The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SHAVAUL Butters made his long awaited NCAA Division I basketball debut with the Texas Rio Grande Valley after injuries derailed the start of his collegiate career.

Butters has recovered from tibial stress fractures and finished with five rebounds in just eight minutes of the Vaqueros 86-75 loss to the Stephen F Austin Jacks on Tuesday night.

The 6’8”, 210-pound freshman forward was the first commit of the first class for first year UTRGV head coach Matt Figger last offseason. The Vaqueros are 5-11, and still winless at 0-4 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Last season they went 9-10, 2-5 in the WAC, and were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament. Listed as a two-star recruit by Verbal Commits, Butters completed his high school career at Elevation Prep in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Grand Bahama native spent the previous season with Aspire Academy in Louisville, Kentucky.

Butters began to garner attention from major Division I basketball programmes and received his first offer of what is expected to be an active recruiting process last summer. He was officially offered by the Austin Peay State University Governors. Butters also received high interest from UNLV, Maryland, Eastern Kentucky, North Carolina- Greensboro, and several others.

At the local level, Butters was a member of the St George’s Jaguars programme, headed by Darell Sears.

“He’s just excited to get back on the floor. He’s still got to learn plays, because he was out for a long time and he’s just excited to play again,” Sears said. “He has an extra year of eligibility and is still a redshirt so we look forward to his growth and development with the programme.”