SALT LAKE CITY — A tumultuous summer has evolved into a fantastic fall for Utah senior Cory Butler-Byrd. He’s bounced back from off-the-field trouble in a big way.
In last week’s 52-45 win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl, Butler-Byrd returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
“To have recruited Cory out of the inner city of Los Angeles, to know exactly where he comes from, the streets he grew up on, to know everything that he’s overcome just to have that moment was unbelievably special,” said Utah assistant coach Sharrieff Shah.
Adding to the moment was the large number of family members there to support Butler-Byrd. Shah estimates there were about 60 people screaming his name at the game.
“It was fantastic. Unbelievable,” Shah said. “It was a tumultuous summer, you know, to say the least. But for him to continue working in the right direction, it’s just special.”
Butler-Byrd has turned things around since a July 27 arrest for damaging a campus police building and an officer’s car. That led to a suspension from the football team.
“Honestly, I was dealing with a lot, like financial troubles and things like that,” Butler-Byrd said. “So I was just pretty much in a bad place.”
Losing football was especially painful.
“That’s pretty much the reason I live,” he explained.
Butler-Byrd’s fiancée was pregnant with their baby at the time and football is how he’d like to take care of them.
“So I was just dealing with a lot,” Butler-Byrd said. “Now I kind of feel like stress-free, not dealing with too many problems. Life is always throwing something at me so I just kind of deal with it differently.”
Less than a month after the incident, Butler-Byrd entered a plea of abeyance to the Class A misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief. He was eventually reinstated by Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and returned to the field after missing fall camp and the first two games of the season.
“It was kind of like a blessing in disguise. They took football away from me and I was feeling like I never want to feel,” Butler-Byrd said. “So it just kind of opened my eyes to how blessed I was and the opportunity I had in front of me.”
Teammate Dominique Hatfield can relate. The senior captain went through a similar circumstance in 2015. He passed along the advice he received while awaiting reinstatement to the team — stay ready.
“I just told him to keep focusing and focus on the dream and don’t focus on the road,” Hatfield said. “Stuff gets hard. But when you’ve got people in your corner, you’re good.”
Having been in the exact same position, Hatfield added that the players spoke about the possibility of redshirting and sitting out the entire season — as many thought might be the case.
“It happens to all of us when something you love is taken away. It’s drastic and it hurts,” Hatfield said. “But you never really lose it. You just have to keep after it and that’s just what I told him — just make sure he keeps at it because we were going to need him.
“And it paid off,” Hatfield continued.
The 16th-ranked Utes (7-1, 4-1) have won all five games that Butler-Byrd has played in this season. He’s seen action at receiver and running back — making 17 catches for 263 yards and rushing for 93 yards on 17 carries. As a return specialist, Butler-Byrd is averaging 28.6 yards on kickoffs.
“How he started the game Saturday was a huge plus,” said Whittingham, who noted that he’s “very impressed” with Butler-Byrd’s contributions overall.
Butler-Byrd missed Utah’s 28-23 loss at California on Oct. 1. He planned on playing with a strained oblique muscle but wound up staying in Salt Lake City when his fiancée, Eunique Shaw, went into labor just before the team boarded the bus for the airport.
Fatherhood, Butler-Byrd acknowledged, is the best. He credits his newborn son — Cory Butler II — for increased motivation and happiness.
“It makes playing football that much better,” he said.
Shah insists there’s a correlation to the overwhelming level of success Butler-Byrd is achieving, such as last weekend’s kickoff return.
“We’re so, so proud of him. It always seems to be like one moment that encapsulates a long journey and for me that was one of many moments this year that he’s had that indicates he is still trying to make himself a better person, football player, father and overall individual,” Shah said. “You know he’s getting a lot of blessings on the field and that’s because he’s doing so many good things off the field correctly.”
Shah noted that in addition to being a father and engaged to be married, Butler-Byrd is doing all the things that Whittingham teaches and preaches.
“He’s investing and he’s adopting them, and his success, sometimes, is indescribable,” Shah said. “It’s unbelievable.”
No. 4 Washington (7-0, 4-0) at No. 16 Utah (7-1, 4-1)
Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
TV: FS1
Radio: ESPN 700AM
ESPN College GameDay: Saturday, 7-10 a.m.
Email: dirk@deseretnews.com
Twitter: @DirkFacer