Instead of wearing his No. 7 jersey in the 2016 Valero Alamo Bowl, Oregon wide receiver Darren Carrington donned No. 22 to pay tribute to his late best friend Markel Byrd, who died suddenly on Dec. 22 and wore No. 22 as a safety for the New Mexico Lobos.
Although the Ducks squandered a 31-0 halftime lead and ultimately fell 47-41 to TCU in triple-overtime, Carrington individually put on a show in Byrd’s honor, catching four passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter alone.
“We were inseparable,” Carrington told reporters in San Antonio about a week before the game. “We were like the same person.”
They used to play against each other in Pop Warner football and first became teammates on a club basketball team in the summer after sixth grade. They became best friends as seventh graders, and eventually attended high school together at Horizon Christian Academy in San Diego, where Byrd was the quarterback of the football team and Carrington the star receiver.
Carrington’s youngest sister DiJonai Carrington, a guard for Stanford women’s basketball, said the two were “basically brothers.”
“Even if they didn’t have the same classes, somehow you would always see them finding their way to each other,” DiJonai Carrington said. “They talked every single day, even after high school. They would FaceTime multiple times a day.”
Byrd was one of the younger ones in his and Carrington’s group of friends — he’s almost a year younger than Carrington — so they all called him “Young.” Pretty soon almost everyone from his graduating class called him Young, and that was what Carrington’s family knew him by.
Byrd hung out at Carrington’s house almost every day, and if he wasn’t there, then Carrington was hanging out at Byrd’s. Byrd was like an older brother to Carrington’s sisters DiJonai and DiArra Carrington. They’d often sit together in Carrington’s living room, and Byrd would ask them questions about anything and everything.
“You know how older brothers are, always asking you, ‘Who do you like? Who’s this? Who’s that?’ Like, ‘No one! No one!’ Markel would always get to business, get the inside scoop,” DiJonai Carrington said. “He was really just a fun, spirited young man.”
Byrd went to the 2015 Rose Bowl with Carrington’s family a year ago to watch Carrington and the Ducks take on Florida State. It was the first time Byrd got to see Carrington play in person since high school, and Byrd was ecstatic. When Carrington scored the first touchdown and “whipped” as a touchdown celebration, Byrd whipped with him in the stands. “DMC, hauling it down!” he yelled. DiJonai Carrington still has it on video.
“He was just so excited the whole game,” DiJonai said. “It was such a fun time. He never got bored or anything. Darren had other friends who were there and they were more low-key, but Markel was just all into it and we loved it.”
Christmas was supposed to be the first time Carrington and Byrd reunited since high school, due to their busy college football schedules. Byrd planned to travel to San Antonio with the Carringtons to watch Carrington play TCU in the Alamo Bowl. Byrd asked Carrington to bring him a backpack, a jersey and a pair of cleats from Oregon, but Carrington never got the chance to give Byrd his present.
Byrd was driving home on Interstate 40 near Gallup, New Mexico, when the rear tire of his Chevy SUV blew and both he and his girlfriend were ejected from the car. Byrd died instantly, and his girlfriend was transported to a local hospital and listed in critical condition.
Just before they Byrd left for California, Carrington called to tell him he loved him and wished him a safe trip home. Byrd promised to call Carrington when he got closer to San Diego.
“He never called,” Carrington said. “It was just tragic.”
Carrington and DiJonai were each sitting in their rooms when Carrington got a call from Tyree Robinson, a defensive back for Oregon who was also a good friend of Byrd’s. Robinson delivered Carrington the tragic news.
“It was hard because I just didn’t know how to tell Darren,” Robinson said. “When I gave him the phone call and everything, he didn’t want to believe it.”
Carrington went into DiJonai Carrington’s room and told her Tyree said Byrd died.
“He was just speechless,” DiJonai Carrington said.
Carrington and DiJonai Carrington called their parents to relay what they’d heard. Reality didn’t sink for Carrington until they called Byrd’s mother, Stephanie Threadgill, who confirmed the death of her son.
“Markel was my everything. All you could ever hope for as a kid,” Threadgill told NBC 7. “He was a good athlete, he was a Christian, as well — just overall a good kid.”
The next two days, Carrington didn’t speak much as he tried to make sense of it all. On Christmas Eve, the Carringtons went to Byrd’s house to visit Threadgill, Byrd’s grandma, brother and sister.
“That’s what really helped Darren the most — talking to Markel’s mom — because she’s just so strong and in such high spirits,” DiJonai Carrington said. “She just told Darren, ‘He wouldn’t want you to be sad. He would want you to just focus on your game. He knows you got him.’ After that, he was in much higher spirits.
“It’s definitely still affecting him and it always will, but just as far as his spirits changing, that was his biggest turning point.”
Carrington endured many sleepless nights in the week leading up to the Alamo Bowl. He and Byrd used to talk on the phone late at night when one of them couldn’t sleep.
In the months after his suspension from the 2015 national championship game for failing a drug test, Carrington found solace talking to Byrd on the phone and remembering the good times they spent together. At first Carrington was scared to tell his parents about his suspension, so instead he called Byrd first.
“I was like, ‘Bro, I’m not going to be able to play,’” Carrington said to Byrd. “He’s like, ‘It’s all good man, you’re going to be back and when you’re back you’re going to put on a show. Forget the haters, I love you, I don’t care.’”
Byrd was the “only person to ever completely get” Carrington and his “guardian angel.” Since his loss, Carrington has found joy in the bonds he’s made with his teammates, particularly quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., his roommate for the Alamo Bowl trip. He and Adams connected immediately when Adams transferred to Oregon from Eastern Washington, and spent many nights together at the Student Recreation Center turf fields running routes.
“I feel like God just put Vernon on my team for this last year,” Carrington said. “He knew this was going to happen.”
“I lost a brother, but it feels good to be around these guys I love.”
Carrington and Robinson both kept Byrd in their thoughts during their inspired Alamo Bowl performances. Underneath his No. 22 jersey, Carrington wore a shirt with Byrd’s picture and the words “Forever Young.”
“To lose someone like that who always gave it 100 percent in everything he did, it was really like the good die young,” Robinson said. “We’re just going to live for Markel, and you should expect me and Darren to have an extra motor out on the field.”
Carrington’s first catch of the Alamo Bowl was the game’s first touchdown, a 37-yard bomb from Adams. He finished the game with seven catches for 107 yards, while Robinson made seven tackles, tied for the second-most on the team.
Carrington said Byrd is living through him now, and he “will never take nothing on this earth for granted, ever again.”
An online fundraising page has been established to help cover expenses for Byrd’s funeral.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby
