I never know what city he is in.

One morning I text him to say congratulations on his new gig broadcasting with the Big Ten Network. I knew he was in Indianapolis, only because I knew he would be working the Big Ten Media Days. The day we had our longest conversation, Jake Butt was sitting in an Uber on the way to the airport. He had just flown to Los Angeles the previous day from New York and was heading back to New York, again.

Butt has become a man in demand. Busy with his new role as a broadcaster. Despite what perceptions may be, Jake conveyed to me how much work goes into a broadcast, the preparation. That this reminded him a little of football.

Football for Jake Butt had changed in the last few years. After six surgeries, multiple injuries, and what he thought at the time was a lost passion for the game, Butt retired in July of 2021. Just a month earlier Butt had left his family home with well wishes, congratulations, and assurances that they would watch him play. He returned home a retired football player. His family now with their heads pointed to the floor, was unable to conjure the perfect thing to say. For Butt, he was dealing with more serious emotions, and feeling like a different man. To him, his family's downward gaze was to avoid looking at the son and brother they no longer knew. The person he no longer knew.

When I originally pitched the idea At to Jake, I went out of my way to say we can tell your story without spending too much time on the injury. He had been so candid throughout the years and I didn't want to ask him the same questions he had heard before.

"But the injury IS my story. You can't tell it, without it."

He said it, without hesitation and with full conviction. What had interested him in the prospect of this story with me was what I had feared would turn him away.

What I learned at that moment and would grow to understand throughout our conversations is that Jake Butt has no denial about his football story. He knows his journey has been difficult but seeks no pity, he's been there and done that. There have been lows where he doubted his worth, and dealt with serious questions about his own identity. He lost himself and wondered if he ever even knew who he was. There have been highs, lows, and plenty of memorable moments, all have shaped who he is and the resilience that pushes him today.

The injuries may define his story, but they are not the end.

Here is his story.

Jake Butt was born and raised in Pickerington, Ohio, a suburb of Ohio and a 30-minute drive from Ohio Stadium. When we spoke about his childhood, the first unavoidable topic was his name. Anyone who went to a Michigan game when Jake played likely saw his large group of family members, wearing their specific "Butt jerseys."

In elementary school, Jake wanted to change his last name.

"You just don't have that perspective as a kid," Butt said. "Especially me, I was such a competitive kid. I knew the jokes were in good fun, but I didn't want to let anything that I felt was less than perfect become something. I wanted to work on it, improve, so I could have a competitive advantage."

Even at a young age, Butt was focused on the possible disadvantage his name could bring.

The concept of advantage or disadvantage was ultimately what drove him to love the name. His father, willing to discuss young Jake's feelings about the name, encouraged him to not only keep the name but to embrace it. His father told him a day would come when his name would be an asset.

In high school, Jake was now a top athlete at Pickerington North. He was beginning to be recruited by schools, and for the first time, he started to understand what his father meant.

"Your uniqueness is what makes you stand out," he said. "Different is a word that some people could say. You want to be different. I think for a lot of people these days different means you are standing alone. To stand alone is to be a little bit unsafe. But to be unique is to be remembered. You have the opportunity to write your own story."

Jake noticed when meeting coaches and other people during the process, it was always a conversation starter. 'I'm Jake Butt and I play tight end.'

The jokes he says wrote themselves. But, it made him memorable.

"It was one of the best things. I wonder, from a branding standpoint, how far I would have been able to go without it?" he said. "I paired it with the rise of social media. With fans and rival fans, I was getting so many followers. Even with parents of kids who just loved my last name, and thought it was hilarious, now it was the thing making me popular. It's funny how life comes full circle like that."

So how does a kid, raised in the shadows of Ohio Stadium end up at Michigan? Or the grandson of one of the most legendary players in Notre Dame history?

He didn't know much about Michigan. He knew they were the kind of program that when they talked, you listened. Thanks to his father's best friend, a Michigan fan, and his Notre Dame connection, Butt decided not to attend Alabama vs Penn State, but rather Michigan vs Notre Dame, the first game in Michigan Stadium history under the lights.

Jake felt enamored with Denard Robinson, who for a kid from outside Columbus was a polarizing player. He hit it off with current players who were recruiting him like Patrick Omameh. The coaching staff of Brady Hoke made him feel like he was in the right place from the beginning. His interest in Michigan was sincere, but now Jake was taking Michigan seriously.

