Vanderbilt will play North Carolina State in the Independence Bowl this afternoon at 5 pm. Despite the game’s location in Louisiana, a Texas standout athlete will make all 305 lbs. of his presence felt in the Commodores first postseason berth since 2013.
DE Adam Butler came to Vanderbilt as an acclaimed high school offensive lineman, red shirting as a backup at center and guard. After steady improvement over his stay at Vanderbilt, the Duncanville grad finished his regular season starting every game, ending the year with 24 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and a team-high four quarterback sacks. All sacks and six of his tackles for loss came against SEC opposition; In particular, the redshirt senior shined against Florida last October, posting highs in solo tackles (3), tackles for loss (5) and quarterback sacks (2).
As Texas high school graduate, Butler was a jack-of-all-trades within the gridiron of Dallas high school athletics. As a sophomore, he served as as a DE before changing to LT as a junior and senior, leading his team to 5A playoff appearances in 2010 and 2011. Apparently, he made the switch back to the defense in college following a rib-eating contest:
The story of how @VandyFootball DL Adam Butler moved from the O-Line to the Defensive Line after a rib-eating contest is just incredible. pic.twitter.com/fUUcmFymaS
— Cutler Klein (@CutlerKlein) November 15, 2016
Butler’s tenure at Vanderbilt likely didn’t go as was planned, but there’s still time to end his career with a bang. The SEC East was bad this year, very bad, and there were definitely moments where the Commodores could’ve taken more control than they did. They’re riding a two game winning streak, which includes wins over Ole Miss and bitter rival Tennessee, and if Butler can get into the backfield today, we might see it extended to three.
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