Butkus League Power Rankings (Post-Draft Contenders, Pretenders, & Tankers)
Contenders
1. Jon – 2015 Butkus Bowl Champion
Jon returns plenty of talent in ’16 but can he replace Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry/RB/Alabama? Maybe he can. He made a suave trade, bringing in Royce Freeman/RB/Oregon from Mike for just 2 Draft picks (turned into DeMario McCall/RB/Ohio St. & Devwah Whaley/RB/Arkansas). When you compare Henry and Freeman’s 2015 stats you’ll see somewhat similar numbers: Henry 2219 yds/28 TD vs Freeman 1836/17.
Here’s Jon’s probable starting lineup:
QB1 – Baker Mayfield/Oklahoma
QB2 – J.T. Barrett/Ohio St.
RB’s – Lenny Fournette/LSU, Royce Freeman/Oregon and Samaje Perine/Oklahoma
WR’s – Charles Nelson/Oregon, Josh Reynolds/Texas A&M, and Travis Rudolph/Florida St.
TE – Jake Butt/Michigan
K – Michael Badgley/Miami
D – LSU
2. Brian – 2012 Butkus Bowl Champion, 2015 Real Champion
QB1 – Seth Russell/Baylor – QB’s as good as any
QB2 – Deshaun Watson/Clemon
RB’s – Dalvin Cook/Florida St., Jalen Hurd/Tennessee, and Devine Redding/Indiana
WR’s – Thomas Sperbeck/Boise St., Torii Hunter/Notre Dame, and River Cracraft/Washington St.
TE – O.J. Howard/Alabama OR Jordan Leggett/Clemson
K – Yustin Yoon/Notre Dame
D – Florida
3. Dave
QB1 – Luke Falk/Washington St. OR Chad Kelly/Ole Miss
QB2 – Patrick Mahomes/Texas Tech
RB’s – Christian McCaffrey/Stanford, Wayne Gallman/Clemson, and Corey Clement/Wisconsin – Excellent collection
WR’s – K.D. Cannon/Baylor, Gabe Marks/Washington St., and Simmie Cobbs/Indiana – Excellent again, maybe Dave deserves to be higher
TE – Bucky Hodges/Virginia Tech
K – Austin Seibert/Oklahoma
D – Michigan
Pretenders
4. Derek – 11 Time Champion
QB1 – Mitch Trubisky/North Carolina OR Deondre Francois/Florida St.
QB2 – Trevor Knight/Oklahoma OR Eric Dungey/Syracuse
RB’s – Nick Chubb/Georgia, Jeremy McNichols/Boise St., Myles Gaskin/Washington OR Saquon Barkley/Penn St. – Good depth
WR’s – Artavis Scott/Clemson, Mack Hollins/North Carolina, Steve Ishmael/Syracuse OR DeDe Westbrook/Oklahoma
TE – Jaylen Samuels/N.C. State
K – Greg Huegel/Clemson
D – Ohio St.
5. Simon – 2 Time Butkus Bowl Champion (2000, 2014), 2007 Real Champion
QB1 – Davis Webb/California OR Max Browne/USC
QB2 – Dakota Prukop/Oregon OR Lamar Jackson/Louisville
RB’s – Elijah Hood/North Carolina, Justin Jackson/Northwestern, and Matt Dayes OR Barry Sanders/Oklahoma St. OR Travon McMillian/Virginia Tech
WR’s – JuJu Smith/USC, James Washington/Oklahoma St., and Mike Williams/Clemson
TE – Dalton Schultz/Stanford
K – Andy Phillips/Utah
D – Washington
6. Reid – 2 Time Real Champion (2010, 2014)
QB1 – Jake Browning/Washington OR Skyler Howard/West Virginia
QB2 – Josh Dobbs/Tennessee OR Tommy Armstrong/Nebraska
RB’s – L.J. Scott/Michigan St., Mike Weber/Ohio St., and Ronald Jones/USC OR Jamaal Williams/BYU OR Ke’Shawn Vaughn/Illinois
WR’s – Isaiah Ford/Virginia Tech, Shelton Gibson/West Virginia, Jordan Westerkamp/Nebraska OR Darren Carrington/Oregon
TE – Evan Engram/Ole Miss
K – Eddy Pineiro/Florida
D – Alabama
Tankers
7. Mike – 2001 Butkus Bowl Champion, 2002 Real Champion
Mike’s first 6 Draft selections were Freshmen. In addition to those 6 Freshmen, he took 2 Sophomores and 2 Seniors (one of which was his Kicker). Mike finished in 7th place last year and I foresee another 7th place finish for the Tigers.