At the end of the season, Butt was in attendance for Michigan's game against Ohio State. Some recruits, even though attending on behalf of Michigan, had no intentions of heading to Ann Arbor to play. They were there to see Ohio State.

"I remember that pissed me off. I cared so much about Brady Hoke and the staff, I saw what this school meant beyond the game of football. I thought I'm getting pissed off for Michigan. At an Ohio State game. I realized this place is really special."

On the other side of falling in love with Michigan, he was falling out of love with Ohio State.

The Buckeyes had prioritized other tight ends in the class, and Jake felt disrespected by their lack of pursuit. Focused on perfection and competing at the highest levels since he was in elementary school, Jake felt he had done everything he needed to do to earn the attention of the Buckeyes. The connections to the program however went beyond Butt's family being fans of the program.

In 5th grade, Jake met Ohio State's director of recruiting Greg Gillum at an event at his school. After a speech Gillum gave, Jake would hand him a note saying he wanted to play professional football when he got older. He played football with Gillum's son through high school. Gillum held on to the note and gave it to Butt when he was drafted to the NFL.

In high school, Jake cold-called and knocked on doors offering to mow yards in the neighborhood. One of those yards belonged to Tim Hinton, the tight-end coach of Ohio State at the time.

Still, Ohio State didn't pursue him.

All together, Butt knew what he wanted to do.

"It became a really clear decision for me. I wanted to play at Michigan. I wanted to play in THE game. I'm happy the way it played out because I love Michigan."

While the connection to Ohio State is literally about home, it is not the only program which Butt had a family relationship with.

His grandfather, Bob Lally is a Notre Dame legend. An offensive lineman for Frank Leahy in the 40s, Lally is in Ripley's Believe it or Not, for never losing a game in high school or during his time with the Irish.

While being recruited by Michigan, Butt was aware of the Notre Dame games in his first two seasons. The first game against Notre Dame came in only his second game as a Wolverine. However, with injuries to Devin Funchess and AJ Williams, Butt would get serious snaps. It would serve as a springboard for what would be a great freshman season.

Butt was immediately focused on getting better at the season's end. He had the game against Notre Dame in South Bend circled on the calendar.

"I'm going to be better. The team is going to be better. Everything is going to be better. I can't wait to play in this game."

On Valentine's Day in 2013, an absolute fluke scenario would change Butt's offseason and life forever.

While running drills on the practice field, linemen were working out behind an end zone on Butt's side of the field. A lineman had thrown a blue bag on the ground. Butt was tracking a ball thrown his way when it went over his head, as he followed the ball his eyes saw the blue bag. Unable to react, Butt stepped on it and knew he had torn his ACL immediately.

"You just hear a pop. I had never really been injured in my entire life. I never missed a game. Ever. I tear that ACL and right away I'm like oh wow, everything is in jeopardy."

Butt elected to have surgery immediately. The only thing on his mind was starting the process so that he could be on the field to start the season. Trainers attempted to temper his expectations. Suggesting the likelihood was he would miss the entire season, and that if he were to come back it would be well into Big Ten play.

Post-surgery Butt would spend 8 weeks on crutches. By June he was jogging and sprinting. In July, Butt was starting to cut and was on track to compete in camp in August.

"I'll be honest, I was skipping class. I got the notes, I studied, and I always did well in school, but I wanted to play ball. Every bit of my focus was on rehab. Everything they told me in the training room I would go back to my dorm room and do an extra 2-3 hours. I was thinking thousands of extra reps would just accelerate everything."

On day 1 of fall camp, Butt was winning conditioning drills. Again, he felt he had done everything he needed to do to compete, to prove what he needed to prove. With eyes on week 1, "I am playing in that game."

It wasn't meant to be as the team insisted on keeping him out of the game. It was 6 months and 1 week since his injury, and the next game on the schedule was Notre Dame. It was so important to him to not only play in this game but to fulfill the dying wish of his grandfather. Butt intended to spread his ashes on the field inside Notre Dame Stadium.

Cleared to play, Butt traveled with the team to South Bend. He had approached the University first about the wishes, but when they told him they simply could not honor it, he moved forward with a new plan.

"It was like a CIA operation, but we got it done."

Motivated to play in a game he had focused on since his recruitment, to follow through on the wishes of his grandfather, Butt overcame an ACL and meniscus injury and saw the field against Notre Dame.

