Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, December 31, 2016

Michigan star tight end and Mackey Award winner Jake Butt was injured early in No. 6 Michigan's loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Friday night.

Playing in the final game of his career, Butt injured his knee, likely a MCL or ACL injury, according to Jim Harbaugh, while being tackled after making a catch. The star tight end was in pain on the turf before walking to the locker room under his own power.

As a possible first-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and in the wake of the news of LSU's Leonard Fournette and Stanford's Christian McCaffrey sitting out of their bowl games to avoid injury and prepare for the draft, Butt never thought about skipping the game and had no regrets.

"Never once crossed my mind to sit this game out and I would never change that mindset," Butt tweeted after the game. "I play this game bc I love it, my teammates, coaches."

See all of Butt's tweets below.

https://twitter.com/JBooty_88/status/815072783130652672

https://twitter.com/JBooty_88/status/815074067271258112

https://twitter.com/JBooty_88/status/815075176228548608