Keith Byars
No. 42, 41 | |||||||||||||
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Position: | Fullback Tight end | ||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born: | Dayton, Ohio,U.S. | October 14, 1963||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight: | 245 lb (111 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
High school: | Roth (Dayton, Ohio) Trotwood-Madison (Trotwood, Ohio) | ||||||||||||
College: | Ohio State(1982–1985) | ||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1986/ round: 1 / pick: 10 | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Player stats atPFR | |||||||||||||
Keith Alan Byars(born October 14, 1963) is an American sports broadcaster and former professionalfootballplayer. He played as afullbackandtight endin theNational Football League(NFL) for thePhiladelphia Eagles,Miami Dolphins,New England PatriotsandNew York Jets.He was selected in the first round by the Eagles in the1986 NFL draft.He playedcollege footballfor theOhio State Buckeyes.
Early life
[edit]Byars attended high school at the now-defunctRoth High Schoolin Dayton, Ohio and Trotwood Madison High School, in Trotwood, Ohio.
College career
[edit]Byars was atailbackwith theOhio StateBuckeyesfrom 1982 to 1985, under head coachEarle Bruce.
In 1984, Byars finished second in theHeisman Trophyvoting (behindDoug Flutie) after a season where he gained an OSU record 2,441 all-purpose yards, including a then-school record 1,764 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.[1]That season featured a game againstIllinois(Ohio State won this game 45–38 on October 13, 1984) in which Byars led a comeback from a 24–0 deficit, rushing for 274 yards and five touchdowns, the last with 36 seconds remaining in the game. On his fourth touchdown run, going for 67 yards, he famously lost his left shoe at the Illini 40 but never broke stride. Byars was aunanimous All-Americanselection, and voted theBig Ten ConferenceMost Valuable Player.His running backs coach that year was a youngJim Tressel,who would later become the Buckeyes' head coach.
Byars was a preseason favorite for the 1985 Heisman, but fractured the bone in his right foot near the little toe in preseason practice. He missed the first five games of the 1985 season, and returned too early. He reinjured the broken bone in his second game back and missed the remainder of the regular season. He attempted to return for theCitrus Bowlgame on December 28, but injured his foot again in the second Ohio State offensive series of the game. Many observers note that throughout the remainder of his football career Byars was never as dominant a player as he had been in 1984.[citation needed]
Despite losing almost his entire senior year, Byars finished hiscollege careerat Ohio State with 4,369 total yards, 3,200 rushing yards, and 50 touchdowns. His 50 touchdowns remain the second most in school history.
Rushing | Receiving | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
YEAR | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | NO. | YDS | AVG | TD |
1982 | 6 | 24 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 0 |
1983 | 222 | 1,199 | 5.4 | 20 | 23 | 359 | 15.6 | 1 |
1984 | 336 | 1,764 | 5.3 | 22 | 42 | 479 | 11.4 | 2 |
1985 | 55 | 213 | 3.9 | 4 | 7 | 44 | 6.3 | 0 |
Totals | 619 | 3,200 | 5.2 | 46 | 72 | 882 | 12.3 | 3 |
Professional career
[edit]Byars was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the tenth overall pick in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft.[2]As a professional, he played running back,fullbackandtight endfor thePhiladelphia Eagles(1986–1992),Miami Dolphins(1993–1996),New England Patriots(1996–1997), and theNew York Jets(1998). Byars was selected to thePro Bowlin 1993.
A superb rusher, blocker, and pass receiver, Byars was a vital contributor for every team he played on. In 1988, he rushed for 517 yards, recorded 71 receptions (ranking him 9th in the NFL), and scored 10 touchdowns. In the Eagles' 20–12 loss to theChicago Bearsin the postseason, he rushed for 34 yards and caught 9 passes for 103 yards. In 1990, he recorded 81 receptions for 819 yards, the third most receptions in the NFL, rushed for 141 yards, and even completed 4 of 4 passes for 53 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the 1996 season, Byars made his first and only championship appearance, playing with the Patriots inSuper Bowl XXXI.His team lost the game 35–21, but the 33-year-old Byars had a good performance in it, catching 4 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Byars played one year as a member of theNew York Jetsin 1998. He helped the Jets reach theAFC Championship Game,before losing to theDenver Broncosin his last game played in the NFL.
In his 13 seasons, Byars rushed for 3,109 yards, caught 610 passes for 5,661 yards, returned five kickoffs for 94 yards, and completed 6 of 13 passes for 119 yards and six touchdowns, with one interception. He also scored 54 touchdowns (23 rushing and 31 receiving). His six passing touchdowns are the third highest total by a running back in NFL history. Byars 610 receptions are the 2nd most catches by a fullback and 4th most by a halfback/fullback/running back in NFL history of 2018.
