Iowa gets grad transfer from Nevada

This is very interesting to me on so many levels.

One would think that a very productive grad transfer leaves to go to a bigger school in order to gain NFL exposure- Which includes needing to go to a school where you'll get plenty of snaps. Depth at running back did not seem to be an issue this year for the Hawks. Curious what the coaching staff told him. You know he's coming in to play right away.

How do you suppose Wadley feels about the addition?
Does this mean the younger backs still aren't ready?
Was this a proactive or reactive target - reads like maybe Erb had something to do with this.
How does his running style counter to Wadleys?
What does this say about our offensive philosophy this year?

I'm having a hard time convincing myself we can win more than 6 games this year, but I'm hopeful this another low expectation season that surprises us all!
 
hawkstar1980 said:
my first overall impression of mr. butler is great pass protection and tough gritty yards. I think he will be a very capable 3rd down back and spelling wadley at times! more of a head down straight ahead runner
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I really don't think AW is durable enough for an every down role at Iowa or in the NFL. In the NFL, I see AW as being a RB/slot wr, a la, what the Steelers are doing. getting a rb in pass patterns against a middle lb is an advantage. I hope we see both kids on the field at the same time. This feels to me like a change to the old offensive philosophy; getting 2 rb play makers on the field at the same time. we'll see what actually happens.
 
From watching the vids, they seem to run very similar plays to Iowa, counters, etc.. He was compared to Freddy Russell which excites me as he looks to be a smaller and tough back. Fred was very difficult to see behind the line because of his small stature and before you know it with his quickness, he was blasting thru many times untouched before the D could find him.

He looks to be a plug-and-play player who comes in pretty polished. The stat that I noticed was that he led the country in missed tackles or something like that. In addition, he had quite a few catches last year. This is a good get. They guy is obviously smart and driven as he graduated in 3 years. He can come here and just completely focus on football.

I suspect he kind of just fell in Iowa's lap. I suspect he was looking for a place to play closer to home where his family could come and watch and Iowa fit his style, and maybe he reached out to Iowa.

Excited to see this young man play.
 
ArvadaHawk said:
I really don't think AW is durable enough for an every down role at Iowa or in the NFL. In the NFL, I see AW as being a RB/slot wr, a la, what the Steelers are doing. getting a rb in pass patterns against a middle lb is an advantage. I hope we see both kids on the field at the same time. This feels to me like a change to the old offensive philosophy; getting 2 rb play makers on the field at the same time. we'll see what actually happens.
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i wld love nothing more than running two back sets that being said until the day comes I actually see it happen at iowa i wont believe it!
 
MelroseHawkins said:
From watching the vids, they seem to run very similar plays to Iowa, counters, etc.. He was compared to Freddy Russell which excites me as he looks to be a smaller and tough back. Fred was very difficult to see behind the line because of his small stature and before you know it with his quickness, he was blasting thru many times untouched before the D could find him.

He looks to be a plug-and-play player who comes in pretty polished. The stat that I noticed was that he led the country in missed tackles or something like that. In addition, he had quite a few catches last year. This is a good get. They guy is obviously smart and driven as he graduated in 3 years. He can come here and just completely focus on football.

I suspect he kind of just fell in Iowa's lap. I suspect he was looking for a place to play closer to home where his family could come and watch and Iowa fit his style, and maybe he reached out to Iowa.

Excited to see this young man play.
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Nail meet hammer. Could not agree more.
 
I look at this as a great thing. Toks and Young may not so much but Wadley has nothing to worry about (besides getting hurt) He'll get all the reps he can handle and then some. Basically here's what I see is that replacing LeShun Daniels will be a 3 headed monster. Young may get the short yardage touches with the best of the 3 getting more reps. I'm fired up for it. Toks and Young are who knows what at this point. This kid has a ton of proven reps on his resume. He's been really durable and plays tough. What's not to love from a fan or coaches perspective?
 
This is THE BEST thing the coaches could have done to help keep Wadley's carries at a reasonable level, to help ensure he stays healthy and fresh.
Great addition - welcome to Iowa City Mr. Butler - So glad you're a Hawkeye!

PS - Hoping BF has what it takes to be his own man and ditches the FB altogether.
Put them both in there, keep the D guessing and get our Offense into the modern era.
 
