Byrd Nominated For Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award
11/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
DALLAS, Texas - NC State safety Jarvis Byrd is the final weekly nominee for the 2014 Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award.
Byrd, a 5-10, 190-pound graduate student was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA last spring. Byrd missed all of the 2010 and 2011 seasons with separate anterior cruciate ligament tears and then suffered a third torn ACL in the fifth game of the 2013 season and had to sit out the final seven games. The Pahokee, Fla., native started the first five games of 2013 at free safety before the season-ending injury.
During the 2014 season, Byrd, 24, has appeared in eight of the Wolfpack’s 11 games, registering six tackles (five unassisted) and two pass breakups. He’s wearing the No. 1 jersey that Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren gave him before the 2014 season because of his commitment.
“At first I wasn’t thinking about coming back,” Byrd told the Associated Press in an August interview. “I was done with football. I was like, ‘Man, I’ve been through this process three times. I know how hard it is to come back off this injury.’ This is one of the most difficult injuries you can get as a football player, so I was done.
“I’m a very strong person,” he said in the interview. “I have very strong faith in my religion and in myself. ... It made me become a stronger person, inside and out.”
The Courage Award was first presented by the FWAA in 2002. A select group of writers from the FWAA vote on the winner each year. The requirements for nomination include displaying courage on or off the field, including overcoming an injury or physical handicap, preventing a disaster or living through hardship. The winner of the award will be included in festivities during Orange Bowl week and receive his trophy at an on-field presentation.