Louisville Football: Former Walk-On Receiver Could Make Falcons Roster

A former Louisville football walk-on who seldom saw the field, now has a chance to make the 53 man roster for the Atlanta Falcons.

I went to Eastern High School here in Louisville, a school not known for it’s football prowess. But during my four years there were several players who I watched on opposing team’s who made me say “damn, I hope Louisville gets them.” Some names that come to mind are Jamon Brown, Jalen Harrington, both Fern Creek alums who both ended up at Louisville, James Quick, DeVante Parker, DeMarcus Smith, amongst others. Another one of those guys was Dontez Byrd, who played his four years of high school football at Ballard High School, a rival of my beloved Eagles.

After graduating in 2013, Byrd who was grossly under recruited, joined the Louisville Cardinals and Coach Charlie Strong as a preferred walk on. After redshirting his first year, Byrd would go on to play in a handful of games over two years, mostly as a special teamer, but was talked about often as a guy who could provide an impact as a speedster for Coach Petrino if given a chance.

Unfortunately for Byrd, that never happened. Instead in 2016 after his redshirt sophomore season, Byrd decided to transfer and move onto the FCS level to play for Tennessee Tech.

Now you may be asking, “why are you telling me this? Byrd never really played for Louisville, why should I care? First off let me say, sometimes players (especially walk-ons) don’t always get the chance to show what they can do. Byrd played behind a myriad of talented receivers during his time as a Cardinal.

After two seasons with the Golden Eagles,  in which he combined for 152 receptions, 1,936 yards, and 13 touchdowns, Byrd got a chance to tryout for the Falcons during the rookie mini-camp following the NFL Draft. Fast forward to today, and Byrd is being talked about as a guy who has the potential to follow in the foot steps of another Louisville born NFL player in Keelan Cole, who played for Central High School and eventually walked on at Kentucky Wesleyan, before making the Jaguars 53 man roster in 2017 and having a huge impact down the stretch for a playoff team.

Byrd showed at Tennessee Tech what he never got to under Bobby Petrino during his time at Louisville. The 5’11”, 180 pound receiver/returner has good speed especially down field, a nice break off the ball, and elite route running ability. Byrd’sknack for play making is beyond evident when you put on his film from the two years at Tennessee Tech.

Yes, play making at the FCS level doesn’t exactly equate to NFL success, but Byrd shows great instinct and play making ability which is always useful at any level of professional or collegiate ball. The Falcons bring 11 receivers to camp, minus Julio Jones who seems to be in the middle of a holdout, which makes the odds tricky for Byrd. However, if the former Cardinal is already turning heads with camp just getting underway, things could turn in his favor.

The former Louisville product has beaten the odds before, going from an unrecruited Ballard star to a scholarship player for the Cards. His high school coach Mike Thomas spoke to the Courier Journal after he was given the scholarship, saying:

"“He’s one of the best young men as well as players ever to come through our program. I tagged him him as an obvious (NCAA) FCS scholarship kid, and he got passed over by several schools. . He came and told me he wanted to go walk on for (an FBS) school, and I told him how tough it would be and I don’t recommend it for hardly anybody, but he’s one kid that I said, ‘You’ll be able to do it and make it through and hopefully things work out and you’ll get a scholarship.’"

Byrd will need to perform well in camp in order to get snaps on the field, and will likely earn his stripe on special teams, even with most starters and backups not playing during the first two weeks of the preseason. But don’t be surprised if in a few weeks, we’re talking about Byrd ripping off a big play in a game, which we’ve seen in the past can get an unknown player a spot on the team.

Here’s to hoping this Byrd can go from being a Cardinal, to a Golden Eagle, to a Falcon.