Butler graduate Ethan Trettel, a slot receiver trying to make the Slippery Rock University football roster, runs a route in a drill at practice at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

SLIPPERY ROCK — The odds are against him.

Butler graduate and Slippery Rock University football walk-on Ethan Trettel doesn’t care. And his performance during spring practice at Mihalik-Thompson is turning the odds toward his favor.

“He’s turning some heads, let’s put it that way,” SRU head coach Shawn Lutz said.

The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Trettel does not have a lot of football experience. He was going to play in the Butler Area Midget Football League in fourth grade, but hernia surgery shut down that idea. He didn’t return to the game until his junior year of high school, when he caught one pass for no yards for the Golden Tornado.

Trettel blossomed his senior season, catching 25 pass for 512 yards and four touchdowns for Butler, averaging 20.5 yards per catch.

Any thoughts of playing college football anywhere besides SRU never materialized.