Butler Football itching to hit the field in Garden City after ‘rigorous fall camp’

EL DORADO, Kan. – Toughness, togetherness and being in the right spot. Those are some of the characteristics that should lead to a successful football team.

For head coach Brice Vignery in his second season leading the Grizzlies, that's exactly how he views this 2023 squad.

"If I had to name a defining characteristic of this year's team, I think it would be toughness," said Vignery. "We're tough minded, physically tough, we put them through a pretty rigorous fall camp. We did a lot of things to try and find out just how tough this group can be. That's always been our motto here, we're going to be in the right spots, do the right things and we're going to be coached well."

After a long and hot fall camp, one that saw record temperatures in the state of Kansas, the Butler football team is more than happy to turn its attention off each other on the practice field and to the Garden City Broncbusters on Thursday night. Although teams come together and show what they are made of in fall camp, a coach never really knows what that final product will look like against another opponent when the season hits.

"I'm just excited to see this group play," said Vignery. "We've got a decent number of guys that played for us last year and I'm ready to see their confidence level, especially with the gains they made in the weight room and the weight they put on. That's the exciting thing about week one is you get to gauge what type of team you have. You're putting these guys in situations that they've been through in practice, but you get to see how they handle taking it to another opponent."

This season for Butler sees offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Nate Haremza continue in his role, but Justin Stolberg (co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach) and Rob Messinger (co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach) are each contributing to that offensive game plan and helping with play calling.

"I'm excited to see our two new coaches really take over this offense and see what they can do with it," said Vignery. "They've done a great job the last 21 days in fall camp and I think Thursday will be a reflection of that."

Vignery and the coaching staff will miss leading rusher Azhuan Dingle and leading receivers AJ King, Quavez Humphreys, Jeremiah Payton and Jaelon Travis from the 2022 team, but they feel confident in the pieces that return and were brought in.

"We're coming off three straight years of having All-American wide receivers so there are shoes to fill," said Vignery. "We think we have some guys to fill that void but until we put them in those spots on game day and see how they react you never really know."

There is experience on the offensive side in the tight end room with four returners that saw action a season ago in Blake Reeder, Mason Ross, Julian Nixon and Dante Daniels. The running back spot will miss Dingle but with talented newcomer Seth McGowan (Oklahoma transfer) as well as returners Jaisean McMillian and KJ Shankle, Vignery thinks they could be even better this season.

"On offense we have a lot of playmakers at the tight end and running back positions. At tight end we bring back four guys that have played for us in the past. At running back we have some special guys in Seth (McGowan), KJ (Shankle) and Jaisean (McMillian)."

Defensively, the Grizzlies are extremely talented. While they have some linebacking shoes to fill, Eunique Valentine (Tennessee transfer) and Dialo Watson figure to be mainstays. The defensive line and back end should have plenty of difference makers. Marlin Dean (Georgia transfer), Hiram Stready and Wesley Bentley all figure to be disruptive. Patrick Mooney and Semaj James are pieces the staff is excited about on the back end.

"On defense our two safeties and our front four are going to be huge difference makers", said Vignery. "Three of the front four are back from last year and have plenty of experience and our two safeties are going to be special."

Regarding goals or outlook for the season, the Grizzlies don't tend to think about much of that. Their heads stay in the day-to-day, trying to be consistent and productive.

"We have three coaches on staff that have won an NJCAA championship and one that played for one, and so to get to that point there's a lot that has to align," said Vignery. "We tend to not even think about a championship or other goals and just focus on the day-to-day. The players understand the importance of meetings and walkthroughs and practice and install. Going out and winning a football game is hard, but doing all the things that lead to winning before game day is controllable. I think we have been successful trying to live in the day-to-day."

The #12 Grizzlies kick off the 2023 season tonight at 8 p.m. in Garden City vs. the #9 Broncbusters. Vignery begins his second season leading the program and learned a decent amount from his first season in charge.

"Last year I tried to do too much," he said. "I've delegated more so far this year. Year two we have more continuity and a lot of the same coaches, so I have been able to turn over some things and really take a step back to see the bigger picture and be more involved with the team as a whole rather than a lot of my focus being on the offensive side."

Ready or not, the NJCAA football season is here. The Grizzlies feel that the work they have put in to become a tough, together football team will pay off. How it will pay off, the Grizzlies don't discuss. They'll just keep putting their head down and and let the work do the talking.