Jake Butt received one of the warmest and loudest ovations rumbling through Michigan Stadium during the spring game, and for good reason.

The former U-M tight end received the Mackey Award during a break in the action, symbolizing his status as the nation’s top tight end in 2016. The greeting Butt experienced, though, went far beyond getting an award.

It wasn’t based solely on his sterling Michigan career, either, one that saw him rise to become the Wolverines’ most prolific pass-catching tight end ever, in terms of receptions and yardage. Butt’s attitude as a captain and committed member of Jim Harbaugh’s first two Michigan teams meant a great deal to U-M fans, and they demonstrated that fact with enthusiasm.

It’s been three-and-a-half months since Butt crashed to the turf in the Orange Bowl, the anterior cruciate ligament of his knee torn. For onlookers, it was a horrific ending of a career that might have finished out in triumph over Florida State.

Instead, it clouded the future. Butt continues to work his way back from the injury, and if he heals like he did from a previous knee injury at Michigan, could be ready to go for the 2017 NFL season.

Where he’ll be drafted remains a question mark, because of the injury. Butt talked to a host of NFL team at the league’s annual scouting combine, and now it’s a wait-and-see game.

Jay Harbaugh, who coached Butt the past two years at the tight end position in Ann Arbor, said of his draft status: “Round-wise, I couldn’t tell you. I’ve heard all sorts of things.”

Regarding what an NFL team will be drafting should it take the Michigan captain, Harbaugh spoke with conviction.

“In terms of what a team will get, they’re going to get a guy who is team first,” Harbaugh said. “He’s a winner. When he gets back to his true self, he’s going to be one of the rare guys who can do anything.

“He can run block, he can get open, he can win first-man coverage, he can pass block. He can do it all, and that’s a rare thing in the NFL, where there is a guy who can do everything. There is big money for a guy out there who can do that.

“If someone sees that, I think he’ll go earlier than a lot of people would expect.”

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