Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN – Kevin Byard: “The ultimate on and off the field”
8/7/2022 3:08:00 PM | Football
MTSU announced the former Blue Raider safety’s number retirement on Sept. 30 earlier this week
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — When Tra Fluellen was first looking to move up to the FBS level from Houston Baptist, he looked for things to latch onto with the schools that reached out to him. When MTSU became one of those teams, there was one connection that was easy for the safety to make.
"Middle Tennessee is a smaller FBS school," Fluellen said. "But when you've got great players like Kevin Byard and the things that he's done with this program, you're always going to hear about him if you pay attention to the position that you play."
Fluellen remembered Byard's second year with the Tennessee Titans in particular, when the free safety was named All-Pro in 2017 after leading the league in takeaways with 10 and established himself as one of the top defensive backs in the NFL. That track record at a position that Fluellen played, he said, played a part in getting the Gilmer, Texas native to Murfreesboro.
"And then you hear about the stuff he's done here?" Fluellen said. "His jersey's not getting retired for no reason."
For at least the last seven or so years, when Byard graduated from MTSU and entered the 2016 NFL Draft, Kevin Byard has been perhaps MTSU's greatest ambassador for folks nationwide, his stunning displays of athleticism on Sundays mixing in with his tremendous community service off of it to give folks a window into what it means to be a Blue Raider.
It certainly had a similar effect on me. Growing up in Winston-Salem, N.C., your current Middle Tennessee staff writer knew approximately three things about MTSU athletics when he applied for this job.
1. Blue Raider football plays in Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium (a product of randomly choosing MTSU for an NCAA Football 12 dynasty on the PS3).
2. Blue Raider basketball plays in the Murphy Center (a product of College Hoops 2k8's legacy mode offering me a contract at MTSU after I took Charleston Southern to the Big Dance in-game).
3. That really good safety for the Tennessee Titans, Kevin Byard, went to school at MTSU.
What I've found out since coming to Murfreesboro is that Byard represents so many of the best parts of MTSU, both on the field and off it.
Ignoring the NFL accolades, since the retiring of his No. 20 jersey is based on Byard's college accomplishments, and the on-field numbers make the case by themselves. His program-record 19 interceptions, never posting a season where he intercepted fewer than four picks in a year. In addition to his record 377 interception return yards and four pick-sixes, Byard is also one of just nine Blue Raiders to have at least 300 tackles in his collegiate career.
"He's got a great knack for the ball," recalled defensive line coach Tommy West, who was an assistant coach while Byard was a Blue Raider. "He's still doing it at the next level. When that ball goes in the air, he's got great eyes, he's a centerfielder, that's what he is."
But his story of getting to MTSU, where Rick Stockstill came in-person to his high school gym to pitch him on the Blue Raiders if an offer he was expecting from Kentucky fell through. And how that one meeting, and later that one decision, gave Byard a mentor figure for life.
"(Stockstill) told me 'Listen, if that school does not come through for you, come play ball for me at MT,'" Byard said immediately after the surprise reveal at the Tennessee Titans practice facility this week. "And that just always stuck with me, and I've always appreciated the mentor role, the father role that you've played in my life."
Kevin Byard is just the second Blue Raider football player to have his number retired because of his exceptional play on the field. But everything else about Byard, how he conducts himself with the media, as he did at the press conference while MTSU administrators waited to surprise him in a nearby stairwell, to how he helps out the local community with the Byard Family Legacy Fund, is what has made him the ambassador for the school that he is for so many outside of our orbit.
"He's the ultimate on and off the field," West said. "He's the guy that never had a car the whole time he was here. It was school and ball. He's the epitome of a student athlete."
"Middle Tennessee is a smaller FBS school," Fluellen said. "But when you've got great players like Kevin Byard and the things that he's done with this program, you're always going to hear about him if you pay attention to the position that you play."
Fluellen remembered Byard's second year with the Tennessee Titans in particular, when the free safety was named All-Pro in 2017 after leading the league in takeaways with 10 and established himself as one of the top defensive backs in the NFL. That track record at a position that Fluellen played, he said, played a part in getting the Gilmer, Texas native to Murfreesboro.
"And then you hear about the stuff he's done here?" Fluellen said. "His jersey's not getting retired for no reason."
For at least the last seven or so years, when Byard graduated from MTSU and entered the 2016 NFL Draft, Kevin Byard has been perhaps MTSU's greatest ambassador for folks nationwide, his stunning displays of athleticism on Sundays mixing in with his tremendous community service off of it to give folks a window into what it means to be a Blue Raider.
It certainly had a similar effect on me. Growing up in Winston-Salem, N.C., your current Middle Tennessee staff writer knew approximately three things about MTSU athletics when he applied for this job.
1. Blue Raider football plays in Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium (a product of randomly choosing MTSU for an NCAA Football 12 dynasty on the PS3).
2. Blue Raider basketball plays in the Murphy Center (a product of College Hoops 2k8's legacy mode offering me a contract at MTSU after I took Charleston Southern to the Big Dance in-game).
3. That really good safety for the Tennessee Titans, Kevin Byard, went to school at MTSU.
What I've found out since coming to Murfreesboro is that Byard represents so many of the best parts of MTSU, both on the field and off it.
Ignoring the NFL accolades, since the retiring of his No. 20 jersey is based on Byard's college accomplishments, and the on-field numbers make the case by themselves. His program-record 19 interceptions, never posting a season where he intercepted fewer than four picks in a year. In addition to his record 377 interception return yards and four pick-sixes, Byard is also one of just nine Blue Raiders to have at least 300 tackles in his collegiate career.
"He's got a great knack for the ball," recalled defensive line coach Tommy West, who was an assistant coach while Byard was a Blue Raider. "He's still doing it at the next level. When that ball goes in the air, he's got great eyes, he's a centerfielder, that's what he is."
But his story of getting to MTSU, where Rick Stockstill came in-person to his high school gym to pitch him on the Blue Raiders if an offer he was expecting from Kentucky fell through. And how that one meeting, and later that one decision, gave Byard a mentor figure for life.
"(Stockstill) told me 'Listen, if that school does not come through for you, come play ball for me at MT,'" Byard said immediately after the surprise reveal at the Tennessee Titans practice facility this week. "And that just always stuck with me, and I've always appreciated the mentor role, the father role that you've played in my life."
Kevin Byard is just the second Blue Raider football player to have his number retired because of his exceptional play on the field. But everything else about Byard, how he conducts himself with the media, as he did at the press conference while MTSU administrators waited to surprise him in a nearby stairwell, to how he helps out the local community with the Byard Family Legacy Fund, is what has made him the ambassador for the school that he is for so many outside of our orbit.
"He's the ultimate on and off the field," West said. "He's the guy that never had a car the whole time he was here. It was school and ball. He's the epitome of a student athlete."
Players Mentioned
S
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