Razorbacks' Butler getting his kicks after rebuilding confidence

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Richie Butler watched the videotapes of himself punting in Arkansas' first three games and hardly recognized the guy he saw.
This was a nervous punter, so edgy that Butler could see it in his mannerisms as he lined up to take the snap.
So midway through the week of the Georgia game, Butler dug out his high school highlight tape and popped it in. It ran only five minutes but that's all Butler needed to remind himself of the confidence and composure he had at Harrison before joining the Razorbacks in 1999.
"I just thought, 'Why can't I do that here when I did it then?' " Butler said. "It's just confidence. I've got a lot more confidence than I did last year and the first four games this year."
Tapping into his past and grinding away on his mechanics every day have paid off. After an inconsistent freshman season and a shaky start this year, Butler moved into the SEC punting lead this week and ranks fourth nationally with a 44.9-yard average, almost a yard ahead of second-place Damon Duval of Auburn (44.0).
Last week, Duval led the SEC and Butler was second. When their teams played Saturday, Arkansas lost 21-19 but Butler won the punting battle with a 49-yard average. A 17-yard shank dragged Duval's average down to 39.4 that day.
Butler said he shanked his first one but it still managed to travel 40 yards. The next five came off clean and three of those dropped inside the 20-yard line.
Even a failed fake punt worked out beautifully. From the Auburn 33-yard line, Coach Houston Nutt had Butler throw a deep pass that was intercepted. The defender was tackled at the 5, so it was as good as a punt.
Auburn had been rushing the punter hard in its previous games, drawing five roughing penalties. But the Tigers backed off Butler, perhaps because he was getting the ball off quickly.
"I think he's grown up a lot," special teams coordinator James Shibest said. "I think he's listened and learned. He's always had a strong leg."
Power doesn't always translate into consistency, though.
Butler came to Arkansas punting well enough to win the job from incumbent Chris Akin, who was a senior last year.
From there, an odd journey followed.
Coaches had told the two players that Butler would pooch punt and Akin would long punt. But in the first game coaches switched them without explanation.
Butler didn't have much better luck finding his rhythm, averaging 40 yards. That would have ranked 10th in the conference if he'd had enough attempts to qualify, and it would have ranked well below 50th nationally. The NCAA statistics stop after the top 50 punters, with the last one last season averaging 41.3.
"I didn't have much confidence last year just because I wasn't doing good," Butler said. "I went from averaging 46 in high school to coming up here in two-a-days and averaging 40 or 39."
Another strange turn happened during Arkansas' 38-16 loss at Ole Miss last year when Butler injured his foot by accidentally kicking teammate Jeromy Flowers' rear end. A rusher had pushed Flowers back into Butler.
Butler's sore foot kept him out of the last four regular-season games and Akin, with whom Butler had struck up a friendship, took over.
"I'm not glad I got hurt but I'm really glad Chris got to finish the season," Butler said. "That's like the best thing that could have happened. I wanted to play in the Cotton Bowl really bad because I was almost full strength but I'm glad he did. I know he probably wanted it more than I did just because it was his last game."
Even though Akin completed his eligibility, Butler knew he would face a new challenge this year from true freshman Brennan O'Donohoe. O'Donohoe was being counted on to take the place-kicking job but he also could punt. He made the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's All-Arkansas team as a punter his last two years at El Dorado.
The nerves wouldn't leave Butler alone even in the off-season, so Butler left punting alone for a while.
"I didn't really work that much during the summer," Butler said. "I didn't kick that much at all, really. I just lifted weights a lot, didn't really want to think about it just because they had all that hype about Brennan and I didn't want to think about any of it. I didn't want to change anything. I didn't go to any camps."
Butler retained his job without much trouble but he still wasn't hitting the punts with consistency. His punts would range from 60 to 20 yards.
It didn't help that redshirt freshmen and sophomores were being broken in as his blockers. Boise State and Alabama each blocked an Arkansas punt. Since then, the protection has tightened up and co-defensive coordinator Bobby Allen has worked with Butler during part of each practice.
Working on his confidence made all the difference.

This article was published on Wednesday, November 1, 2000

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