Unfortunately, Papa got the last laugh.

"As soon as I spread his ashes and he was on the field there was no chance we were winning that game."

Bob Lally was still undefeated.

After the Notre Dame game in 2014, the staff continued to limit Butt's snaps. Despite more action in a victory against Miami (OH) where he caught 3 balls for 59 yards and a touchdown, he would again be limited the following week. That game it would turn out was a program-changing moment.

Michigan would play Utah at the Big House in the middle of September. The game never felt like it would go the Wolverine's way. Their 10 points in the first half came from a Matt Wile FG and an interception return by Willie Henry.

It all got worse in the second half as Michigan eventually fell behind 26-10. It was a miserable night in the stadium. Then, lightning struck. Literally.

With around 7 minutes left in the game, the play was suspended. The rain poured and fans scattered to walkways. When it was announced the game would resume the Michigan fans that remained trickled back inside the stadium. What they saw on the opposing sideline was the entire Utah fan base, en masse behind their team.

This would be a pivotal moment for Michigan Football and Jake Butt. Motivated by almost nothing but the need to compete, the need to be there with his team, and the need to win, the loss to Utah was too far. He knew he had to try to say something.

He walked into his coach's office, wearing his team-provided gear, and just let his mouth say whatever came out.

"I started crying, I pointed to my chest. This block M, I don't take it lightly when I wear that. When I put on the winged helmet, I don't take it lightly. This means something to me. I am willing to sacrifice my body for this university. Play me. If you don't believe I can help this team win, tell me, because I will prove you wrong."

As he told me about this moment and said those words, my thought immediately ran to the 2016 Orange Bowl. Butt knew what he had said because he had already connected these dots himself.

"That burning passion never left me. It just gives you an inside look when I say these kinds of things, what this school means to me. We will reflect on it, obviously with my senior year going into the Orange Bowl, the same situation, but what this school means to me. When I say it, I mean it, Michigan means something more."

I heard a change in Jake's voice, unable to hold back his emotion as if he was transferred back to the moment. It was sincere because it was his value.

The season would not go the way Butt or Michigan wanted. The Wolverines would finish 5-7 that year, but a change of head coach was coming. For Butt, two years once again defined by his need to compete and his love of Michigan would begin. Writing the perfect story for his time in Ann Arbor, but the ending was the worst to come.

Enter Jim Harbaugh.

Michigan had a talented roster, including Jake Butt, and Harbaugh was the spark they needed. Butt had his best game as a Wolverine with 8 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown in the opening game loss against Utah. The team that changed it all.

Butt's best game would roll into his best season. He was All-Big Ten, an All-American, and the Ozzie Newsome Tight End of the Year. Faced with another choice, Butt relied on what had gotten him to this point. His desire to compete, to achieve perfection, and his love of Michigan.

"I didn't want to prioritize chasing money. I was living the dream at Michigan, why would I want to wake up from that?"

Aware of his place in the record books and the chance to etch his name as one of the greatest tight ends in Michigan history, Butt had unfinished business in Ann Arbor. He wanted to beat Ohio State. He wanted to win the Big Ten and a National Championship. He felt this was the best team he had been a part of, and that the team had what it took to achieve those goals. Butt was named a captain for the 2016 season.

This team was everything Butt had thought it was. The Wolverines tore through their schedule, winning a top 10 game against Wisconsin and beating all unranked opponents by double digits.

Michigan would head to Columbus 10-1 with all Butt's dreams on the table. There wouldn’t be the perfect ending of a win over his childhood Buckeyes, as Michigan suffered a 30-27 double overtime loss. Seemingly, he had accomplished everything he wanted to as an individual player. He had become the best version of himself.

With no chance of a championship, Butt had every reason to skip Michigan's bowl game, the 2016 Orange Bowl against Florida State. This decision though was still like the rest.

"Foundationally, all remains true. We wanted to put a stamp on the season, and go out the right way. I fucking love playing with those guys."

The decision was made.

On the plane trip to Miami, Butt began to feel very ill. So ill in fact, he had to seek medical attention.

"People don't know. I was in the hospital two games before the game. I had a 103.5 fever. I was really sick."

Released from the hospital, Butt returned to his hotel room. Passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch came to check on him. Butt could read him immediately, his eyes. Sure that the coach was thinking of telling him not to play in the game, but unable to because he didn't want to sway his decision, Butt answered the question Fisch was asking in silence.

