Butler shows he can be integral part of offense

HUNTINGTON, W.Va.— Steward Butler returned to Marshall’s line up Saturday night wanting to prove a point, that he still can be an integral part of Marshall’s offense. Butler rushed for 765 yards on 87 carries last year as Essray Taliferro established himself as the starting running back and rushed for over 1,600 yards last season.

Then Butler was forced to miss the first game of the year because of an injury and had to watch from the sidelines.  He’s been chomping at the bit to get back out on the field.

“It felt good to get back out there. It felt like I hadn’t played forever, so it felt good.”

And Butler looked good. He rushed for 68 yards on ten carries and scored a pair touchdowns. One of those runs was a 39-yard scoring dash in the third quarter.

When Remi Watson went down with an injury, The Herd asked Butler to step up and he responded.

“The team needed me,” Butler said. “Coach (Chris Barclay) always says when your number is called you go out there and execute so I just did that.”

Butler is a change of pace in the backfield from Devon Johnson, who switched to running back in the preseason. At 245 pounds, Johnson will run through defenders and look for contact. Butler, is a much shiftier back who can make men miss in the hole and has breakaway speed.

“We missed Stew for the first game we wanted to get him in there and get his legs under him,” said Johnson.

The two backs along with Remi Watson and newcomers such as Brandon Byrd have been feeding off of each and other and pushing the running backs room to get better.

“You’re supposed to,” said Butler of pushing his teammates. “It’s a competition and you’re supposed to feed off each other. That’s a great thing because it helps the team out.”

With Johnson, Butler, and a healthy Remi Watson in the backfield defenses must prepare for three very different types of running backs and offensive coordinator Bill Legg can utilize each player in very different ways. It keeps defenses honest and fresh legs in the backfield.

“It was good to see Stewy (Butler) run around with the ball a little bit,” commented coach Doc Holliday.

Marshall rolled up 432 yards rushing against the Rams, the second most in school history.  Rakeem Cato led The Herd with 143 yards and Devon Johnson amassed 137 on the ground. Butler was not surprised by Marshall’s success.

“We played a good game but we expected to do that against a team like that,” insisted Butler.

The next test comes this Saturday, when Marshall plays host to Ohio, which was won three straight against The Herd.





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