Beau Butner committed to play football on a full-ride scholarship for the Carroll College Saints in Helena, Montana, but that path just recently became his reality.
On Feb. 5, Carroll announced his commitment, yet football was never the plan – it was not even his primary sport.
Butner has been playing soccer since he was three years old but picked up football much later in his life.
The 5-foot-11 senior is a two-time all-Greater Spokane League defender and is one of the more physically gifted players in the league as he earned eight high varsity letters, four for each sport.
A quick glance at his rushing records proves his football worth and his soccer accolades display his soccer acumen.
Unfortunately, only one of those sports offered him a true scholarship.
Butner’s cousin played at Gonzaga, and the Zags reached out him about maybe becoming a Bulldog. He also heard from Seattle Pacific and Western Oregon. But none submitted anything official, aside from a few walk-on offers.
His high school coach, Aaron Gruis, thinks the soccer recruiting trail was cooler than Butner deserved.
“He’s maybe a little bit undersized for what colleges tend to look at center back,” Gruis said. “And because of his speed and his anticipation, it’s been better for us to play him there.”
Butner said that college coaches never said that he was too small, but after talking with other people who have experience with college programs, he felt that it maybe it did have some effect on his soccer recruitment.
Gruis knows that Butner has the talent to play somewhere at the next level, but that he didn’t get the fair shake.
For Butner, the goal was to play college soccer, so he has spent the last year or two playing in a full back role on defense, proving his versatility for his club team, the Spokane Surf.
Butner said that the recruiting trail for soccer differed from football and that the gridiron recruited him harder. He said college soccer scouts tend to rely more on in-person scouting where football does a lot of film study. So, in theory, there was less time to scout Butner the full back.
“It kind of came to a point where I didn’t want to risk losing I just I wanted to play a sport,” he said. “So, I went ahead and committed. I was just so much further in the in the football process, getting on campus, that it was definitely lower risk. And I liked what I saw at Carroll.”
Butner is going to miss the soccer field while he suits up at running back for the Saints and there was a strong pull for him to not give up the sport he fell in love with first.
“I just didn’t want to let go of it,” he said.
Central Valley travels in what they call “academy-style.” That means the team travels together, stays together, and spends essentially every moment together when they leave Spokane.
“It’s a year-round sport, so you create some pretty deep relationships. But I’ll stay in contact with guys for a long time after,” he said.
Until then, Butner has the rest of his high school season as well as the summer
The Bears finished the regular season 8-5 overall, 6-3 in the GSL, earning the league’s second 3A seed to districts.
Gruis is thankful he still has his star player for a while longer.
From his X’s and O’s knowledge to his natural feel for sports, Butner is a unique player.
What has helped him is his football background and vice versa.
In football, especially as a running back, special anticipation is required. As a runner, they need to see the hole before it develops and how the blocks will set up the runs. As a center back in soccer, it is important to visualize how the attackers are moving and what space they are trying to exploit and then shut it down before it can escalate.
Butner does both of those things better than almost any high school athlete in Spokane.
“He’s one of the guys that can anticipate really well,” Gruis said. “He seems to always know where the ball is going to go, where players going to go and between that and just his speed, he’s able to clean up just about everything that comes in through the back. He brings finesse to the center back position that I don’t think is always super common”
Butner gave credit to his coaches from middle school and up who have helped him develop into the player he is today.
From preparation to reading the game to not panicking with the ball at his feet, his coaches have set him up for success, he said.
Gruis agreed, saying that he has never seen Butner afraid to make the wrong decision with the ball at his feet. He calls Butner a safety net.
Butner has created his own safety net in life when sports end as his success in the classroom led to a 4.0 GPA and a selection as CV’s male GSL scholar-athlete award winner.
Butner has his two teacher parents to thank for that dedication – his father Ryan, the CV head football coach and mother Heather, who both teach in the Physical Education department at the school.
From Gruis’ perspective, none of Butner’s accomplishments are a surprise as he has seen him grow as a four-year starter for his Bears squad.
“It is pretty cliche, but the idea of how you do anything is how you do everything,” Gruis said. “That’s the way he operates. I think that just says so much about his mentality. Having that dedication to the classroom gives him the added benefit of when sports come to an end for him, he’s going to be well rounded and able to transition into whatever comes next.”
But Butner isn’t ready to hang up his soccer cleats just yet, since CV is still battling for a state appearance while Surf has nationals in mid-June.
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