College football player Jake Butt named tight end of the year

University of Michigan football player Jake Butt was honoured this week by coaches and media panelists at the Big Ten collegiate athletic conference with an award for being tight end of the year.

Then, just one day later, he was honoured by internet people with a coveted spot on Reddit's front page.

"Jake Butt wins tight end of the year" reads the title of a thread created on the social news site Wednesday after Butt's award hit sports media and Michigan news outlets. 

The article linked to in that thread makes perfectly clear that Butt's performance at the prestigious B1G conference (and throughout the season, in general) was worthy of all the headlines it's been generating.

What's been worthy of comment for those outside the college football universe, however, are the headlines themselves.

Jake Butt. Tight End. The jokes are almost too easy. 

And yet, they can be quite complex as well.

"Butt came in as the tightest end in the league, but after a tour of duty with Aaron and the rest of the Packers, he really loosened up out there, and just kind of fell into position," reads one Redditor's response to a joke about Green Bay picking him up in the draft. "Butt credits him knowing that the 'Packers were always behind me' as the key to his early career success in the league."

"Later on, him and the Packers will face, and defeat the Browns for the Lombardi trophy," wrote another user. "After catching 3 [touchdown] passes, and providing some key blocks for the running game, he'll be awarded the MVP. Headlines will read 'Butt dumps Browns in the Super Bowl'."

Redditors do love puns.

"I assk you, what's so difficult about buttering up the Reddit masses with easy jokes?" reads one of the thread's most-upvoted comments. "People who have bled on the field, torn their posterior crucial ligaments, and gotten a pretty bum deal at the end of the day. This is back end entertainment, folks."

Now before you start feeling sorry for the 20-year-old sociology major and prospective NFL draft pick, it's important to note that Butt is in on the joke.

"I love my last name, just as much as everybody else," he told the Detroit Free Press in September, pointing to a popular Vine in which his coach, Jim Harbaugh, cracks up while saying "Butt."

He also told the paper that his Twitter feed blew up with jokes in 2014 after a Free Press story with the headline "Weight gain helps Butt stand out" was featured on The Tonight Show.

One user reportedly tweeted him the lyrics to Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back, reworked to say " I like Jake Butt and I cannot lie."

"That's a good one," said Butt, whose Twitter handle is @JBooty_88, in September. Many online agreed, judging by how many times the joke has been repeated since.

Even Butt's family seems to enjoy poking fun at this quirky incidence of apparent nominative determinism.

"Now that my name's gotten out there a little bit more, it's growing," Butt laughed during an interview with BIG TEN Network TV Wednesday. "I like my name getting out there for good reasons... it's probably one of my best marketing tools."

According to Butt's official University of Michigan athletic profile, the Ohio native currently ranks fourth in reception and third in yards among tight-ends at the school in single-season history.