After moving from linebacker to defensive tackle his junior year, Minnesota native Sam Byrd has emerged as a Division I prospect. This weekend, the 6-foot-0, 250-pound Byrd had a chance to visit one of the schools showing him early interest, the University of Iowa, and came away impressed by what the Hawkeyes have to offer. We caught up with the Class of 2017 prospect to talk about the trip, the latest on his recruiting, and much more.
Q: Tell me about your visit to Iowa? What all did you get to do there on Saturday?
BYRD: We started out by having dinner with all of the recruits. Then they took us on a tour of the weight room and the facilities and all of that. Then we went out on the field for warm-ups and then sat up in the stands and watched the game.
Q: What did you think of the game and the atmosphere at the stadium?
BYRD: Oh, it was crazy. It was unreal. I’ve never been around any team with that kind of atmosphere before.
Q: Leaving Iowa, what was kind of your first impression?
BYRD: I really liked it a lot.
Q: Did anything stand out specifically?
BYRD: Just the way that everybody cares about the football team. It’s a football city for sure.
Q: Which coaches did you get to talk with and what did they say?
BYRD: I got to talk to Scott Southmayd, the director of player personnel, and Seth Wallace, the recruiting coordinator. They just said they were glad I could make it and we talked about my season a little bit.
Q: Who are some of the other schools showing you interest right now?
BYRD: The University of Minnesota, the University of Nebraska, the University of Columbia, the University of Missouri, the University of Wyoming, South Dakota State University, North Dakota University, and that’s about it.
Q: So a lot of interest, but no offers just yet?
BYRD: Yeah, no offers yet.
Q: You moved down to the defensive line this year in high school. Is that where you project in college?
BYRD: Yeah, I think so, but some of the schools have talked about linebacker as well because that’s where I played my first two years of high school.
Q: Tell me about your junior year. How did you do individually and team wise this year?
BYRD: Well, we started out 0-3 this year, so we had a really rough start, but we finished 4-4 in the regular season. We actually beat the team that just won the state championship and we beat the #3 ranked team too, but then we lost in the first game of the playoffs. We have a lot of starters coming back next year, so we have a lot to build on. Individually, this was my first year ever playing defensive line, so I thought I did pretty well.
Q: Do you know what you ended up with for stats defensively?
BYRD: I think I had 4 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, and 52 tackles.
Q: Was Iowa your first college visit of the season?
BYRD: Yeah, Iowa was my first.
Q: Do you have more coming up?
BYRD: Yes. I’m heading to Wisconsin this weekend and then I’m heading to Nebraska next Friday and Minnesota that Saturday.
Q: What are your thoughts so far on the recruiting process?
BYRD: I’m just really excited to get it all started this off-season.
See highlights from Byrd's junior year in the video below:
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3075083/highlights/304660413/v2
Q: Tell me about your visit to Iowa? What all did you get to do there on Saturday?
BYRD: We started out by having dinner with all of the recruits. Then they took us on a tour of the weight room and the facilities and all of that. Then we went out on the field for warm-ups and then sat up in the stands and watched the game.
Q: What did you think of the game and the atmosphere at the stadium?
BYRD: Oh, it was crazy. It was unreal. I’ve never been around any team with that kind of atmosphere before.
Q: Leaving Iowa, what was kind of your first impression?
BYRD: I really liked it a lot.
Q: Did anything stand out specifically?
BYRD: Just the way that everybody cares about the football team. It’s a football city for sure.
Q: Which coaches did you get to talk with and what did they say?
BYRD: I got to talk to Scott Southmayd, the director of player personnel, and Seth Wallace, the recruiting coordinator. They just said they were glad I could make it and we talked about my season a little bit.
Q: Who are some of the other schools showing you interest right now?
BYRD: The University of Minnesota, the University of Nebraska, the University of Columbia, the University of Missouri, the University of Wyoming, South Dakota State University, North Dakota University, and that’s about it.
Q: So a lot of interest, but no offers just yet?
BYRD: Yeah, no offers yet.
Q: You moved down to the defensive line this year in high school. Is that where you project in college?
BYRD: Yeah, I think so, but some of the schools have talked about linebacker as well because that’s where I played my first two years of high school.
Q: Tell me about your junior year. How did you do individually and team wise this year?
BYRD: Well, we started out 0-3 this year, so we had a really rough start, but we finished 4-4 in the regular season. We actually beat the team that just won the state championship and we beat the #3 ranked team too, but then we lost in the first game of the playoffs. We have a lot of starters coming back next year, so we have a lot to build on. Individually, this was my first year ever playing defensive line, so I thought I did pretty well.
Q: Do you know what you ended up with for stats defensively?
BYRD: I think I had 4 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, and 52 tackles.
Q: Was Iowa your first college visit of the season?
BYRD: Yeah, Iowa was my first.
Q: Do you have more coming up?
BYRD: Yes. I’m heading to Wisconsin this weekend and then I’m heading to Nebraska next Friday and Minnesota that Saturday.
Q: What are your thoughts so far on the recruiting process?
BYRD: I’m just really excited to get it all started this off-season.
See highlights from Byrd's junior year in the video below:
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3075083/highlights/304660413/v2
