Butler brothers on same team for the first time
When it comes to having things in common, Jordan and Brandon Butler have set a high standard.
After all, both players had storied high school tennis careers in the state of Utah. Both Jordan and Butler transferred from other schools after serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both played soccer growing up. And both admire professional tennis player Andre Agassi.
And this is without mentioning that they are brothers.
But until this season, the Utah State tennis-playing brothers had yet to play on the same team. In fact, they didn’t even play for the same high school. However, this did not mean they did not think about the possibility of playing together at the collegiate level.
“I thought about it a little bit,” Jordan said. “When I was at Weber State, I didn’t know what he was going to do, if he was going to play college tennis or not, but he improved a lot when I was on my mission.”
Like Jordan, who played two seasons with the Wildcats before his mission, Brandon’s college-playing days also originated at another university. The sophomore from Bountiful walked on at BYU-Hawaii his freshman year, and played his way into the No. 5 singles spot for perennial Division II powerhouse Seasiders.
Despite his success at BYU-Hawaii, Brandon said he didn’t feel too comfortable there and knew he wanted to transfer.
“I knew I wouldn’t end up staying there, and it was really the only chance I had to play with Jordan,” he said.
A chance that was presented when Jordan decided to redshirt his first season at USU, after originally thinking about playing for the University of Utah. Not only did Jordan’s redshirt year give him a chance to get comfortable with the team, it ended up allowing him to play his senior season with his brother.
With his brother and not against him, which is something Jordan had to do his senior year at Woods Cross High School. When Brandon, who is three years younger than Jordan, was in eighth grade, his family moved what he said was about a mile and one-half away.
The problem is, the move placed Brandon out of the Woods Cross boundaries and into the Bountiful High School boundaries. And it just so happens that the two ended up playing each other in No. 1 singles when Jordan was a senior and Brandon, a freshman, because Bountiful’s No. 1 player at the time was unable to attend that match.
It wasn’t a very fun experience for either player, Jordan and Brandon said.
“I was a lot older, and I had a lot more power at that point,” Jordan said. “It was fun to play against him, but it also wasn’t. The pressure is there to win, but you don’t want to rub it in. It’s just tough to play your brother.”
However, playing the sport was never a tough thing for Jordan and Brandon, although Brandon said he briefly thought about hanging up his tennis shoes when he was younger.
A tradition of playing tennis runs deep in the Butler family, as Jordan said four of his cousins have played collegiately for various in-state universities, a tradition that Brandon said he has never been pressured to be a part of.
“There was never any pressure to play at all,” he said.
This doesn’t mean the Butler brothers haven’t felt any pressure on the court, especially this year. Jordan and Brandon were forced, as well as the rest of the team, to play a couple positions higher than they normally would, when Jonah Nelson sprained his ankle and the NCAA was slow to clear Italy native Hannes Schenk to play.
“It’s been kind of difficult, because at the higher levels, if I’m not playing well, I’m going to get killed,” Brandon said.
On the flip side, both Jordan and Brandon were quick to point out that playing at a higher position has been as beneficial as difficult.
“I think it has helped a lot, because it’s such a high level up there,” Jordan said. “Even if I didn’t win a lot of the matches, I feel like I competed well, and learned how to play a higher level of tennis.”
Now that the Aggies have a full squad, Jordan and Brandon have been able to settle in at the No. 4 and 5 singles positions, and the results can be seen. Since the Nevada match on March 15, Jordan is 4-1, while Brandon is 3-2.
These results can also be seen for the entire team, as USU has won three of its last four matches. Because Utah State has only had a full squad for three matches this season, Jordan said he considers the season to just be starting.
“Now that we’re all healthy, I pretty much consider ourselves 1-0,” he said heading into the Aggies’ April 9 match against Weber State – USU’s second with its complete squad.
As far as doubles is concerned, Jordan and Brandon have yet to play together, other than what Brandon said was one tournament when they were both juniors. Jordan plays doubles with Nelson, while Brandon is paired with Jason Trask.
Although he said he is a little surprised they haven’t played together, Brandon said he understands, especially since Jordan and Nelson were a tandem last year as well.
“I’m a little surprised that we haven’t, but I knew that Jordan and Jonah were a good team, so you don’t want to change a team that plays well together,” he said.
USU Head Coach Chris Wright said the same thing but said he felt Jordan and Brandon would play well together.
“I think they could be a good doubles team, but we felt like it would be better with the matchups we have right now,” he said.
Both Jordan and Brandon said they felt they could gel as a doubles team. After all, they both said there isn’t much of a sibling rivalry.
“No, not at all,” Brandon said with a laugh when asked if there was a sibling rivalry. “Just because he was older and a lot better of a juniors player [than I was].”
One thing is for sure, though, at least they won’t have to worry about having to be on different teams again – that is, at least in tennis.
-jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu