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Fort White linebacker Lecosta Byrd is the LCR’s Defensive Player of the Year. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Special to the Reporter)
FORT WHITE — Lecosta Byrd’s not the most boisterous person off the field.
But on the field? You’re liable to get your world rocked.
The rising senior isn’t the fastest linebacker, perhaps not even the fastest at his position on his team. He’s certainly not the biggest. At 6 feet tall and 225 pounds, he’s compact, yet strong enough to stand up any running back or shed most blocks.
Aside from that, his intrinsic capabilities — both his intelligence and leadership skills — have molded him over the last three years into one of the area’s top linebackers. They’ve also helped him earn the honor of the Lake City Reporter’s Defensive Player of the Year.
“He loves contact,” Fort White head coach Demetric Jackson said of Byrd. “He’s not shy about contact. He loves it, but he has a knack, an innate ability to find the ball. He’s a tackling machine.”
Apart from his leadership skills, Byrd showed up on the field in spades. He put up 23 tackles for loss to go with a team-high 98 total tackles as well as a pair of sacks and interceptions, including a pick-6. He also forced three fumbles and blocked a pair of punts and a field goal attempt.
Byrd’s journey to this moment has been a winding one. After starting as a freshman with the Indians, Byrd flew north to Lake City, following Jackson to his new job at Columbia for a season before transferring back when Jackson was re-hired at Fort White.
“It was a confusing time period, for sure,” Byrd said. “But at the end of the day, I realized that it wasn’t really about the coaches, but myself. I feel like Fort White was what’s best for me.
“I grew up there. I live there. I’ve been with coach Jack (Jackson) my whole life, and it’s more comfortable. It’s the same defense I grew up playing, so it’s obviously more comfortable for me.”
But through it all, Byrd has consistently shown himself off as one of the premier linebackers in the area, even during his sophomore campaign at Columbia. Despite sharing a linebacking corps with University of Florida signee Jaden Robinson, Byrd still managed 117 total tackles in a state semifinal run for the Tigers.
“We had some other linebackers that were highly recruited, but he was right at the top, making a lot of tackles,” Jackson said. “He wasn’t as vocal.”
This season only had one difference: Byrd was top dog, barking out defensive play calls from his middle linebacker spot.
“He comes back to Fort White, and he’s the vocal guy,” Jackson said. “He’s the one that’s getting everybody lined up, he’s the one that’s making all the checks. He’s always making plays.”
As far as his play on the field goes, Jackson has trouble finding faults in his second cousin’s actions or mentality. In fact, the first thing that comes to mind for Jackson about Byrd is the way he uses his compact frame.
“As soon as I put those pads on, I’m a different person,” Byrd said.
It’s a part of the game Byrd feels supreme confidence in himself, especially because of his role coming off the field and talking to both assistant coaches and defensive coordinator Ken Snider about what he’s seeing out there.
“That’s the good thing about Fort White,” Byrd said. “I can express what I’m seeing to them a little better. And I think I’ve got a good team around me that listens to me very well, and they kind of understand what I’m trying to say.”
Jackson said he notices the conversations too, himself being involved in a few or at least overhearing them as Jackson navigates offensive playcalling.
“He really understands what we’re doing defensively,” Jackson said. “He’s gotten to a point now where he’ll tell our defensive coordinator, ‘This is not working, we need to do this, we need to be in this front, we need to call this play.’
“Our defensive coaches started to listen to him more. And that’s because of the time he puts in outside of practice. When he’s at the house, he’s watching film, he’s studying, which contributes to him being able to make so many tackles and be in positions to make plays.”
That series of events happened during Fort White’s playoff battle against Union County. After the Tigers got the ball rolling on the ground on their opening drive without scoring, Byrd had his usual talk with defensive coaches about the Union County running game. Byrd wanted to put a stop to it.
“We made the adjustment, and then we kind of halted their run game right then after the first two drives,” Byrd said. “We put in a play, and it worked pretty well.”
The move seemed to pay off, with the Tigers getting both their touchdowns on a long pass and a double pass.
Byrd’s best overall performance might’ve come in the regular-season finale. While the rest of the town of Fort White scored against the Raiders, Byrd’s actions on the defensive end ensured there’d be no shootout between the two offenses, racking up a dozen tackles while also picking off a pass, not allowing the Raiders to get past midfield until after Fort White was already up 63-0 in the first half. In fact, Byrd led a defense that pitched four shutouts in a five-game span in the middle of the season.
Part of that streak saw Byrd even motivate his teammates with a goal line stand against Dixie County. Up 21-0 with the Bears driving, Byrd looked his teammates in the eyes in the huddle after DCHS got to the goal line. He told his teammates ‘this is what we live for.’ The Indians held on to get the stop and secure the second of three consecutive shutouts.
Just one more piece of evidence that points to this for Byrd: it all always loops back to the mindset he adopts every day on the field.
“I play every game like it’s my last,” Byrd said. “I’ll be working hard all summer just to get a chance to play again. It also felt great coming back to play at Fort White again. It just gave me a new fire.”