After starting for Pahokee High, a football powerhouse in Florida, freshman cornerback Jarvis Byrd initially struggled to adjust to his role as a redshirt freshman not seeing playing time in games.

“At first it was difficult because the first game of the season against South Carolina was so intense and so hyped that I had wanted to get out there and play,” Byrd said. “By me not playing and being on the sidelines like I never did during high school — I was a superstar on my team — it was something that I had to adjust to.”

Seven games into the season, coach Tom O’Brien surprised Byrd with the news he would be travelling with the team for the Florida State game.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to play during the Florida State game until he told me I was travelling,” Byrd said. “So I was thinking, if I’m travelling, they would not just have me travelling for no reason, so obviously they’re going to burn my redshirt.”

O’Brien said what he saw in the first action of the young corner’s career was encouraging.

“I thought he showed pretty good poise,” O’Brien said. “He wasn’t polished by any stretch of the imagination, but he competed. The one dig he gave a little too much cushion on the guy, but he came in and made a heck of a tackle and got the guy down right away. And that is something we need desperately out of that position.”

A number of factors, including an emphasis on the future of the secondary, led to O’Brien’s decision to pull Byrd’s redshirt.

“It’s just what coach O’Brien is trying to do — get ready for the future,” Byrd said. “He moved Koyal George back to receiver. Then he moved Justin Byers back to safety. Then with Rashard [Smith] going down, we needed some more cornerbacks to come in and step up.”

Byrd said his performance covering starting junior wide receivers Owen Spencer and Jarvis Williams in practice earned him Scout Team Player of the Week for the defense twice. More importantly, practice tape showed his coaches enough of Byrd’s talent for them to decide to let him showcase his skills on Saturdays.

“So the coaches just evaluated film and saw what I was doing on scout team against our number one offense,” Byrd said. “They saw that I was performing good. I won Scout Team Player of the Week for two weeks, and they just decided to pull my redshirt.”

Byrd admitted he was upset when he was first told the coaches were pulling his redshirt with only five games left in the season. Even though Byrd will now have one less year of eligibility after this season than he would have had if he kept his redshirt, he said he understands and accepts O’Brien’s reasons for the decision.

“At first I was kind of mad,” Byrd said. “But now I realize that coach O’ Brien is trying to prepare for the future by letting me, Brandan Bishop and also Rashard Smith, all freshmen, play. It made us closer together as one because all the freshmen who play in the secondary, we’re all in the same room. So we watch film together and everything.”

Byrd said the improved future his coaches are preparing for is not so distant.

“We’re just trying to get better as a unit so in the future we can be a top defense,” Byrd said. “And I think that will come very soon.”

It might have to because Maryland will challenge Byrd and the other young players in the secondary with deep passes this week, according to O’Brien.

“Maryland will test him,” O’Brien said. “They like to throw the ball deep.”