Demetrius Byrd (born June 30, 1986) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

in the seventh round of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Early years

Byrd played pop warner for the Miami Lakes Jaguars under head coach Buck Bailey who produced players in the NFL such as Chad Johnson, Chad Simpson, Samari Rolle, Gartrell Johnson and many more Byrd played just one year at the high school level — his senior season at

Miami Central High School Miami Central Senior High School is a secondary school located at 1781 NW 95th Street in West Little River, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.0.1% 80.7% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch. Miami Central has a large Hait ...

. He led Miami Dade in yards with 36 catches 864 yards and 10 touchdowns his first year playing high school football. He signed with

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

, but opted to enroll in

Pearl River Community College Pearl River Community College is a public community college in Poplarville, Mississippi. It was founded as Pearl River County Agricultural High School in 1909 and became the first junior college in Mississippi in 1921. Residents of Hancock, F ...

instead.

College career

Byrd started for two years at Pearl River, helping that school to back-to-back

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

state junior college championships. He was coached by former JCJC (Jones County Jr. College) WR Coach Melvin Tart. He combined to catch 87 balls for 1,433 yards and 12 touchdowns during his career, earning first-team All-American junior college honors this past season. Byrd was rated the No. 8 junior college wide receiver in America by

JCGridiron.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckm ...

in 2006. He transferred to

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

in 2007 and became an immediate contributor to the team. The biggest moment of his short college career came on October 20, 2007, when he caught a game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback

Matt Flynn Matthew Clayton Flynn (born June 20, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He was a member of the Packers when they won Super Bowl XLV over the Pitts ...

with time expiring in regulation vs. rival

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

Professional career

San Diego Chargers

On April 26, 2009, Byrd was selected by the

224th overall in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft. This was despite a serious car accident in Florida a week before the draft. Byrd was upgraded from critical to good and discharged from the Intensive care unit. Byrd was placed on the non-football injury/illness reserve list before the 2009 season. On March 22, 2010, Byrd was released by the Chargers.

Personal life

As of September 2015, Byrd works as a trainer and insurance salesman.

External links

LSU Tigers bio

San Diego Chargers bio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, Demetrius 1986 births Living people Miami Central Senior High School alumni American football wide receivers Pearl River Wildcats football players LSU Tigers football players San Diego Chargers players Players of American football from Miami