Nine months ago, Troy Butler and his teammates were the football toast of the First Coast, roared on by thousands after stunning the state and lifting Raines to the Florida High School Athletic Association championship trophy.
“We’ve got to bring it back,” he said.
But the applause from the stands at Earl S. Kitchings Stadium and the cheers from the parade-day crowds lining Moncrief Road aren’t the only things motivating the senior defensive end for his final year at Raines.
For Troy Butler, every sack and every game-changing stop means more, and that drive has earned him a selection to the annual Times-Union Super 11 for the highest-rated senior high school football recruits in Northeast Florida.
Now the 42nd Super 11 selection in the long and proud history of Raines football, more than any other school in Jacksonville history, Butler packed a punishing punch off the edge in the Vikings’ run to their fourth FHSAA title in 2025. It’s a role he didn’t expect when he first took up the sport.
“I switched from running back because I was keeping on getting hit,” Butler said. “So I just wanted to do the hitting.”
Butler indeed dishes out the hitting now, a lot of it. Rated as a three-star recruit and a top-120 edge rusher nationwide for Rivals, he has menaced quarterbacks like no other active Gateway Conference player since arriving at Raines two years ago.
He has topped 20 tackles for loss in each of the last two seasons (21 as a sophomore, 25 as a junior). He recorded 7 1/2 sacks in 2024, then 10 in 2025. He blasted ball-carriers with wrecking-ball ferocity, jarring loose seven fumbles in two years.
“He practices with enthusiasm, he practices with a purpose, and it just feeds on into the games on Friday night,” Raines head coach Donovan Masline said. “He has a story, and every time he gets inside that rectangle, it shows.”
‘I’M GOING TO MAKE IT’
For Butler, football means far more than the numbers on the scoreboard.
“It’s the passion that he plays the game with,” Masline said. “His ‘why’ is really what pushes him.”
As Butler puts it: “I’m doing it for my mom.”
With each game, he said he plays to honor the memory of his mother, three years after her death in 2023.
“I just keep grinding for her,” Butler said. “I’m going to make it, going to take care of my two sisters and my brother.”
And he exerts the effort. He’s grown into a senior leader for the Vikings, feared by opponents for his punishing hits, respected by teammates for his work ethic. When spring arrived, he kept going, competing in the shot put for Raines track and field, although he was not among the state meet qualifiers for the Class 2A team champions.
“He’s waking up at 5 in the morning, 4 in the morning, working on his craft, getting stronger in the weight room,” Masline said. “It’s his maturity level, inside and outside of the school… he’s doing it the right way.”
Ask the 6-2, 250-pound Butler about his model for the way he plays the game, and his answer is instant: Rueben Bain Jr.
Like Butler, Bain was viewed by some scouts as less-than-optimal size for a defensive end (the former Miami standout measured 6-2, 263 at the NFL Combine). Bain’s 30 7/8-inch arms measured unusually short for the position. Some analysts expressed concerns.
But Bain has kept on producing in spite of the skeptics, recording 20 1/2 sacks in three years with the Canes. Last fall, Bain earned the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and the Ted Hendricks Award, leading to a first-round draft selection in April with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“He stays consistent, and he won’t take any plays off,” Butler said. “People talk about his height, just like me.”
Butler is keeping his eyes open for his next step in college football. He initially made plans for Liberty before de-committing in the summer. Currently, he said, schools high on his list include Kansas, Wake Forest and Florida International, all programs with recent track records of signing Jacksonville recruits.
With one more year, Butler said, he’s hoping to bring another FHSAA championship to follow that unforgettable finish against Miami Northwestern last December. Hoping to lead the state in sacks. Hoping to do it all for his family.
“There’s a lot of pressure on us because we’re the state champions,” he said. “So we’ve got to keep eating, keep working and keep getting better every day.”
TIMES-UNION SUPER 11
DE Troy Butler
School: Raines
Height/weight: 6-2, 240
Recruiting status: Uncommitted.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Super 11: Raines’ Troy Butler pursues each football play with passion]
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
