Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 7, 2016 11 UNDER THE DOME Devin Butler Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor Charge On his Oct. 17 court appearance, Notre Dame senior cornerback Devin Butler pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement for an Aug. 20 altercation with a South Bend police officer at a local bar, Linebacker Lounge, near the campus. The plea bargain was agreed to by Butler and his attor- ney in exchange for the prosecution to drop felony counts of resisting law enforcement and battery to a public safety official. However, per head coach Brian Kelly, that did not change Butler's current "suspended" status on the team, and likely won't until Notre Dame holds its own hearing. Butler likely was to be medically redshirted in 2016 any- way because of a broken foot. Slated to graduate this De- cember, Butler has the option to either apply for a fifth season of eligibility at Notre Dame or somewhere else in 2017. The incident in question involved Butler intervening in a fight between two women — including his girlfriend — in a fight outside and in the parking lot. When police officers ordered Butler to step back, he reportedly approached them and tackled one of them, Aaron Knepper, to the ground. However, other witnesses, including Butler 's girlfriend, claimed it was Knepper who tackled Butler from behind. Numerous past controversial inci- dents with Knepper resulted in Knepper being removed from patrol duty in early September. Included in the plea agreement is Butler's sentencing will be delayed one year while he completes a pretrial diversion program. If Butler fulfills his terms to complete it, prosecutors will dismiss the remaining misdemeanor count of resisting law enforcement. god. couNtry. notre dame. Quenton Nelson Makes Midseason All-America Team Notre Dame junior left guard Quenton Nelson was selected to Pro Football Focus' Mid-Season All-America team released Oct. 26. PFF, owned by former NFL star receiver and NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth, grades ev- ery player in the NFL and NCAA Division I football on every play. Each play is judged on a scale of minus-two to plus-two using half-point increments, plus offensive linemen are graded separately on run blocking and pass blocking. Also, its grades are based on context and performance. A four-yard run that gains a first down after two broken tack- les will receive a better grade than a four-yard run on third-and-five, where the ball carrier does nothing more than expected. Nelson was joined at guard by Washington State's Cody O'Connell. The tackles were Texas' Connor Williams and Pitt's Brian O'Neill, while the center was Arkansas' Frank Ragnow. Nelson's 85.2 overall grade was the third high- est among offensive linemen, behind O'Connell's 90.8 and Ragnow's 87.6. "Nelson has done his usual fine work in the run game at 86.3 while only giving up eight pressures on the year," wrote PFF prior to Notre Dame's Oct. 29 meeting versus Miami. DEVIN BUTLER Nelson's 85.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus Oct. 26 was the second best among guards and third highest among all offensive linemen. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND