specialty at Butler at an all-league
level for three straight seasons. Lang, who led the Bulldogs
in scoring for two straight years, had a Butler single season
record for field goals (14) in each of his final two years.
He led the PFL in field goals, wound up second in the league in
kick scoring and finished third in the circuit in field goal
percentage in 2011. Wilson ranked second in the PFL in
punting in 2010, before slipping to eighth in the league last
season. Voris also has to replace dependable long-snapper
Robert Koteff and holder Jeff Larsen.
Senior Brett Thomaston and sophomore Daniel
Wilson are Butler’s top returning kickers, while Akialis and
Judge are the top returning punters. None kicked in a game
last year. Szafranski was a back-up holder a year ago, while
Sedivy could get the nod at long-snapper. Newcomers also
could figure prominently.
“There’s been good competition, and
that’s pushed each player,” noted Voris.
“We’ll probably to back to a position player handling
our punting, as opposed to a true punter. And we’ve had
spirited competition among our kickers, which gives us
options.”
