USL – SW Florida Adrenaline signs FGCU’s Sharpe and Bucknell’s Butzke for inaugural season

The SW Florida Adrenaline of the PDL have signed Tyler Sharpe and Josh Butzke for their upcoming inaugural season, Adrenaline Head Coach Mick Whitewood announced. Sharpe played for four years at Florida Gulf Coast University winning the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in 2011.

“It is exciting to be the first player signed to the very first and only PDL franchise in southwest Florida,” Sharpe said. “The birth of SW Florida Adrenaline provides an opportunity to showcase our area as one that supports the growth and development of players pushing themselves towards the professional ranks. It will be an honor and a privilege to play for Coach Whitewood and his coaching staff. I can’t wait to see what our inaugural season has in store for us.”

The second signing is Butzke, a junior central midfielder at Bucknell University in the Patriot League. A native of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., Butzke started 11 of 16 games played as a freshman and this season started 19 of the Bisons’ 20-game schedule.

“I am looking forward to playing at this high level; It will test my ability as a soccer player,” Butzke said. “The opportunity to play in southwest Florida is excellent for challenging my fitness in the heat and play the best competition around. I am also looking forward to being coached by someone who has played at the highest level. The SW Florida Adrenaline will give me all of these opportunities and hopefully lead me to greater soccer opportunities in the future.”

“We are ecstatic to have landed Tyler and Josh, they both are extremely intelligent football players with a great touch and vision, but more importantly they both possess the quality and character we are looking for here at SW Florida Adrenaline,” Adrenaline coach Mick Whitewood said. “It’s going to be a very exciting year and I’m glad to have the first piece of the puzzle in place.”