Jake Butt Named Winner of Mackey Award

Submitted by goblue224 on

OFFICIAL: @JBooty_88 wins the 2016 @JohnMackeyAward!! Congrats, Jake!

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— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) December 7, 2016

Butt on being the first Michigan winner and his place in U-M history

"That means everything again too; it's something that it seems like a long shot when you get into school but through consistent sacrifice and hard work, doing it each and every day and on the off days coming in here and getting extra work in and bringing teammates along throughout four years, it's an honor to have some of those records and win some awards."

yoyo

December 7th, 2016 at 10:07 AM ^

Noicce! Getting the respect he deserves. I'll miss having the best tight end in college football. I think Wheatley/Asiasi/Gentry/Bunting and the dozen other TEs we have will fill in nicely next year, especially Wheatley.

In reply to by ijohnb

ak47

December 7th, 2016 at 10:24 AM ^

Because we lost to Iowa, pretty simple.  Honestly believe if we had 1 2 ot loss at osu and they had won the big ten we would have been in over Washington. 

ijohnb

December 7th, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^

it.  It was angry-rhetorical.  We may have the Mackey, Hornung, Thorpe award winners and a Heisman finalist.  I feel happy for the players winning these awards but it makes the end of this season all the more painful.  (And we would have been in over Washingon, no question).

Magnus

December 7th, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^

I think this is interesting, and it probably shows more respect for Harbaugh than Butt himself, really. There were a few guys who were more productive than Butt, like Evan Engram, Mike Gesicki, and Adam Breneman. None are great blockers. I guess it shows that a national stage really helps, too.

ijohnb

December 7th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^

think many people on here are speaking from the perspective where they believe they have to validate a player's accomplishments.  They play for Michigan, we blog it up.  They don't look to us for validity.  In that, I don't think that a congrats(!) from Magnus is really necessary to validate this award and I think that is the perspective he was posting from.  Of course Butt is a great player and did great things, that goes without saying.

Magnus

December 7th, 2016 at 1:36 PM ^

It's not really analysis. It's simply a statement of facts and statistics. I didn't say that he wasn't deserving. I simply said there are other, more productive tight ends. Jordan Leggett is another one. UMass's Adam Breneman led his team in receiving with 70 catches and had better overall output. O.J. Howard is considered to be a better pro prospect.

So the choice of Butt is interesting. To me, at least. That doesn't mean it's wrong.

Magnus

December 7th, 2016 at 2:54 PM ^

YOU might not measure productivity in stats alone. Quite often - including myself in this thread - people are talking about stats when they talk about productivity.

As for the rest of what you said, it circles back to my original point that the award might have a lot to do with Jim Harbaugh. He has a very good history of producing tight ends and utilizing them well, and part of Butt demanding attention from other defenses is the way Harbaugh schemes his offense. Of course a double- or triple-covered Butt opens things up for someone else, but I would guess similar productivity (a.k.a. stats) will appear next year when the primary TE is Ian Bunting or Devin Asiasi or Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. Butt had more catches, more yards, and a higher yards/catch than last year, but he lost the award to a guy with more yards and higher yards/catch. This year the opposite turned out to be true (the guy with lesser stats won).

Regardless, guys are all a part of their own systems, so I'm not taking that away from him. Lamar Jackson is good as part of a system, same for Deshaun Watson, same for Jabrill Peppers, etc. It's just interesting to me that he won the award when there are good arguments for others, including productivity/stats. If it's not interesting to you - and I know the word "interesting" is troublesome for some - then so be it. You don't have to be interested for me to be interested.

big john lives on 67

December 7th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^

That is what is wrong with the world today. Stats=productivity. So many things in football that are important are not tracked in stats. Particularly for TE where the player is in fact an offensive lineman. Butt was a hugely valuable player this year in many ways that are not tracked on the stat sheet.

Agree to disagree I guess.




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Magnus

December 7th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^

Saying "congratulations" to people who don't read this board is stupid, anyway. I generally don't offer congratulations unless it's to participants here.

But I don't know who deserves the award. What I do know is that there were more productive tight ends in the country.

OrlandoWolverine

December 7th, 2016 at 10:30 AM ^

Jake Butt has natural ability and was well on his way to becoming one of the nation's top tight ends even as a Sophomore.  Let's not forget that Jay Harbaugh has helped tremendously with recruiting UofM's promising stable of tight ends, and he obviously knows a thing or two about coaching them.