Editor's note: No football player in the Augusta area has ever had more scholarship offers as a junior than North Augusta wide receiver/safety C.J. Byrd.
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Among the many trips that C.J. Byrd (second from right) has taken to colleges included this one at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., to visit Florida head coach Ron Zook (right).
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Georgia head coach Mark Richt (from left), C.J. Byrd, Charles Byrd Sr. and Bulldogs defensive end David Pollack pose for a picture outside of Sanford Stadium during a recent visit.
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The player nicknamed "Big Byrd" is considered one of the top prospects in the country and has 31 scholarship offers.
As North Augusta begins spring practice Monday and the recruiting trail warms up, C.J. will be sharing his thoughts with The Augusta Chronicle in a diary. Today, he gives the first installment.
I know the first question that comes to mind: What on Earth is all the hype about?
That's a good question, and one I cannot give you a clear answer to. Believe me, no one is more surprised about all these offers than I am. Since my sophomore year, coaches and other players have told me something like this was going to happen later on, but I never really believed it. And I still don't.
I've played against some great high school players, such as Demetris Summers of Lexington and Sidney Rice of Gaffney (both signed with South Carolina). Heck, I thought two of my teammates from last year, Andre Young and Brandon Satcher, were the best high school players I had ever seen in person or on film. They did stuff in real games that you only see in video games. That's why I don't understand why I have gotten more recruiting attention than them.
I guess I know some of the reasons why recruiting has gone so well for me: First, my coach Joe Long and the rest of the staff put in hundreds of hours sending off an endless amount of tapes to colleges every year and then following up with countless phone calls to the scouts. They really want to see players do well after high school.
Second, North Augusta has had 26 players sign over the past three years, including seven with major colleges. Because so many players signed, our school has developed a reputation for turning out top prospects. When Reggie Merriweather played his way to a scholarship at Clemson, scouts who came to see him got a look at Frayne Abernathy (who went on to Northwestern) as a junior. When they came to scout Frayne as senior, they saw Brandon Thomas (Ole Miss) and Andre Young (Illinois) as juniors. And so on.
In other words, a large part of what is happening to me has to do with the path laid down by the guys before me. Hopefully, when scouts see me and the rest of the seniors play this year, they will notice underclassmen such as linebacker Marcus Jackson, who will probably have more offers than me by this time next year.
Because I have been around all these other players over the past three years, I am used to the recruiting process. I really don't feel my life has changed at all, other than my telephone rings a lot more often and people always give me their viewpoints on colleges.
A lot of the colleges told me they will be at our spring practice over the next two weeks. I think it's great because all of my teammates are really excited. It is a chance for them to be seen and recruited.
I don't feel any extra pressure by looking over and seeing the scouts. I push myself as hard even if no one is watching. I'm not worried about messing up or making mistakes, which I know I will do. All I can do is my best and the rest is out of my control. Again, I am not completely sure how all of this happened, but I definitely feel very fortunate and very blessed.
Offerings
A few of the 31 schools that have already offered C.J. Byrd a scholarship
Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Southern Cal, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech.
