A bird call echoed through Huskie Stadium as spring practice opened Wednesday, signaling the return of one of NIU’s wounded brothers.

On a sunny, seasonably warm March afternoon with the wind whipping around the field, linebacker Devon Butler was back, whipping around the field himself, participating in full drills for the first time in almost a year.

It was 360 days ago when Butler’s life took an unexpected and near-tragic turn.

He was at a friend’s apartment at 1009 Aspen Drive when shots were fired into apartment 3 at about 11:56 p.m. One bullet traveled through a window of the residence, striking Butler in his upper right back. He sustained a collapsed lung and was on a doctor-prescribed breathing machine to expand his lung.

Rehab was a long, tough road for Butler, who was coming off a career season in 2010 and a promising spring in 2011.

“I was working myself up and stressing out,” Butler said of the recovery process. “But I called some family members and they told me there’s nothing I could do about it now.”

The effect of the incident and his recovery went deeper than the depth chart. A sophomore on the team, Butler had been mentored by the elder Huskies since his arrival in 2009. One of those Huskies was fellow linebacker and south Florida native Jordan Delegal.

Delegal took Butler under his wing when both came to NIU from community college, under then-second year head coach Jerry Kill. When the shooting occurred, Delegal couldn’t help but feel as if he could have prevented it from happening.

In tribute, he wore Butler’s No. 9 the next spring practice, while helping the team make a video wishing the down linebacker well.

“I really took some of the blame myself,” Delegal said. “I felt like if I would have called him and he came over to my place that night, nothing would have happened. But everything happens for a reason.”

That reason may not be known yet, but as Butler took part in full drills for the first time, the question mark about his 2012 status began to be erased.

Instinct took over, as it should for someone that has been breed to a play a game at this level. He ran, he reacted, he read plays from the middle linebacker spot as if he was never absent from the team.

And once passing drills came along, that’s when Butler said it clicked that he was back to form.

“Of course I know what I can do, it’s just proving to everybody I can still do it,” Butler said. “Today is the first day. Kind of got into the motions, felt good out there, so I know my ability and my body is still at the same level it was before the incident.”

While his body is still at the same level, his conditioning is behind the rest of his teammates, but he plans on catching up as practice continues.

After he wrapped up that first practice back and went through post-practice interviews, he received a phone call from an old friend.

When Jordan Delegal’s name came up on the incoming call, Butler answered his old teammate and mentor with his signature bird call.