"I'm playing in the game."

Do not mistake this insistence on playing as ignorance of the weight of the choice. All financial considerations had been taken, including insurance, but Butt believed in himself. Heading into the game, he was focused on everything he always was. Again, the irony of life would strike.

In all of his years of playing Butt had taken countless hits to his legs while catching a ball. During the play where he was injured, Butt was not even supposed to be a target. A broken play now had him with the ball running down the sideline.

"I see a guy coming and I stiff-arm him and spin-off of him and then bang. Same situation. I'm just laying there. Damn, I just tore my ACL. I knew it right away."

Butt's right foot was planted in the ground when he was hit. His leg bent at his knee severely in the wrong direction.

Butt was on the ground, unable to move his leg. The stadium was silent.

Heading to the locker room, Butt made sure to find his mother and give her a thumb's up. In the tunnel, this injury felt different. Butt was doing high knees and short sprints moments after coming off the field. His confidence that he had escaped a serious injury was quickly dashed by the training team.

"I told them, I think I'm ok. The doctor's eyes went straight to the ground. It wasn't ok."

Jabrill Peppers came to the locker room to check on Butt. Only two days since being in the hospital, another moment where words could not be spoken. Emotions took over, crying and anger. Confusion. Unable to truly process everything at the moment, but still aware of what it meant.

"You don't even have the perspective of time on your side, but you know this is going to be a very big moment in your life."

After absorbing the moment, Butt was once again ready to move on. Another surgery, another round of rehab, another return to new heights. The decision to play, now framed with the worst possible scenario, was still unchallenged.

"When it comes players sitting out, fans have a misconstrued idea of what college football is in its totality. I played for my team. I played for everybody. When I was rehabbing I went to California so I could be around my guys, but everyone checked on me. Jim Harbaugh, Jack Harbaugh, Jay Harbaugh, Warde. Michigan fans were great and supported me, and still do to this day."

The decision in fact was not framed by the worst-case scenario. It was framed on both ends by loyalty, brotherhood, and love. Why he chose to play was there for him on the other side.

His Michigan career was over.

Jake Butt finished as the leader in receptions and yards by a tight end. Etched in the record books as one of the greatest tight ends in Michigan history.

Jake Butt was selected in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Butt was once again bouncing back, but now in an NFL football camp. Performing well on the scout team, coaches were impressed and told Butt he would be coming up and playing soon. He would suffer an aggravation of his injury, for the first time this was not a fluke, but the struggle of having multiple injuries to the same knee. His season was over before it began.

"I couldn't walk for about a month. For me, football, it was my identity. I put a lot of my self-worth into my preparation and how I performed on the football field. For better or worse, that's where I was at the time."

In 2018, Butt participated in OTAs and camp and headed to the season as one of the top targets for the Broncos alongside Demaryius Thomas and Emanuel Sanders. He had established trust and developed a great relationship with QB Case Keenum. He started the season strong and was on pace to break rookie records with Denver.

In a Monday Night Football game against Kansas City, Butt was a major part of the game plan. A moment on the NFL's biggest stage, against one of the best tight ends in football, Travis Kelce. Butt once again would tear his ACL.

"I rehabbed for a year and a half at that point. Emotionally, that one was different. In the locker room, Elway came to see me and I couldn't just stop screaming why? I didn't talk to people for days. I couldn't look people in the eye because I would cry."

For the first time, Butt is unable to find the drive that has led him to the NFL. That has helped him overcome adversity and accept all the changes life has thrown his way. He was hurting.

"I felt entitled. I am doing more than I ever had to prepare, and take care of my body. Why is this happening to me?"

As Butt allowed these emotions to come over him for the first time, he fell further. He started to question his identity, and therefore everything he had done, and wanted to do.

"Maybe who I thought I was, was a lie. I started to realize I had all the money in the bank, I had a nice car, and I had a nice apartment. But I felt as broken as I ever had in life. Everything I had gone after didn't bring me fulfillment. Well, then what am I doing anything for?"

Despite this new low, Butt again found his way to rehab to try and return to the football field. 9 more months of rehab has him at Broncos training camp. On the second day, he tore both of his meniscuses and was once again out for the season.

