Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard knew from an early age that he wanted to play in the NFL, and it was growing up in a single-parent household that drove him to success.
On a special edition of this week's Making Monsters podcast, our Taylor Doll interviewed Byard's high school coach from Martin Luther King Jr. High in Lithonia, Georgia, Coach Corey Jarvis, to learn more about Chicago's 2024 captain.
“The thing I loved about Kevin was it wasn’t an about him type deal. He didn’t make it about him; he’s always been one of those guys who played his role, and he did everything that was asked of him. Great kid, no selfish bone in his body,” Coach Jarvis told Taylor on the podcast.
In high school, Byard played quarterback, wide receiver, cornerback, and safety, plus he also ran track. He was such a good athlete that when the recruiters started coming around, they were talking to him about both defensive back and receiver.
“Going into his junior year, our starting quarterback got hurt, he broke his collarbone in camp so Kevin had to start at quarterback for us, and he did a great job at quarterback but he’ll tell you, 'Coach Jarvis didn’t want me to stay at quarterback he wanted me to play defense.' “He was a ball hawk from the beginning. In his junior year, he ended up with like six interceptions, two of them he ran back for touchdowns. I knew personally that was what he was going to be.”
He played his college ball at Middle Tennessee, but his ultimate goal was the NFL, and he had an important reason that drove him to success.
"He was working so hard, and one day I was just like. ‘I like the way you work. You are a high-energy guy, you’re doing the extra stuff to get better,’ and the statement he made was, ‘Well, Coach, my aspiration is to play in the NFL and that my mom would never work again.'"
He was a third-round pick of the Titans in 2016, and at 31 years old, he's been one of Chicago's most consistent players this season.
Make sure you check out Taylor's full show on our 2nd City Gridiron podcast channel. This week, she did double duty with her Bears vs. Vikings preview episode, so check that out, too.
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