New Mexico safety Markel Byrd’s talents will be missed on the football field, but his memory remains a prominent force in the college football community.
After redshirting during the 2013 season out of high school, Byrd quickly became an integral part of the New Mexico secondary early in the 2014-2015 campaign. It wasn’t until this past season, Byrd’s redshirt sophomore year where he became a playmaker for the squad, and a major reason New Mexico garnered a bowl appearance.
In his final season of play, Byrd picked off three balls, the second most on the team, recorded the only sack of his collegiate career, and was in on 44 total tackles. Of those 44 tackles none was bigger than the game-saving tackle during UNM’s 31-24 win at Boise State.
Byrd played the game of his life as New Mexico stepped onto the unruly blue grass in Boise, Idaho. Coming in as 30 point underdogs, Byrd led the way on defense with 11 tackles and a pick in one of the biggest upsets in UNM football history.
Of his 11 tackles in the game, Byrd recorded the final tackle of the game at the Lobo 4yard-line, just as Boise State was about to tie the game. It was this tackle which made UNM bowl eligible for the first time in eight years.
Just hours after the 45-37 loss to the Arizona Wildcats in the New Mexico Bowl, Markel sent out the last tweet of his life: “Not sure what God has planned for my future but I know it will work out in the end”.
Heading home for the holidays, Byrd and his girlfriend Alexus Ortiz were ejected from their vehicle on I-40 westbound after a blowout tire caused an accident. Byrd died on the afternoon of the Dec. 22 while Ortiz was rushed into the hospital in critical condition but has since been released.
The single-car accident came just four days after New Mexico took part in the team’s first bowl game since 2007.
A few days before Byrd was laid to rest on Jan. 5, Darren Carrington, honored his departed friend and former Horizon Christian Academy teammate by exchanging his usual number 87 for Byrd’s jersey number of 22 in the Alamo Bowl.
“We were inseparable,” Carrington said in an Oregonian report. “We were the same person, honestly... Either I was at his house every day or he was at my house.”
The late December article also stated that just before Byrd left for Phoenix, Arizona to be with his father before heading back to his childhood home in San, Diego, California, Byrd called Carrington to say that he would be headed home to see his longtime friend.
According to the report, Byrd said he would call Carrington when he was closer to home.
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“He never called,” Carrington said in the article written by Andrew Greif. “It was just tragic.”
TheLoboLair, a fan forum site, has also made public the memory of the safety, who died at age 20. A few hours after receiving word of Byrd’s death, the Lobo Lair tweeted: “To honor Markel Byrd (@markezzy1) we have chosen to name TheLoboLair’s football board ‘Byrd’s Board’ in honor of our fallen Lobo. #RestEasy”
“This is an absolute tragedy. Markel Byrd was an outstanding person and student athlete and we will miss him,” head coach Bob Davie said in a release early in the morning of Dec. 23. “I was with the family late Tuesday night and obviously they are devastated. Our thoughts and prayers go to them. Markel will forever be a member of our family.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball, and beach volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
