Butorac will be in center of the action for Eagles

When Eastern Washington’s Jase Butorac takes the field against the Washington Huskies on Saturday, his football career will come full-circle – in more ways than one.

Three years ago, Butorac raced onto the Husky Stadium turf as a redshirt freshman, replacing an injured teammate. Now he’s the starting center, a three-time Big Sky champion, academic all-star, team captain, and playing one last time in the town where he grew up and anchored one of the top high school dynasties in Washington prep history.

Judging by Butorac’s easy-going nature, it was easy.

It wasn’t. After Butorac graduated in 2010 from Skyline High School near Seattle, he rode an emotionally-draining roller coaster that carried him from all-state left tackle to benchwarming guard to golden opportunity. And having that chance blown up by a knee injury.

Nothing but winning

Since he started playing the game as a sixth-grader, Butorac found a home at left tackle. For three years, he protected the blind side of BYU-bound quarterback Jake Heaps and helped the Spartans go 40-2 and win three straight Washington state titles (3A in 2007, 4A in ’08 and ’09).

“Winning, you get used to it, and you definitely don’t want to go the opposite way,” said Butorac, who chose Eastern over Portland State and Montana State partly for that reason. Another was the sense of family among the Eagles coaches and players; it also didn’t hurt that former Skyline teammates Tyler Washburn and Evan Day also signed with Eastern.

Recruited as a tackle, Butorac lasted all of one day of fall camp in 2010 before moving to guard. “That’s when he realized he was looking up at almost everyone else, including his coach,” joked Eastern offensive line coach Aaron Best.

“You don’t find very many 6-foot-1 tackles who are worth a darn at this level,” Best said.

“And I knew that full well,” said Butorac, who embraced the challenge, redshirted and earned the Offensive Scout Player of the Year award. He made the trip to the national title game that fall, and eight months later was second on the depth chart at right guard behind Ashton Miller, who went down with an Achilles injury in the 2011 opener at Washington.

“It was my first game in a college uniform, so I was a bit nervous, but I settled down,” recalled Butorac, who took over the starter’s role the next week at South Dakota.

One week after that, the Eagles were in a close game at Montana. Early in the third quarter, Butorac planted his right knee “and torqued it the wrong way.” The injury was first diagnosed as a strain.

“Then I got the news: ACL,” said Butorac, who was lost for the rest of the season.

“That one hurt a little bit, because it was tough knowing that this (right guard) was going to be my spot,” Butorac said. “But you have to get through that.”

All the way back

As it turned out, that also was the end of his career at guard. By the fall of 2012 he was at center for the first time – again behind Miller, who became an All-American the following season.

“So I was backing up Ashton again, but I was getting reps, the feel of the position, I have no issues with that,” said Butorac. “But it was a different animal. I wasn’t used to having my hand on the ball, and there were definitely some issues with snapping – the coaches will tell you that.”

Coaches also will say that Butorac, who carries a 3.5 grade-point average while majoring in economics, was a quick study. “He’s a consummate teammate, and studies the game a lot,” said Best, who helped mold Butorac into one of the top backup linemen in the Big Sky Conference.

Repaying the favor, Butorac said he appreciates Best’s ability to “coach each guy as a person; to get the best out of them.”

Twice last year, Best’s unit was named the FCS Offensive Line of the Week by Beyond Sports Network; the Eagles led the FCS in passing efficiency with a school-record 182.6 and ranked fourth in total offense with 533.5 yards a game.

“If we didn’t have an All-American starter, he’d have been starting for the last two years,” linemate Clay DeBord said of Butorac.

With Miller moving on, the 290-pound Butorac was a starter again, and by a vote of his teammates, a captain.

“That meant a lot,” said Butorac. “We’ve been friends for four years now, and we want everybody to succeed.”

Especially on Saturday at Husky Stadium.

“Were definitely not going over there to lose,” Butorac said.