This is a good get. We lack weapons on offense. Wadley, Fant, MVB. That's all we know about.

With Butler we've got another RB who can score from anywhere on the field, catch the ball, and return kicks.

I'd love to see the jet sweep with Wadley and Butler out there. Of course we'd have to be less #%#% predictable. It was obvious when Wadley was in the slot....now with both of these guys on the field the defense has to respect each player.
 
Always a good thing to add a player who has the potential to score at any given time.
Butler's high yds/carry for his career indicate he's got the skill set to do just that.
 
A little rest for AW, another game-breaking threat, insurance against the dreaded...well, I won't say it but we all know the 6 initials.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
? is can the two of them get over 2,200 yards next year?
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Perhaps more in total yds. When I saw that Butler was 210 lbs and was receiving a lot as well, the first thing I thought was both of them starting together to give more looks for a D as the receivers are coming along.
 
This move is starting to make more sense to me.

At first I couldn't figure it out. A pre-season all-MWC pick at RB this year. he has run for 1300 yards each the last 2 years, you would figure he would have no worries about playing time, and might even set the all time Nevada record for running yards if he had stayed.

But he graduated in 3 years, so no need to stay to get a degree.

Then last year's coaching staff all got fired at Nevada, including Lester Erb, who recruited Butler The new coaching staff at Nevada is installing a new air raid pass-first offense, which offers no promises on number of carries he will get, but still he was promised playing time. But the key is either way would have to deal with new coaches and a new system. So might as well look around.

So you may ask why not just declare for the NFL draft. My guess is, if he was a can't miss NFL draft pick, he would have entered the draft. Since he didn't, that probably means he did not get any NFL interest.

Throw in the fact that he is from wheaton Illinois and was originally recruited by Erb to maybe play at Iowa before Erb was fired at Iowa. This presents a unique opportunity to play his final year a little closer to home where more family and friends would have a chance to see him play. Perhaps his last chance at glory, but maybe could use the exposure to move up in the NFL draft.

Whatever his reasons, its good for Iowa.
 
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Just tells us all the more that we're gonna be a run-heavy, two or three tights team with only marginal production from our receivers. But then marginal would be a vast improvement over last year.

Love the pick up.
 
Keep in mind that in 2015, one of Iowa's best regular seasons ever, Iowa had 4 running backs spiltting playing time.

Canzeri, Daniels, Mitchel were the top 3 and Wadley was actually 4th string that year. It worked out well in the sense that they all got hurt but not all the same time.

Its just a known rule by now. You never can have enough running backs at Iowa.
 
guffus said:
Keep in mind that in 2015, one of Iowa's best regular seasons ever, Iowa had 4 running backs spiltting playing time.

Canzeri, Daniels, Mitchel were the top 3 and Wadley was actually 4th string that year. It worked out well in the sense that they all got hurt but not all the same time.

Its just a known rule by now. You never can have enough running backs at Iowa.
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I wonder if the o/u changes for Iowa, now?
 
Here are a couple interesting tidbits related to Butler's decision to transfer and decision to pick Iowa--

1. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Butler missed much of Spring Practice this year. You have to imagine that put him behind the curve quite a bit in terms of learning Nevada's new Air Raid system.

2. In addition to Butler being recruited and coached by long-time Hawkeye assistant Lester Erb at Nevada and Nevada's new coach being former Hawkeye Jay Norvell, Butler had two other interesting Iowa connections. Neither of these were perhaps the deciding factor, but they are interesting trivia.
--Butler was teammates in 2016 with running back Akeel Lynch, who was a grad transfer from Penn State to Nevada. If you'll recall, Iowa just missed on Lynch when he committed to Penn State and just missed on Lynch again when Penn State's players were granted "Free Agency" when they went on probation in 2012.
--Butler's high school coach at St Francis was Greg Purnell. If that name sounds familiar to you, Purnell is a member of the Iowa coach's Hall of Fame and was a longtime high school coach at Linn Mar.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
? is can the two of them get over 2,200 yards next year?
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I doubt it... Only because Young and Toks may get touches too. I think poor Toks may be the odd man out as far as getting the touches he'd like. But Young looked pretty good in the spring and I bet he'll get the short yardage touches. But are you referring to all purpose yards? Maybe with receiving yards included those 2 could hit that but I doubt they'll both combine for that much rushing.
 
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