Deon Butler's Rookie Diary: Just call him Vincent

After a season's worth of revelations and honest introspection, Seahawks rookie wide receiver would like to conclude his rookie diary by admitting a lie.

His real name isn't Deon.

It's Vincent. Deon is his middle name. His parents call him Vincent. He didn't start using Deon until high school, after a reporter wrote a story about him. In the piece, the reporter called Butler, then an emerging cornerback, "Neon Deon," as if to say he was a reincarnation of the great Deion Sanders. Then Larry Johnson, a Penn State assistant coach, kept referring to Butler by his middle name during the recruiting process, and Butler embraced his new identity.

"I was kind of living two lives," he said. "As a student, I was Vincent. As a football player, I was Deon. Because I'm so small, and I look like a normal guy, a lot of people didn't know Vincent was Deon, or Deon was Vincent, for the longest time."

Well, it's certainly been fun getting to know Vincent Deon Butler over the past four months. This is the final installment of his rookie diary.

'I opened the first gifts'

"Christmas was good, hosting my family and all. We had so much fun. First, we sat around and did an old, traditional thing. My mom used to always make cinnamon rolls. So she made cinnamon rolls, and we sat around and we started opening gifts around 9 a.m. Everybody gathered in the living room, and my brother handed out the gifts. We went through everybody one at a time. It was good to see everybody get what they wanted. For my brother, I fixed up his old car. He had an Oldsmobile that was rusted out. I'd been working on it for a while. I got a new body, paint job and fixed up. It looked brand new. He was in love with that. He couldn't believe that. The car is still in Virginia with my parents, so my dad took before and after pictures for me. My mom put the pictures in a little picture book. We've been working on this since before the season. My brother was surprised and obviously excited about that. It's the same color — gray and black — but it had so many rust spots on it, and the door could barely open. Now, it's brand new. My dad's been driving it like it's his at home, so my brother needs to hurry up and get it.

"My brother and I got our parents a cruise. They always hear everybody else talking about cruises. They've never been on one. So they'll be taking a three-night Bahamas cruise. Mom, she's all excited about it. She's already writing stuff down, thinking about what she needs to take on the trip, and the cruise is not until, like, May. And I got her a bracelet from Alvin Goldfarb Jeweler. She was the one I was shopping for earlier, if you recall. She loved that.

"I opened the first gifts of the day. The first two gifts my mom got me were dishes. It was a couple of bowls, things that I didn't have in the house. I opened those, and she was like, 'Oh, that's cute! Put it on the counter. I'm about to use it!" So she basically got herself a gift indirectly. She rinsed them out and started using them on the spot. Later, I came in here and the wideouts exchanged gifts. Deion Branch got me these nice Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. The rest of the day, I was just hanging out with the family and watching TV. I think there were some games on. My dad watches all those games. He loves that I've got DVR. He tries to tape everything. And my mom tapes soap operas like it's her job. I tell everybody in my family, 'Uh, y'all have to delete some of this stuff. The DVR can't hold the world.' "

'There's no sugarcoating that one'

"Man, that loss last week (48-10 at Green Bay) was pretty bad. There's no sugarcoating that one. It's been a long time since I've been on a sideline and been embarrassed. I know that's not the type of football that we come out here and play. We practice hard, and for that to happen, it's tough. We've got to turn this around. For me, sitting on the sideline next to the other wideouts, we were just disappointed. It's tough, especially for me being a first-year guy. I'm finally seeing that rookie wall they talk about. Physically, I feel fine, but mentally, some of the stuff I'm doing out there, that's not me at all. I can try to say I don't feel mentally tired or stressed out, but going through this for so long, every day, every week, experiencing the highs and the lows we've had this season, it has affected me lately. It's not an excuse, but I see what people mean now when they talk about the rookie wall.

"I've just got to keep pushing through it and make this last game the best it can be. Because of the season we're having, the year probably has seemed longer and more of a dread because we're out of games so early sometimes, and it's just like, 'Oh, here we go!' But I've got to push through it. I'm looking to rebound this week and go into the offseason strong. We'll see how it goes."

'I'm going to sit at home, relaxing'

"I've thought about my offseason a little bit. I've got some plans. I want to go back home and relax for about a month or so. And I definitely want to get back up to Penn State for a little bit and work out. But I was talking to Coach Clark (Mike Clark, strength and conditioning coach), and he said to let your body rest for a month or a month and a half and then maybe do some cardio stuff. So I'm going to sit at home, relaxing.

"I might play a little basketball to keep my cardio up. I want to go to Penn State, and in addition to working out there, and I want to continue doing some of the forensics stuff that I was studying. I still talk to some of my teachers, so I hope I can go back and help out in the crime lab and help set up some of the crime scenes. That way, I can still be around it and still see the procedures and keep my mind fresh."

'Oh, man, I was just there'

"It seems like the season flashed by kind of fast. Just yesterday, it seems like I was dreaming of having a serious rookie year — catching a couple of touchdown passes and surprising some people and doing the deep-ball thing. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but there's always next year. I've just got to stick with it. It's mentally draining, but when I really step back and look at the whole picture, it almost seems like I was just going through the draft process and the combine.

"And now, the guys about to come out of Penn State are calling me, talking about the all-star games and getting ready for the draft. I'm like, 'Oh, man, I was just there. I know what you mean.' I know what those guys are about to go through.

'We'll do it together'

"With this being my last rookie diary entry, I just wanted to say I enjoyed your support. I'm sure you're some of the same people who go to the games. If you get a chance, if you see me at a game or around town, just let me know you were one of the readers. I'd love to talk to you. I'm going to be here a while, and we're going to turn it around together. As mad as the fans are, I'm just as mad at not winning because I'm a winner. I've pretty much been winning since I started playing sports. We're going to turn it around here, and I'm here for the long haul. We'll do it together."

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com, Twitter: @Jerry_Brewer