Butler football sweeps Jayhawk Conference Player of the Week awards
After picking up a big NJCAA top-15 road win Saturday night in Independence, three players pick up Jayhawk Conference honors sweeping this week's Player of the Week awards.
The three Kansas natives in quarterback Jake Wolff, linebacker Malik Berry and kicker Carson Arndt were all voted this week as KJCCC Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Player of the Week.
Jake Wolff, redshirt freshman from Kansas City, KS, led the Grizzlies to a big 27-11 road win over No. 15-ranked Independence at Emmot Field, the first win for the Grizzlies in Independence since the 2015 season. Coming off back-to-back 300+ yard passing games, Wolff played what the Pirate defense was giving him and led the offensive in a different manner Saturday. Wolff completed 12 passes for 176 yards off 24 attempts. The first drive of the game, Wolff completed two passes to AJ King who found the endzone for a 39-yard score to start things off. Wolff has now surpassed the 1,000+ yard mark passing this season having totaled 1,031 total passing yards through four games. He has thrown for nine touchdowns this season as well.
Malik Berry, a sophomore linebacker from Lawrence, KS, spearheaded a Butler defense that allowed just one touchdown all night and 185 total yards of offense. Berry finished the night with six tackles, four solo and two assisted. He got to the quarterback once with a loss of six on the sack and had another tackle for a loss of four yards. Two times Berry knocked down a pass at the line of scrimmage and two more times he applied enough pressure to the quarterback to get him out of the pocket and on the run. Berry and the Grizzlies held the Pirates to just 3 of 19 on third down conversions while gaining just 2.5 yards per play on the night. Berry has five tackles for loss this season and two quarterback sacks.
Carson Arndt, sophomore kicker from Wichita, KS, helped seal the game Saturday night in Independence as he made two second half field goals that would provide enough cushion for the Grizzlies 27-11 victory. Arndt buried a 38-yard field goal into a stiff 25mph wind in the third quarter before knocking down a season and new career long 50-yarder in the fourth. Arndt's previous career long was a 47-yarder made last season as a freshman in a game at Garden City. Arndt was perfect on extra points putting all three between the uprights.
This marks the fourth straight week that a Grizzly has been voted as a top player in the conference in one of the three categories and the first time since Week 12 of the 2019 season where it has been a Grizzly sweep.
Butler Players of the Week this season:
Week 1: Norman Massey (Defensive)
Week 2: Caleb Foster (Defensive)
Week 3: AJ King (Offensive & Special Teams)
Week 4: Jake Wolff (Offense), Malik Berry (Defense) & Carson Arndt (Special Teams)