OT - New Mexico QB Easton Bruere chooses Butler Community College

Submitted by EastCoast Esq. on

Easton Bruere has been mentioned on this Board a couple times. He was the "Best Recruit Nobody Has Heard Of" according to Bleacher Report. A prospect with gaudy numbers in New Mexico who had beaten Zach Gentry's team in the playoffs, yet had zero scholarship offers.

Apparently, the national attention didn't attract the sought-after scholarship, as he has signed with Butler Community College in Kansas:

http://krqe.com/2015/02/05/easton-bruere-chooses-butler-community-college/

While it would have been nice to see the kid get a scholarship, I'm not surprised that he did not. The Albuquerque Journal had an article on him that gave some of the reasons that he did not get an offer, including problems with his statistics (counting-wise), his lack of an elite trait, and the nature of the team's offense making it easy to post big numbers (lots of shovel passes). Couple all that with the fact that teams only have so many scholarships, and his predicament is understandable.

http://www.abqjournal.com/535596/sports/outside-looking-in.html

My only question is, if he had a 4.0 and no character problems, why not go to a good college and walk-on? If you are that good, why not go for the good education and then prove your worth during try-outs? Maybe I'm being ignorant (I was definitely not a student-athlete), but that would seem like the best route.

EDIT: Paragraph above DOES reflect my ignorance. Apparently Butler is a great route to getting a scholarship.

julesh

February 18th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^

Maybe I'm not knowledgable enough, but when was the last time a walk-on QB became starter? I know it happens a lot for other positions, but I just don't think it really happens with QBs.

Michigasling

February 18th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^

Griese was son of an NFL player who had a little success in his time and probably had no problem with his son's tuition, and Sheridan's dad had coached at Michigan and around the NFL, now back home as Lions linebackers coach.  Not the standard walk-on profiles. 

Update: Nick is now (or at least starting in 2014) an offensive graduate ass't at Tennessee.

MgoRayO3313

February 18th, 2015 at 10:22 AM ^

Having taught and coached in Garden City, KS. I can reaffirm that Butler is a football powerhouse. Extremely good offense that was stopped by no one in 2012 when I was there. It is very common to go the JUCO route in the southwest and plains states. I never really understood it but compared to Michigan, their JUCO programs and schools are held in a much higher regard by the locals. It was a natural transition for nearly everyone but the top 30 in a class to do two years at GCCC and then head on to a 4 year university.



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BlueinOK

February 18th, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^

Wichita doesn't seem to care much about college football. There's some K-State fans, but when Michigan plays at the same time as K-State and KU I can always find plenty of room at the bars. 

BlueinOK

February 18th, 2015 at 1:15 PM ^

Panter played at the same Butler Community College. It's not Kensington-Butler. Buco football is a powerhouse in the state; however, they did just lose their HC, Troy Morrell, after 15 seasons. It's a great JUCO with great athletic programs at all sports. We regularly get a few players a year where I'm at. 

jfoust81

February 18th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^

I was part of a team that prepared for Bruere in his junior year, and I have seen Gentry. I'll be honest, it would not shock me if Bruere doesn't end up at a MWC or C-USA team and puts up some massive numbers. Smart kid, likeable and coachable, and a winner. Going JuCo for a year or two will make a world of difference. He will be eased in to the speed at higher levels instead of redshirting, sitting for two years, and starting his JR/SR years at a bigger D1 school. Good choice for this kid!

lhglrkwg

February 18th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^

If numerous schools in Division 1 looked at him and decided he wasn't good enough for an offer, then he's not good enough for an offer. It's the same things thousands of high schoolers go through every year.

Good luck at Butler. If he's good enough, we'll see him playing D1 somewhere eventually

LSAClassOf2000

February 18th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^

A quick look at Butler's notable alumni in football include names like:

- Demarcus Lawrence

- Zach Mettenberger

- Markus White

- Jermaine Williams

- Robert Goff

- Ron Fellows

- Rudi Johnson

There are others, but there's a few notable NBA names to come from Butler as well as some players in the MLB currently. 

4godkingandwol…

February 18th, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^

... Isn't a death sentence for living successful lives. Not going the traditional route to a college degree may set a career back one or two years, but that is nothing compared to an opportunity to realize a dream.

DealerCamel

February 18th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^

So in four years, Bill Belichick will select him with a third-round pick, everyone will say "Um, who?" and then he'll probably throw for 4,000 yards in his first season.

m1817

February 18th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^

McLane Carter, the QB from Gilmer, TX that Harbaugh visited in mid-January, committed to Incarnate Word University in San Antonio.  

His HS coach, Jaff Traylor, was hired as TE and special teams coach at Texas.

bmacjr11

February 18th, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

It has kind of been mentioned here, but JuCo can sometimea be a very good career decision.  I actually have a small business mentoring baseball prospect and more than a few I have guided towards JuCos for varying reasons..  A lot of the times it is the right call as it allows the player to play right away, which will help development rather than redshirting or sitting for two years.  The caveat with football being that there is a playbook/offense to learn and the time to grow into a leadership role as a QB.

It will be interesting to see how his career plays out against similarly rated recruits.