Blue White Illustrated

ALEX BUTTERWORTH "I've just got to keep my focus and confidence. Hopefully I can keep it going." family connections to the university and his proximity to the school – West Lafayette is a quick 90-minute drive from Indy – would compel him to follow through. But he ultimately chose Penn State, and when Anthony Fera took the NCAA up on its no-strings- attached offer to let Nittany Lion play- ers transfer away from the scandal- ravaged school, leaving University Park for Texas this past August, Butterworth suddenly was Penn State's starting punter. After some initial struggles, the Indi- ana native gave the Lions a lift with big performances in several key late- season games, the first of which was against Ohio State. Four times in that game, the junior punter trapped the Buckeyes inside their 20-yard line, and one of his kicks traveled 58 yards. Said coach Bill O'Brien, "I thought he did a nice job. He's worked at it." Butterworth was just as effective in BWI file photo ferent team. But it was a good experi- ence coming back to Purdue. I love the campus, love the people." Butterworth could indeed have ended up wearing the black and gold. For a while, in fact, Purdue looked to be his most likely college destination. He ver- bally committed to the Boilermakers coming out of Heritage Christian High School in Indianapolis in 2010, and it seemed certain at the time that his his return to his home state. His first punt against Purdue, from the Penn State goal line, went 40 yards to mid- field and forced Frankie Williams to call for a fair catch. He also had a nice kick in the fourth quarter that forced the Boilers to start at their own 3-yard line. O'Brien called it "one of his better games. He pinned them deep at least twice." Earlier in the season, Penn State's punting had been a sore spot, part of an overall special teams decline that began with Fera's departure. Even after the Ohio State and Purdue games, the team was last in the Big Ten in net punting average at 32.2 yards per at- tempt. Butterworth, who had attempted only 20 punts his first two seasons, admitted that he went into the season feeling pressure to step in and perform well – pressure that was magnified by all the attention that fell on Penn State fol- lowing the Sandusky scandal. "I played a little bit my freshman and sophomore years, and I feel like I did all right with pressure," Butterworth said. "But this year with the scandal and everything, and how much limelight was put on the football team, really the pressure built up." And yet, this was precisely the op- portunity that Butterworth had been working toward ever since his senior year at Heritage Christian, when he stopped playing safety and running back in order to focus on kicking and punting. He averaged 38.3 yards per punt and made 7 of 10 field goal tries as a senior, with his three misses all coming from beyond 50 yards. Butter- worth hoped to earn a spot on a ma- jor-college roster, and with each game, he was putting himself in better position to do so. One of the schools that took notice was the one that he thought he wanted to attend: Purdue. It made perfect sense that he would be interested in the Boilermakers. His grandfather, Lloyd McKenzie, had cap- tained the Boilers' baseball team in the late 1950s. Two uncles, Jim and John McKenzie, had played football for Purdue in the '80s, and both of Alex's parents attended the university, as well. But after verbally committing to the Boilermakers, Butterworth decided to visit Penn State. Suddenly, he found himself with a choice to make. He loved his visit to University Park and thought he might have a better shot at playing early in his career if he were to sign with the Nittany Lions. Butterworth has strong religious convictions, and

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