Hot Corner

Just two days into his Harvard football career in his freshman year, senior cornerback Benny Butler was shocked to learn that the promise he had based his college decision on was in fact a lie.

“My high school coach told me he thought I could play tailback at an Ivy League school but that I’d probably have to play cornerback at another Division I school,” says Butler. “But I really wanted to play tailback, and the coaches at Harvard told me they thought I could play tailback here. So it made my decision pretty easy after I had a great visit.”

On the second day of practice when he arrived in Cambridge his freshman year from his hometown of Louisville, the coaches told Butler that he would actually switching positions and playing defensive back, just the thing he had hoped to avoid when he first chose Harvard over a Division I school.

“I was devastated at first and it was really hard,” Butler says. “I never played one lick of defense in high school and in the beginning of the season I was just kind of out there without any confidence in my ability.”

Despite his early misgivings, Butler quickly blossomed into an effective defensive player with the help of his coaches and the tutelage of elder defensive back Willie Alford ’02, an All-Ivy performer during the 2001 Ivy Championship season.

“As the year went on, I just realized that the coaches were right and that cornerback was the natural position I should be playing in college,” Butler says. “At that point I just embraced it and tried to be the best cornerback I could be.”

By the end of his freshman season, Butler had improved to the point where he was starting. In late season action, he nabbed the first two interceptions of his college career.

“Benny wasn’t used to playing defense, so it was a very new thing to him,” coach Tim Murphy says. “But he handled it with maturity, and he had a lot of success [early on].”

Butler has steadfastly improved throughout his Harvard career. In this, his senior season, he is clearly an elite player in the Ivy League. He started beside Alford during the 2001 campaign, in what turned out to be Harvard’s first undefeated season since 1913. Even then, his mentor could see big things in Butler’s future.

“Benny Butler is the best sophomore cornerback in the league and a future first-team All-Ivy,” Alford said before the 2001 Harvard/Yale game.

Butler considers being an integral part of winning the Ivy League Championship to be one of the best experiences of his Harvard career.

“As the Penn game was winding down and we knew we were guaranteed a piece of the Ivy League Championship, I just looked over at Shawn Parker [‘02], and said, we did it, and that was just an unbelievable feeling,” Butler says.

Butler had another steady season in the Crimson’s 7-2 campaign last season, racking up 39 tackles and 10 pass breakups to go along with one interception after switching over to left cornerback from right cornerback.

Coming into this season, one of the things that Butler felt his game lacked was the ability to make a big play on the ball, as he had only one interception in two years as a starter after making two during his first season as a member of the Crimson.

To improve this, Butler worked hard on focusing on making plays on the ball in practice during the spring and summer and began the season with better technique.

His work has certainly paid off. Butler leads the Ivy League with five interceptions this season.

“One of the things that we’ve really talked about as a team and as a defensive staff is takeaways,” Murphy says. “It’s not just good enough to stop people, we’ve got to give the offense the ball back, preferably with a short field. Both Benny and [senior] Chris Raftery have done a great job giving us some great opportunities.”

Butler has given far more to the team than just interceptions this fall. He has recorded a career high 53 tackles and has five pass breakups. But Butler’s most important contributions may be the ones that don’t show up on the stat sheet.

“Coverage-wise, I would put him up with any other corner in the league. I think it would be a crime if he doesn’t make first team All-Ivy this season,” says fellow defensive back Raftery. “He also is a force in the physical aspect of the game. Benny plays a lot bigger than he is and that has resulted in a lot of big hits and great tackles throughout the year.”

One of the most remarkable things about Butler’s steady play for the past four seasons has been his ability to overcome his size disadvantage as he stands at 5’8, giving up sometimes half a foot to receivers in the Ivy League.

“No matter if I’m playing against a receiver that’s 5’7 or 6’7 I just try to do focus on my technique to put me in the right position to make a play on the ball,” Butler says. “There’s no use worrying about the things you can’t change so I just do what I do and don’t even think about my size.”

Coach Murphy chalks up Butler’s steady play despite his size disadvantage to his speed and toughness.

“We have had and will have in the future maybe guys who are absolutely faster,” Murphy says. “But he’s so great at making a transition, stop and go, that makes him a great man coverage defender and he’s a very tough, physical kid despite his relative physical stature.”

Not only has Butler evolved into a top-flight cornerback, he remembers how difficult it was for him to adjust to the college game at first and he is now looked to by younger members of the team for advice and leadership.

“When it comes to knowing the game, Benny is on a different level than most cornerbacks,” says freshman cornerback Danny Tanner. “Playing opposite him during the game is like having a coach out on the field with you. He’s never caught off guard, he always has an answer to any question I may have and he’s willing to take any extra time and go over things with me.”

Butler and Raftery have been playing together for two years in the Crimson secondary, and Raftery heavily credits Butler for his leadership qualities.

“Benny is just a natural leader,” Raftery says. “He is very vocal, and constantly seeks to motivate the rest of the secondary. He is very encouraging, especially to younger players, which is very important since it is very easy for young DBs to get down on themselves when the other team makes a play. Also, it is very visible that he cares a great deal about this team, and that is very influential to younger players and really causes them to look up to him.”

Butler is looking forward to The Game as a last hurrah in the Crimson uniform in which he has had so much success over the past four years.

“The Harvard-Yale game is very special and very important to me,” Butler says, “especially because I’m not just playing for me and the guys on my team but everyone who has ever worn a Harvard football jersey.”

Butler hopes that when the final whistle blows in New Haven, he will have established himself as the example all Harvard cornerbacks will look to for excellence in the future.

“When I step off the field for the final time,” Butler says, “I want to have been the best Harvard cornerback in the modern era. I want to have set the standard for what it is to be a cornerback at Harvard.”

—Staff writer Robert C. Boutwell can be reached at boutwel@fas.harvard.edu.