Recruiting heats up for Rams’ Buthe

College coaches didn’t take long to notice what Class 3A already knew last fall: Glenwood’s Drake Buthe is a problem. 

Now, nearly a dozen Division I scholarship offers later, the Rams’ all-state junior is one of the area’s hottest recruits this spring.

Buthe’s first offer came on Jan. 29 when D-I FCS North Dakota offered, followed closely by fellow Missouri Valley Conference powers South Dakota and South Dakota State. In March, Florida Atlantic, Southern Illinois, Connecticut, Navy, and Army offered.

More recently, Wyoming, Western Michigan and Northern Iowa joined the fold.

Buthe has been humbled by the attention but he admits it’s been a hectic spring with all the interest.

“Every day is a different day,” Buthe said. “Sometimes you have a lot of schools calling and texting and some days it’s a little bit different. I’m just grateful and blessed to be in the situation that I am in and happy with how it’s going. I look forward to keeping building relationships that help me make that decision.”

Most of the schools are recruiting the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder as an offensive lineman. Florida Atlantic coaches told him they like him at defensive tackles and North Dakota State, a school that has shown heavy interest but has yet to offer, said they too like him at DT and invited him to attend the school’s camp in Fargo this summer.

A two-way starter on the offense and the defense for the Rams last season, Buthe had a breakout junior season. He earned second team all-state honors on the defensive line after racking up 28.5 tackles and seven sacks last season. Coaches also like Buthe’s versatility; he was a heavyweight state medal winner at the state wrestling meet in February.

“A lot of the schools do ask me where I prefer to play and my answer is I don’t really care,” he said. “I just want to play football, and I’ll do whatever’s best for the team.”

So far Buthe has visited six of the schools on his list unofficially with three more set up for the coming weeks.

“I guess I don’t have a top school or top four, or whatever, but I’m impressed with a lot of the places I’ve visited,” Buthe said. “I really enjoyed meeting the coaches and seeing the facilities. The schools that reach out – there’s no school that I don’t want to keep building a relationship with so I’m just keeping all options open and really looking forward to it.”

Buthe doesn’t have a favorite among his offers and remains open to new offers. He hasn’t begun to cull his list of suitors but concedes he grew up an Iowa fan.

“I think playing there would be awesome, just with their culture and development that they have,” he said of the Hawkeyes. “But, honestly, a Power 4 school in the Big 10 or Big 12 would be cool. First, I have to get the ball rolling and hope for an offer later on. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens there.”

He unofficially visited Iowa State in March and had a conversation with offensive line coach Jake Thornton and new head coach Jimmy Rogers.

Buthe is taking a decidedly business-like approach to his decision. He favors a program closer to home but isn’t going to rule out playing anywhere he feels comfortable. He’s looking to be coached, with development high on his checklist along with a culture of coaches, teammates and support staff all pulling in the same direction.

“I feel like I could end up being a really good college player at some point on any level,” Buthe said. “Not only on the field but off the field. Someday, this (football) is all going to be over for me, so I just want to learn life lessons when I’m in college. 

“Going on these visits, it’s just great talking to all the coaches and seeing what they believe in, the things they preach, and how they teach their players to be more than just football players, you know, when they graduate college, how to be a better person, son, husband, father, whatever is next for you in your life.”

Buthe doesn’t have a timeline to make his college decision, but he hopes to have it wrapped up prior to the start of his senior season in the fall.

“I’d prefer it to be done this summer but, at the same time if there’s a place, I feel 100 percent is right, I could have a decision made in May,” he said. “But if there’s a couple places I’m deciding on, I’m still considering, I might take it into the football season. I’m going to take my time with this decision because I understand that it’s a very important one that has a lot to do with my life.”