Starting over

• By SCOTT HOTARD
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jul 26, 2009

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Demetrius Byrd always left his teammates smiling.

He danced like Michael Jackson, busting out the moonwalk to lighten the mood in the locker room.

He helped make the “You Can’t See Me” wave of the palm a hallmark of end zone celebrations during LSU’s run to the 2007 national championship.

At practice and in team meetings, he chattered like a human pull-string doll.

“When you were having a bad day in training camp,” former teammate Early Doucet said, “you could always look to Demetrius knowing you’d get a good laugh.”

Byrd’s life changed April 19, six days before the NFL draft.

Back home in Miami, Byrd’s rental car spun out of control when the front-right tire blew out. It slammed into a utility pole, leaving the driver in critical condition.

Byrd stayed unconscious about a week. He stayed in the hospital for two months.

“I had a small crack in my vertebrae and a blood vessel burst in my brain,” he said.

The former LSU receiver plans to play football again —hopefully for the San Diego Chargers, who selected him in the seventh round of the draft — but he knows it won’t be this year.

Because of the head injury, he has trouble speaking. He lacks coordination and balance, particularly with the left side of his body.

His training regimen consists of the pull-ups, pushups and dips he performs in a Miami park. He has trotted, he said, but he still can’t run.

“I’m starting over,” Byrd said, “like a baby. It’s a whole new me.”