Of the factors that lined up to send Kevin Byard to the Middle Tennessee State football team, most were out of his control.
First, the MTSU coaching staff had the foresight to offer him a scholarship. Most of the other Division I programs — including the Power Fives — didn’t lift a finger. The closest Byard came to the SEC was Kentucky, which invited him for a visit because it was interested in him as a wide receiver, and then opted not to offer a scholarship anyway.
Whoops, eh, Great Britain?
“I wanted to be in the SEC,” Byard said. “… But once I knew it wasn’t going to work, MT was always there.
“Things work out in mysterious ways.”
As Byard became an All-Pro defensive back for the Tennessee Titans, he continued to represent the university where he played for four seasons ending in 2015 and continued to give back to the Nashville area where he thrived.
One of the best and most popular players in Blue Raiders history has become one of the best and most popular players on the Titans, making the following decision as easy and obvious as it is justified:
MTSU retires jersey number no. 20 of Byard.
He will become only the second MTSU football player to be so honored, joining 1960s quarterback Teddy Morris, whose No. 14 was retired.
MTSU coach Rick Stockstill and other university officials honored Byard with an announcement following Thursday’s Titans training camp practice. The ceremony is set for Sept. 30 during MTSU’s home game against UTSA.
“This honor is based on what he’s done here,” Stockstill said The Tennessean. “It has nothing to do with what he did with the Titans. To me, that makes it that much more special. …
“For me, this is not just about ‘What I did between the white lines.’ That’s everything he’s done in his five years here, how he’s represented this university, this program, and how he represents himself and his family.”
When star ratings are wrong
Byard was a four-year starter at MTSU. He remains the program’s all-time leader in interceptions (19) and interception return yards (377). The Titans got a steal by selecting Byard in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Over the past five seasons, Byard hasn’t missed a game while serving as the Titans’ defensive back. Coach Mike Vrabel often holds him up as an example to younger players of what it takes to be successful in the NFL, to the point where Vrabel has sometimes asked Byard to keep quiet in practice so teammates have to rely more on themselves.
“He’s the epitome of what it means to be a Titan,” fellow Titans safety Amani Hooker said of Byard. “He comes in and works every day with high expectations. He has high standards for himself and lives up to them.”
I know she’s proud of me’:Tennessee Titans’ Kevin Byard talks about losing his mother
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It’s comical now to think that Byard — one of the best safeties in the NFL — was so overlooked as a recruit, even though he was a big-name high school player. He earned all-state honors for Martin Luther King Jr. High School near Atlanta.
But college coaches questioned his ability. They questioned his speed. They saw him as more of a wide receiver, and since he was only 5-foot-11, that wasn’t a good thing.
He was a two-star, 117th overall prospect out of Georgia in 2011, which had a lot to do with Byard not attending the recruiting camps where players are scouted. Those camps required time and money—two things he didn’t have much of back then.
Byard was the second oldest of seven children. When he was in ninth grade, Byard’s mother, Artina Stanley, moved from Philadelphia to Atlanta amid a divorce. Kevin helped take care of his younger brothers and sisters while his mother worked. Mature in years, she would go to school and practice and then come home and help cook and clean.
“I think that’s part of it,” Stockstill said.
A special honor
For Byard, the MTSU honor comes at a difficult time personally. His mother died earlier this summer.
“Some days are tough,” Byard said at the start of training camp.
MTSU’s announcement on Thursday was originally planned for mandatory minicamp in June, but was rescheduled as Byard returned home.
He said he wants to dedicate not just this season — but every day — to her memory.
“It might sound weird,” he said, “but I talk to my mom a lot, and I can pretty much hear her voice saying, ‘Keep your foot on the gas.’ That’s what I’m going to do every day.”
Byard, a father of two, certainly made his mother proud. He is one of the most beloved and popular football players in Middle Tennessee. It’s no accident, as anyone who has spent time with him understands.
In the scary early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were looking for various sports figures to speak inspirational words.
Guess who quit the Titans?
Earlier this summer, Byard was a special guest at the Middle Tennessee High School Sports Awards sponsored by The TennesseanUSA TODAY Network.
After an onstage Q&A with tips for the participating athletes, Byard stood and posed for photos with the award winners.
Byard was nominated in 2020 by the Titans for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. In July 2020, he was named spokesperson for the United Way of Greater Nashville.
He and his wife, Clarke, founded the Byard Family Legacy Fund to help those in need. Last August, they unveiled a Davidson County Department of Children’s Safe Room for children in state custody due to abuse or neglect.
“Obviously I’m successful now,” Byard said last year, “but at the same time I feel like I gravitate toward people who aren’t always in the best place in life.”
In Stockstill’s words, “(Byard) was a really great example for a lot of people.”
This is still the case today.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.