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RB Keith Byars (B10 POY, All-American, OSU HOF, CFB HOF, NFL Pro Bowl)

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25 Years Ago: Keith Byars
By Joe - June 5th, 2009

While I realize its hard to take your mind off of that exciting NBA action, I thought it might be interesting to look back 25 years to the 1984 football Buckeyes. Recounting scores and achievements is fun, but as the old coach used to say ?You win with people?. So this series will focus on the key players from that team and how they helped propel our beloved Buckeyes to victory.

1984_byars1.jpg

Real men score big touchdowns

Obviously, the most prominent player from the 1984 team is running back Keith Byars. Byars rushed for a school record (later broken) 1764 yards and 22 touchdowns on the season. In one game against Illinois, he broke Archie Griffin?s single game school record for rushing with 274 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Byars was also an excellent receiver out of the backfield, leading the team in receiving. His 2441 all-purpose yards on the season is still a record, and he later caught over 500 passes during his NFL career. And oh yeah, he wasn?t too bad as a blocker either, as his college roommate Pepper Johnson can attest. Byars was named the 1984 Big Ten MVP, and of course was the team MVP as well. He finished 2nd in the Heisman Trophy vote and may well have won if Doug Flutie?s prayer had not been answered.

The previous season had contained some hints of the greatness that was to come. He had carried for 46 yards and caught a couple of long passes out of the backfield during OSU?s upset victory at Oklahoma. The next week, he gained 98 yards in the first half against Iowa before having to leave with an injury. He had started the season as a back-up but took firm control of the job during the season and showed a flair for the big play with his 99-yard kickoff return against Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. But it was in 1984 that he would really shine.
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25 Years Ago: Keith Byars | Eleven Warriors
 
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In current-day game, flexibility crucial to a fullback's role
By Harvey Fialkov | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 14, 2009

DAVIE - Former Dolphins fullback Keith Byars is hoping that his lifelong position doesn't go the way of the VCR, camera film and free meals on airplanes.

"In football the fullback is a dying breed and I hate it," said Byars, who was recently hired as the head football coach at Boca Raton High. "They need to get them more involved. [A reporter] asked me who I think plays like me and I said, 'Nobody.'

"I wasn't trying to [brag] but I ran, catch, blocked and threw touchdown passes. I'd like to see them expand the position."
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In current-day game, flexibility crucial to a fullback's role -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
 
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Former Dolphin Keith Byars accepts head coaching job at Boca Raton High -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Former Dolphin Keith Byars accepts head coaching job at Boca Raton High
By Ethan J. Skolnick and Stacy Hicklin | Staff Writers
4:48 PM EDT, June 3, 2009

Boca Raton wanted to find a head football coach to take its program to the next level. The administration believes it found that person in Keith Byars, a Boca Raton resident who played 13 seasons as a fullback in the NFL.

"He's quite a catch for us," Boca athletic director Bill Massey said. "He established himself with the JV last year and with his NFL experiences and contacts he's the total package."

Byars was the junior varsity coach at Boca this fall, leading the Bobcats to a 6-0 record. He previously coached at Pope John Paul II and Atlantic and replaces Eddie Giersbrook, who was fired on March 24 after two seasons as head coach.

The Bobcats went 8-2 last year, losing in overtime to Fort Pierce Westwood in the regional quarterfinals.

"It's a lifelong dream of mine to coach on the high school level," said Byars, who played for the Dolphins from 1993 to 1996. "I never wanted to coach in college, and I didn't have too many aspirations to coach on the professional level, either. I like the evolution of seeing kids mature into themselves, and go to bigger and better things in life, not just in football."

Byars played for Don Shula and Bill Parcells, among others, as a pro. He promised to take their teachings to the field, especially Parcells' approach of trying to get the most out of every player on the roster, from the superstars to the third-stringers.

Cont'd ...
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walstib77;1023975; said:
...watching Keith run out of his shoe--and into the record book--vs. Illinois was my favorite Buckeye game I ever attended. ... He was robbed of the Heisman his Junior year...
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Amen.

Easily the greatest Buckeye running back ever IF you saw him before his foot injury.

He was very slow to recover, the most painful memory of mine was watching him get caught from behind in the Rose Bowl at the end of a 60 or 70 yard run. The year before that was a touchdown. He never lacked for effort or work ethic, but I don't believe he ever got his full speed back and that as excellent as his pro career was, it was the product of 85 to 90% of his potential, the other 10 to 15% lost in that painful injury.
 
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Why go back?
Their reasons for getting involved at the high school level vary considerably, but at the root of each decision is a lifelong love affair with football. Byars considers himself a football "lifer" and Hester talks about the game being in his heart until the day he dies.

While they love football, most have retired. They love to have the sport still be a part of their lives, but not necessarily the driving force.

"In college you spend all of those hours recruiting ? thank God for all that do it, but it's not for me," said Byars, who coached Boca's junior varsity team, which included his son, Keith II, last year. "And in the NFL, instead of the time commitment for recruiting you turn into a gypsy and move every three years."
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"In all three levels [of football] you can make a difference in the lives of the players, but at the high school level you get to watch as boys turn into men," Byars said. "And I can teach them not only about football, but life."
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Former NFL players drive for a new goal as South Florida high school football coaches -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
 
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Boca Raton coach Keith Byars promises changes
By JASON LIESER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 24, 2009

Considering he mentioned Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick as two of his biggest coaching role models, it's not surprising that Keith Byars is unwilling to divulge many details about his football team.

Boca Raton hired Byars, a 13-year NFL veteran, in May and it has been a summer of adjustments for the coach and the players. The players are learning a new offense and defense. Byars is learning that high school coaches sometimes have to pick up all the equipment after practice and make sure water jugs are filled.
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One change Byars implemented, though, is a hair policy. He is not allowing players to have hair showing from the back of their helmets, a rule he picked up from his college coach, Earle Bruce.

"When I was at Ohio State we couldn't wear hair out of our helmets and we couldn't wear facial hair," Byars said. "I'll let them wear facial hair here, but you ain't going to be looking wild. You're going to be groomed. It's my rule. Some things around here are a democracy and some things are a dictatorship. This is one of those dictatorship rules.

"You'll get used to it later on in life. If you're a judge and a lawyer comes into your office with a Hawaiian shirt and some flip flops and some sunglasses, I don't think the judge is going to let him practice law that day. He can know everything about the law, but the judge is not going to let you come in his courthouse that day. You've got to look the part."
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Boca Raton coach Keith Byars promises changes
 
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Keith Byars

As a Buckeye

The Dayton Roth product was no fullback at Ohio State. In 1984 he was merely the best running back, if not the best player, in college football, as he rushed for 1,764 yards and 24 touchdowns. A broken foot derailed much of his senior season in 1985, but he still finished his career with 3,200 yards.

As a pro

Too big to be a featured back in the NFL, the 245-or-so-pound Byars thrived in a hybrid role as an offensive fullback with tight end tendencies. In 13 seasons with the Eagles, Dolphins, Patriots and Jets, Byars ended his career with 3,109 yards rushing, 5,661 yards receiving and 54 touchdowns in 189 games. He made one Pro Bowl, in 1993.

The skinny

What did Philadelphia expect when they drafted Byars No. 10 overall in 1986? Probably not that his 577-yard total as a rookie would be his career high for rushing yards in a season. But by his third year he was a pass-catching machine, averaging 67.8 receptions per year in his final five seasons with the Eagles. He later caught a TD pass in New England's Super Bowl loss to Green Bay.
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OSU ON SUNDAY | The Columbus Dispatch
 
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