BATON ROUGE, La. -- Bad decisions in high school cost speedy
and talented receiver Demetrius Byrd a chance to go straight to an
elite college football program.
After seeing limited playing time through his first four games
at LSU, the junior college transfer began wondering if he had
miscalculated again.
Former LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who left Baton
Rouge last winter to take the same job at Florida State, tried last
winter to persuade Byrd to play instead for the Seminoles.
LSU was so deep with young talent at wide receiver that Byrd
stood little hope of playing for the Tigers any time soon, Fisher
told him.
"Jimbo was telling me, 'They're not going to play you over
there, man," Byrd recalled after practice this week. "When I
first got here, it looked like Jimbo was telling the truth. Now I
realize the reason why I wasn't playing was because the coaches
thought I wasn't ready. And to tell you the truth, I wasn't. I was
still making a lot of mistakes."
Those days are over. Byrd has been among the Tigers' best
receivers during the last half of the season. His last-second,
sliding catch in the back of the end zone to beat Auburn a few
weeks ago was only one of a number of highlight-reel touchdown
catches he's hauled in while playing a central role in keeping LSU
in contention for a Southeastern Conference title.
He caught a fourth-down touchdown pass in a close victory over
Florida. He had a 61-yard score to help LSU overcome a 10-point,
second half deficit at Alabama. He also had a pair of big touchdown
catches in a 50-48 overtime loss to Arkansas last Friday.
Going into Saturday's SEC title game in Atlanta against
Tennessee, Byrd leads LSU receivers in touchdowns with six. His 521
yards are second only to senior Early Doucet.
"At first, just like every other guy who comes in new to a
program, trying to learn the plays, it was difficult for him,"
running back Jacob Hester recalled. "But he was such a playmaker
it didn't matter. It was hard to keep him out of the game."
When the season began, Byrd found himself playing behind Doucet,
Brandon LaFell, Jared Mitchell and Terrance Tolliver. When Doucet
missed a few early season games with a hamstring injury, Byrd got
into the game on four-receiver sets. Doucet's injury also meant
Byrd was getting more practice time with first-team quarterback
Matt Flynn.
"Practicing with Matt helped," Byrd said. "We got our timing
down he started knowing where I'm going to be at, knowing he could
trust me. Now it's like, when he wants a big third-down play and
Early's not open, he'll look for me."
Byrd played only one year at Miami Central High School. Bad
grades kept him off the field most of the time, and Byrd laments
now that he didn't take school more seriously at a younger age.
He learned his lesson when none of the major college programs he
hoped to play for offered him a scholarship.
He was devastated.
At Miami Central, there is a hallway where the names of former
graduates who had made it to the NFL are written on a wall. Byrd
used to glanced at the names of Willis McGahee, Najeh Davenport and
others every day, and say to himself, "Man, I want my name on that
wall."
Byrd did not want to go to junior college, but felt better about
that option after meeting Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson
at church one day. Johnson, who also went to a junior college, told
Byrd that might be his best chance.
Byrd enrolled at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi,
where he caught 45 passes for 730 yards and five touchdowns as a
sophomore.
Because he needed to take summer classes before coming to LSU,
he missed summer workouts and didn't arrive on campus until the day
before players were due to report fall practice.
With his 4.3 speed at 40 yards and his sure hands in the clutch,
he's exceeded expectations.
"He's been really a good surprise," Hester said. "When Early
went down, he's what really helped this receiving corps and led
this receiving corps. If we didn't have him, who knows where our
season would be right now."