BUTLER TWP — Nate Hartung plans to take his football career down south — but not yet.

The Butler graduate and former All-American Eastern Arizona Junior College center hopes to enroll at Division II Winston-Salem State University (N.C.) in January.

“I won’t be playing this year. My leg’s just too hurt,” the 400-plus pound Hartung said. “I played nine games on a broken ankle two years ago.

“I’m paying for that now.”

Hartung, 24, was named Male Athlete of the Year at Eastern Arizona last spring — a rare feat for an offensive lineman — but has struggled to get healthy since.

He said his right leg “just quit on me” and he hasn’t been able to do any running as a result. Hartuing has been dealing with back issues as well.

“My weight’s not good right now,” he admitted. “I’m going to have to drop 50 or 60 pounds to get into the 350 to 375-pound range, which is what I want to play at.

“That (current weight) will have to be corrected before I can play again. I know people have more important problems in life, dealing with family and finances, but for an athlete who has put the time in and paid the price, not being able to play ... Devastating isn’t too strong a word.”

Hartung only has one year of football eligibility at the Division I level, two years at Division II. Winston-Salem State is a Division II school and member of the powerful Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

PSAC schools Slippery Rock and Edinboro have also shown interest in Hartung. Schools in South Dakota and Missouri have contacted him as well.

He said he will definitely play Division II and appears set on going to Winston-Salem.

“They flew me down there last spring and they’ve put together a pretty good financial package,” Hartung said. “I like the competition in that league.

“There are a lot of Division I transfers throughout the CIAA and at Winston-Salem. Two of my teammates from Eastern Arizona are there.

“I feel like my best opportunity to continue to grow as a player is to go down there,” he added.

Connell Maynor is in his second year as Winston-Salem State head coach and guided the Rams to an 8-2 record last season. The program endured losing seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Winston-Salem led the CIAA in total offense last season and is among the league favorites this fall.

Maynor is quoted on the WSSU website as saying: “We plan to win the CIAA, get into the playoffs and win a national championship. Those are our goals. We have two good squads and we’re not going to apologize for it.”

Maynor divided his team into two complete squads for last year’s spring game and said either unit would be good enough to contend for the conference title.

“I like where that program is headed,” Hartung said. “I was there for that spring game and practices.

“There was plenty of hard-hitting and competition for spots. I like that.”

While at Brigham Young three years ago, Hartung admitted to “cutting weight like a wrestler” and hurting his abilities on the field.

“I respect what wrestlers do, but that method doesn’t work in football,” he said. “I was very poor nutritionally at BYU. I sacrificed a lot of muscle mass, pop and power to get to the weight they wanted.”

While he will likely be at Winston-Salem, Hartung said he’ll be enrolled in some university come January and will be part of spring football practice in 2012.

“I’ve been fortinate enough to have some nice jobs around Butler here, but I’m tired of not being in school and working toward my (history) degree,” he said.

“When you’re an athlete and you can’t get healthy, it’s frustrating. I need to get past this.”