Butkus set for Mount Carmel challenge

Updated: June 20, 2011 2:21PM

Don Butkus has a tough act to follow, in more ways than one.

The rising junior is the likely successor to Chris Sujka as the starting quarterback for Mount Carmel, last year’s Class 8A state runner-up.

Sujka, who’s heading to Indiana on a baseball scholarship, was a two-year starter for the Caravan. Last season, he had the best rushing total (1,396 yards on 166 carries, an 8.4 average) for a quarterback in school history. He rushed for 30 touchdowns and also passed for 847 yards and five scores.

Butkus spent the 2010 season on the varsity as Sujka’s backup, completing 9-of-13 passes for 152 yards and a couple of touchdowns. It was time well spent, he believes.

“He’s been a huge help because he’s coached me on running the option,” Butkus said of Sujka during a break in Saturday’s Richards 7-on-7 camp in Oak Lawn. “Mostly a lot of running stuff, reads. The option is all about reads.”

Sujka’s legacy isn’t the only one Butkus is dealing with. There’s also that of his great-uncle, a guy you may have heard of: Dick Butkus.

Butkus understands the expectations that come from sharing a name with a Chicago football icon, but doesn’t feel burdened by them. “I don’t really think about him,” he said. “It’s nice to have the name. Maybe he’ll come to a couple games this year.”

That easy-going approach is one of the things Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti likes about Butkus.

“He’s got great savvy,” Lenti said. “He’s got great presence. He doesn’t rattle. He’s just got a lot of maturity for a kid his age.”

Lenti isn’t looking for Butkus to put up Sujka-type rushing numbers. “It’s going to be a long time before somebody compares to Chris Sujka as a runner.” the coach said. “There you’re talking about the Rolls Royce.

“Don can run the ball. We tell our quarterbacks: You don’t have to run for touchdowns, you just have to run for first downs.”

As he showed in limited action last season, Butkus is capable of moving the chains with his right arm. “He’s a very accurate passer,” Lenti said.

Butkus displayed a strong and accurate arm on Saturday. It doesn’t hurt that he and Jason Gasser, a junior receiver, have been teammates for years, coming up through the Tri-Town Raiders Pop Warner program in northwest Indiana.

Butkus also has a good rapport with the other receivers, and he’s got an experienced running back to lean on in Draco Smith. The junior started all 14 games last season and finished with 678 yards and seven TDs on 108 carries.

Saturday was the only 7-on-7 action of the summer for the Caravan.

“Everybody wants to know how we’re going to be,” said Lenti, whose team returns 11 starters from that state runner-up club. “I won’t know till we put some pads on. ... It’s almost ridiculous that we’re talking about this because it’s June and we haven’t done anything with our kids.”

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