Vols T logoKNOXVILLE - Andrew Butcher was watching with great interest.
The Alpharetta High School defensive end and longtime 2015 Tennessee football commitment, like Volunteers fans at home and inside Williams-Brice Stadium, rode the rolling waves of momentum in Tennessee's wild comeback and overtime win at South Carolina last Saturday night.
"I was just sitting at home watching the game -- sweating, I was so nervous the whole time, and anxious wanting to be out there," Butcher said Thursday morning. "It was just huge. I was staying calm for the most part, but then toward the end I was jumping up and down."
The excitement from Tennessee's first SEC win of coach Butch Jones's second season surely extended beyond the players, coaching staff and fan base to the 26 players committed to the Vols' 2015 recruiting class. Those include the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Butcher, who is rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals.com and ESPN.
Butcher, a sophomore starter when Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs was a senior starter at Alpharetta, committed to the Vols in June 2013, making him one of the earliest pledges in the class. After his commitment, he received scholarship offers from Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami, Wisconsin, Stanford, Missouri and Kentucky, among others.
After earning all-state honors in Georgia's largest classification as a junior, when he had 87 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 13 sacks, Butcher has had a strong senior season. The Raiders notched another region title and enter the playoffs following Friday night's 34-14 win against North Forsyth.
"My senior season's going great," said Butcher, whose father, Brian, played at Clemson when the Tigers won the 1981 national championship. "We're going to match the record for the best regular-season record if we win on Friday, which we should. We've already clinched the region, so this would be my third region championship.
"I think I've done my part. I just wanted to play the best I can and help my team get victories. I think I've definitely done that. I already have the same number of sacks I had last season, and I played three more games last season than I have right now."
Butcher, who feels his strengths are his vision and instincts, is part of an impressive defensive-line haul for Tennessee, which has relied essentially on a five-man rotation up front for most of this season.
The Vols' defensive-line commitments include Butcher, Hopewell (Va.) end Darrell Taylor, Maryville end Dylan Jackson, Buford (Ga.) tackle Quay Picou and Gibsonton (Fla.) end Marques Ford, but the group is headlined by the touted tackle pair of Concord (Calif.) five-star Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle from the Charlotte area.
Butcher, a fixture as a visitor for Tennessee's home games, still is trying to help the Vols' recruiting efforts, and he made sure to mention he deserves some of the credit for landing the 6-4, 320-pound McKenzie, who's sitting out this season after transferring but posted a video on his Twitter account earlier this week of him bench-pressing 225 pounds 29 times.
"I'm trying to talk to as many people as I can," Butcher said. "It was a lot more like this last year when we still had lots of space. Coaches are really picky about who we want right now, and (those recruits) aren't always on campus.
"I was one of the big pushers on Kahlil. It was me and Jack (Jones, the offensive lineman and fellow Vols commitment from Murfreesboro) pulling on Kahlil the whole time, and now he's basically taken over as head of the class, but I'd like to say I had that title for about a year."
Planning to enroll at Tennessee in January, Butcher said he's hoping he'll be able to use his head start to carve out a path to contributing, whether it's on defense or special teams.
He's also confident in the direction of Tennessee's program.
"I think we're heading to the top of the SEC East right now, and hopefully by the time I get there we'll be at the top of the SEC and the nation," Butcher said. "You can see the progress recruiting-wise and on the field. We should have beat Florida and lost by just three to Georgia, so we're definitely on the right track."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com