NFL career statistics
[edit]Legend | |
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Bold | Career high |
Regular season
[edit]Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
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GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
1986 | PHI | 16 | 8 | 177 | 577 | 3.3 | 32 | 1 | 11 | 44 | 4.0 | 17 | 0 |
1987 | PHI | 10 | 8 | 116 | 426 | 3.7 | 30 | 3 | 21 | 177 | 8.4 | 30 | 1 |
1988 | PHI | 16 | 16 | 152 | 517 | 3.4 | 52 | 6 | 72 | 705 | 9.8 | 37 | 4 |
1989 | PHI | 16 | 15 | 133 | 452 | 3.4 | 16 | 5 | 68 | 721 | 10.6 | 60 | 0 |
1990 | PHI | 16 | 15 | 37 | 141 | 3.8 | 23 | 0 | 81 | 819 | 10.1 | 54 | 3 |
1991 | PHI | 16 | 16 | 94 | 383 | 4.1 | 28 | 1 | 62 | 564 | 9.1 | 37 | 3 |
1992 | PHI | 15 | 15 | 41 | 176 | 4.3 | 23 | 1 | 56 | 502 | 9.0 | 46 | 2 |
1993 | MIA | 16 | 16 | 64 | 269 | 4.2 | 77 | 3 | 61 | 613 | 10.0 | 27 | 3 |
1994 | MIA | 9 | 9 | 19 | 64 | 3.4 | 12 | 2 | 49 | 418 | 8.5 | 34 | 5 |
1995 | MIA | 16 | 16 | 15 | 44 | 2.9 | 15 | 1 | 51 | 362 | 7.1 | 26 | 2 |
1996 | MIA | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 40 | 8.0 | 16 | 0 |
NWE | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 249 | 9.2 | 27 | 2 | |
1997 | NWE | 16 | 8 | 11 | 24 | 2.2 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 189 | 9.5 | 51 | 3 |
1998 | NYJ | 13 | 8 | 4 | 34 | 8.5 | 13 | 0 | 26 | 258 | 9.9 | 29 | 3 |
189 | 160 | 865 | 3,109 | 3.6 | 77 | 23 | 610 | 5,661 | 9.3 | 60 | 31 |
Playoffs
[edit]Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
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GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
1988 | PHI | 1 | 1 | 7 | 34 | 4.9 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 103 | 11.4 | 24 | 0 |
1989 | PHI | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 68 | 7.6 | 17 | 0 |
1990 | PHI | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 10 | 0 |
1992 | PHI | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 68 | 7.6 | 15 | 0 |
1995 | MIA | 1 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 5.5 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 30 | 7.5 | 12 | 0 |
1996 | NWE | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 7 | 0 | 12 | 111 | 9.3 | 34 | 2 |
1997 | NWE | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 2 | 0 |
1998 | NYJ | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 44 | 8.8 | 19 | 0 |
13 | 11 | 14 | 65 | 4.6 | 13 | 0 | 52 | 443 | 8.5 | 34 | 2 |
After retirement
[edit]Keith Byars is currently co-hosting a sports radio show with ESPN 1410 WING-AM in Dayton, Ohio where he is from—Byars hosts the show with Justin Kinner on Sunday mornings (Sunday Morning Sports) from 9-11am and he also broadcasts High School football on 101.5 HANK-FM for the Greater Western Ohio Conference (GWOC).http:// wingam /shows/sunday-morning-sports-justin-kinner/ArchivedOctober 25, 2017, at theWayback Machine
He is currently a television analyst for "New York Football Weekly" andThis Week in Footballon theYES Network.[3]
He also coached theBoca Raton High Schoolvarsity football team in Boca Raton, Florida from 2009 to September 2011.[4]
See also
[edit]- List of NCAA major college football yearly rushing leaders
- List of NCAA major college football yearly scoring leaders
References
[edit]- ^"The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site:Keith Byars".Ohio State Buckeyes. Archived fromthe originalon August 19, 2010.RetrievedAugust 22,2010.
- ^"1986 NFL Draft Listing".Pro-Football-Reference.RetrievedOctober 1,2023.
- ^"Biographies: Keith Byars".Yes Network.RetrievedAugust 22,2010.
- ^"Ex-Dolphin Keith Byars out as Boca Raton football coach".South Florida Sun-Sentinel.September 22, 2011.RetrievedJanuary 1,2012.
External links
[edit]- Keith Byarsat theCollege Football Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information fromNFL·Pro Football Reference
- 1963 births
- Living people
- All-American college football players
- American Conference Pro Bowl players
- American football running backs
- Miami Dolphins players
- New England Patriots players
- New York Jets players
- Ohio State Buckeyes football players
- Philadelphia Eagles players
- Players of American football from Dayton, Ohio
- American sports announcers
- YES Network
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees