Black Schutt, LT, Class of 2019, 6'1" 280Sir Mix A Lot would love him some Schutt b/c Baby’s Got Back!
Blake Schutt is a 6’1″ 280 LT for Hopkinsville High School with a very large butt. That may sound like I am throwing some shade but I’m not. Big Butts are a great thing for an offensive lineman though noting a big butt’s existence may sound like a strange way to begin an article on Kentucky Prep Gridiron. You see, as an offensive line coach myself, and with apologies to Sir Mix A Lot, I like big butts and I cannot lie… In the football world I am not alone. In an article entitled, 2013 NFL combine: Big butts matter for offensive linemen written for SBNation.com by Matt Verderame, Verderame noted that…[t]he NFL Scouting Combine makes for some uncomfortable moments, with large men in tight outfits running with slow motion cameras clicking away. Verderame goes on to detail just how very awkward it is that grown men exclaim in excitement every time they…see an offensive or defensive linemen with a large backside. According to the article, [e]very general manager and scout wants to see a large rear end for a few reasons, the main one being power. A big butt says that the lineman has good lower body strength that can really help with push in the trenches. Schutt has a prodigious backside, he has tremendous lower body strength, with a Dead Lift close to 500 pounds, and he is using his big butt to really push on the left side of Hopkinsville’s offensive line.
Coming into this year, Blake was a guy who looked good getting off the bus, but that was about all. Blake Schutt, as a sophomore, didn’t play many snaps of Varsity football, if he played a single one (which I don’t believe he did) and his work on JV was not particularly noteworthy either. There was something which seemed to prevent him from putting it together and rounding into an every down type offensive lineman. Well, that was last year, ancient history.
The young Tigers are gelling at the right time, particularly No. 77, Blake Schutt
Now, as HHS enters the Class 4A playoffs on a three game winning streak, it is pretty apparent that Blake Schutt has the left tackle slot both nailed down and figured out. Schutt, in Hopkinsville’s final regular season game against Greenwood, had probably his best game of the year. In talking with his position coach, Jacob Ezell, Coach Ezell wanted to make sure I reported that Blake Schutt is probably the most improved player, in one season, I have ever seen in my life. Going into this season Coach Ezell shared with Kentucky Prep Gridiron that he doubted Schutt would ever play a down of High School, Varsity football. According to Ezell, Schutt, prior to his Junior year, was one of the laziest players Ezell had ever seen. However, this season, Schutt has completely changed. Schutt works hard, plays hard, and, going into the playoffs, he is easily one of the most reliable, dependable, and accomplished players on the offensive front. Schutt, as this reporter has himself witnessed, is devastating as a down hill run blocker and has greatly improved his footwork and hips in pass protection. Blake has rounded himself into a prospect, though his future in college may be at either Center or Guard. The main difference being that Schutt definitely appears to have a future in football on the next level, particularly if he carries his work ethic and commitment over into the off-season. Considerable off-season gains in strength, power, and explosion should catapult Schutt into a big senior season and firmly implant Schutt into discussions among college football coaches scouring for offensive linemen.
This young Hopkinsville High School squad, who is starting five linemen who didn’t play a Varsity snap last season, and four of whom will be back next year, looks like it is jelling and playing well at the right time of year. One of the significant reasons is the play of its Junior Left Guard, Blake Schutt. As the current head coach at Central Florida and former Nebraska QB Scott Frost has before said, Every great team that I’ve been on, the offensive linemen were the bell cows of the whole team. Well, forgive us the pun, but the OL at HHS are moo-ving people, particularly that Schutt kid.
This is Fletcher Long reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
Two-time winner of Kentucky Press Association awards for excellence in writing and reporting news stories while Managing Editor of the Jackson (KY) Times-Voice
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