Anthony Butler has come into Liberty’s program and made an immediate impact, one of several newcomers for the Flames defense this season.
Some other new names that have played an important part to this defense are Durrell Johnson, Juawan Treadwell, and Stephen Sings V. Out of all the newcomers, Butler has some of the most experience as a grad transfer from another FBS school in the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Butler has shown to be one of Liberty statistical leaders on defense. He has 21 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack and 2 interceptions. Butler leads the teams in tackles and interceptions, while he is also second in tackles for loss.
The grad transfer has also shown to be a leader with the other players, such as Durrell Johnson, who has been noted to crediting Butler for helping him out to find success on the field. Butler credited the defense to reaching their potential in the win over North Alabama in the post-game press conference last Saturday.
“It was a great feeling,” Butler said. “We haven’t been able to show that yet this year. We’ve had two games and we’ve almost given up 30 points in each game. We really haven’t been feeling as though we’ve played our best ball. In practice, we know what we’re capable of. In practice, we completely dominate and we were able to show that today with the way that we played. I’m glad that we were able to show that we can do that, not just in practice, but in a game. That we could show up and lead our team because we’ve had to lean on offense so much these last two weeks. It was good that finally we could say you guys can lean on us and we got you guys back as well as you guys having our back.”
Butler knows how good this defense can be, so he will continuously hold this unit to a high standard. This team will need that if they want to continue their success later into the season. They will be facing big name schools like, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, NC State, and a currently undefeated Coastal Carolina.
Butler has shown to potentially expand his game as a ball hawk from Saturday’s game. He managed to get both of his interceptions in the UNA game. He hasn’t recorded an interception in college football until this game. Butler expanded on his interception history.
“I’ve had a lot (of interceptions) in practice, but I’ve never had one in a game in college football. It was good to get that first one. I’m very happy about it,” Butler mentioned. “I played all over (in high school). I think I might have had 2 (interceptions), not a lot. I was mostly a hitter.”