Butt went into his final year not expecting to make the roster. The Broncos had added three tight ends. Throughout the offseason, he would pull his hamstring multiple times. After starting camp as the sixth tight end in the depth chart, Butt would make the roster as the backup tight end. In week 1, he would break his knuckles and be unable to catch a pass. Desperate to play after 4 seasons plagued by injuries, he wore a cast and fought through the pain. In a game against Kansas City, he tore his hamstring and was done for the season.

Done in Denver, another opportunity arose with the Chicago Bears. Another offseason of injuries and Butt was in the middle of the camp and felt like he was no longer playing football for the right reasons.

"I felt like rather than waking up with a burning desire to prove myself. I woke up every day with anxiousness. At some point I was like, I've been lying to myself."

When he announced the decision to retire Butt said, "I’ve lost the passion that I once had for this game."

After all of our conversations, I now found this hard to understand.

"I said that in probably too emotional of a state. I love football. I love everything that it did for me. That it proved for me. How it pushed me to grow. When I would wake up every day at 6 am to go to camp at Michigan, and I was sore as hell, I would love overcoming that. There was this burning passion. At a certain point, the first thoughts of my day were really bad thoughts. It was affecting areas of my life beyond the game of football."

After saying this, he quoted a Bible verse.

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?"

Butt knew he faced his greatest challenge. All he had ever been was Jake Butt the football player. It was his entire identity. In losing his football career, he thought he lost himself. Reimagining who he was would be the new driving force of his life.

"It's a positive story. To be raw, I want you to see me at my lowest points. To see now the path I'm now. Wait until you see 5 years from now. 10 years from now. How did I get there? It forced me to realize I was never my accomplishments, I was never my failures. The person in me never changed."

Despite growing up in a suburb of Columbus and rooting for the Buckeyes throughout his childhood, Michigan was now home for Jake Butt.

"As soon as I retired I didn't know what I wanted to do after football but I moved back to Ann Arbor. I felt so connected to that place. It's amazing what happens in life when you just embrace the possibilities. I was once a Buckeye fan, and now my eyes have been opened to the Michigan Wolverines. To play a small part in the history of that program went beyond anything I could have imagined as a kid."

An opportunity presented itself and a decision was made that would change Butt's life again.

"I had no clue what I wanted to do next. I hated that question because I felt like people were taking a shot at me for walking away from the game. I had the opportunity to call the Michigan spring game, I wasn't going to do it, I was going to my buddy's wedding but I thought why not?"

Butt felt the anxiety of the moment. He was preparing, not like when he played, but with the same enthusiasm, passion, and need to do great. He admits he was nervous throughout, but as I conveyed he did what he wanted. He was great.

"You push into that challenge and that's where the biggest reward is. After the spring game, I got the reward just like I had played a great game. I knew I did my best, I knew I did a good job. I feel strongly that I have my next career and something I can do for the rest of my life. If something makes you nervous, maybe it is telling you to make that push."

Recently, the Big Ten Network announced Jake Butt will join their broadcast team starting with the 2022 season. He will work play-by-play during games throughout the season, as well as appear in studio on gamedays he isn't assigned to a game.

As I said in the beginning I didn't expect Jake to want to tell this story. I knew he would be candid, but maybe I didn't know he would be so vulnerable. Now with the sounds of a bustling airport in the background, I knew we had to end this conversation. The question I thought I had days before was "why did you decide to play in the Orange Bowl?" That, I now had the answer for, there wasn't a version of Jake Butt that wouldn't play in that game. It was his identity. The question I had, "was why tell the story?"

"I feel grateful that I am one of the voices that gets to speak on these things. I've reflected a ton. I've ridden the roller coaster of emotions, very high down to very low poor emotions. I feel like I have pulled myself back from the depths of hell. I feel like I have a responsibility to be a voice of reason, to tell my story. So that way whenever someone makes this decision, they are protected, because there is no right decision. Every situation is different."

His identity was never lost, but it was challenged, and he was rewarded. Jake Butt knows who he is better than anyone I have ever met. He is sincere, thoughtful, and incredibly grounded. He has learned his greatest lesson, and through practice wants to prove it is true to everyone.

"When it comes to suffering, and trial, and disappointment. You realize it all comes down to your process. Just showing up each day, doing your best, preparing, and believing in yourself is the foundation of a mindset that can lead you to do anything you want to do in life. That's the stage in my life I'm in right now. I'm going to prove that it is true."

The injuries may define his story, but they are not the end.

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