"First and foremost, you want to get the right people in your pro- gram who believe in what you're doing," he said. "Our program is relationship driven. It's paramount in everything we do. We're all in this together to make this experience the very best it can be for our student-athletes." senior quarterback from Slater, Mo.
"He's a great story," Butts said. "He transferred in from an NAIA school after his freshman year and was our starting quarterback for the next two seasons. Unfortunately, he had season-ending (knee) injuries both years, so he didn't get to play much. leads by example. He had some gutty performances for us last year. He's a great competitor."
The dual-threat quarterback threw for 791 yards and four touch- downs in seven games last season while rushing for 178 yards and seven scores. Mo.), a 2024 second-team All-Conference performer last year who
"He's elite in the classroom, and leadership-wise, he really took a
energy and passion that he brings to the program. It's really cool to sit back and see people gravitate towards him as a leader."
To say butts is excited an understatement. The excitement level is four times that. "We are very, very, very, very excited about where we're going," said the ever-enthusiastic Butts. "The players we have coming back program."
When did the excitement for this season start building? At the end of last year's 1-9 season, when optimism was at a premium. "The last game of the season was against the conference champs," Butts said, "and that was probably the most competitive, complete game we played in all three phases all year." It proved to the players, the coaches and the fans something about this football team. "We never quit, and we DID," Butts said, "get better throughout the season."
And that's all you can ask.
58 /// September 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108