QB1 – Josh Rosen – Could be a franchise player
QB2 – Brett Rypien – Another franchise type player but also a QB1. No QB2’s ready to start.
RB’s – De’Veon Smith, Marcus Marshall, and Kalen Ballage – I heard they might’ve moved Ballage to TE. The rest of Mike’s RB corps consists mainly of backups and 3rd stringers.
WR’s – Calvin “Showtime” Ridley, Christian Kirk, and Malachi Dupre – 2 really good WR’s, 1 starter, and a few other prospects.
TE – Ryan Izzo
K – Michael Geiger
D – Tennessee
8. Jeff – 2004 Butkus Bowl Champion
QB1 – Brady White/Arizona St.
QB2 – Taysom Hill/BYU
RB’s – Shock Linwood/Baylor, Joe Williams/Utah, and either Bo Scarbrough/Alabama OR Damien Harris/Alabama
WR’s – Mark Andrews/Oklahoma, Noah Brown/Ohio St., and Antonio Callaway/Florida – 3 Sophs and 5 FR in his 8 player WR corps
TE – David Njoku/Miami
K – Aidan Schneider/Oregon
D – Florida St. – This team could easily compete for 7th place if they don’t watch it.
Overall, there are six Contenders for the Butkus League Championship this year. Three teams are really tough and will be hard to beat for a top 3 spot. Then we have three contenders/pretenders looking to get in that 4th playoff spot. Last year Jon finished in the 3rd spot in the regular season and went on to his magical Butkus Bowl triumph. What will happen in 2016? I can’t wait to find out.
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Reid’s Cornhuskers Themes
2015: “We Shall Never Surrender”
And now announcing this year’s theme……….
“Not In This Lifetime”
After all these years of never winning, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever break through the ceiling and win a Championship. Well, someday Hell might freeze over. When they asked Axl Rose if GNR would ever get back together, he said “Not in This Lifetime”. That was four years ago. You all know what happened next.
The 2016 “Not in This Lifetime” Tour
Week 1 – September 3 – Arlington, TX (AT&T Stadium) – USC vs Alabama
Week 2 – September 10 – Lincoln, NE – Wyoming at Nebraska – I’m taking my family to see the ‘Huskers in action vs Wyoming. Last time we went out West to Nebraska was November 2, 2013. It was Trev’s 7th Birthday and we saw an incredibly memorable game vs Northwestern. You might recall FR Jordan Westerkamp catching a Hail Mary from Ron Kellogg to win the game for Trev on his Birthday! Later T-Magic was featured in “Hail Varsity” magazine. Can this game top 2013? Never.
Week 3 – September 17 – Norman, OK – Ohio St. at Oklahoma
Week 4 – September 24 – Knoxville, TN – Florida at Tennessee
Week 5 – October 1 – Seattle, WA – Stanford at Washington
Week 6 – October 8 – Dallas, TX – Oklahoma vs Texas
Week 7 – October 15 – South Bend, IN – Stanford at Notre Dame
Week 8 – October 22 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Texas A&M at Alabama
Week 9 – October 29 – Tallahassee, FL – Clemson at Florida St.
Week 10 – November 5 – Baton Rouge, LA – Alabama at LSU
Week 11 – November 12 – Eugene, OR – Stanford at Oregon
Week 12 – November 19 – East Lansing, MI – Ohio St. at Michigan St.
Week 13 – Playoffs! – November 26 Columbus, OH – Michigan at Ohio St. &
December 3 – Indianapolis, IN – B1G Conference Championship Game
Butkus Bowl XVIII – Capital One Bowl Week concluding January 2, 2017
Dutch Lion Sports 