Darrius Heyward-Bey
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Darrius Heyward-Bey (born February 26, 1987 in Silver Spring, Maryland) is a wide receiver for the University of Maryland Terrapins in the NCAA college football tournament. A track star in high school, Heyward-Bey's transition to becoming an elite playmaker for the Terps was not a very smooth one. In fact at one time, he was almost being asked to leave the program as he struggled to perform during practices. That moment however was a distant memory as since then, Heyward-Bey has improved to become an essential weapon on Maryland's offense and one of the most exciting players to watch in the Atlantic Coast Conference after posting a breakout rookie season which saw his entry into the school's single season list in receiving yards. Heyward-Bey has also put his speed to good use during games as he is considered as one of the fastest players in the league with a 4.23 on the 40 in 2006, a school record among receivers.
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[edit] Personal Life
Darrius is the son of Vivian Heyward-Bey. His Benin-born father returned to Africa when Darrius was 8 months old, and it has been him and his mother eversince. He is close friends with NFL wideout Devard Darling, whom he met in high school through his track coach who happened to be Darling's wife. A major in American studies at the University of Maryland, Darrius hopes to pursue a career in broadcasting someday.
[edit] High School
The versatile Heyward-Bey attended high school at McDonogh, an exclusive school in Owings Mills, Maryland where he excelled in a number of sports, namely football, basketball, and track. Heyward-Bey was initially projected as a basketball player when he was a freshman but upon his first meeting with McDonogh's co-athletics director, Matt MacMullan, who back then coached the basketball and the JV football teams, Heyward-Bey eventually got involved with other sports. After suiting up for the Eagles' basketball team in his first two years, Heyward-Bey focused on playing football (as a wide receiver and outside linebacker) and track and as a junior, immediately making an impact by catching 40 passes for 802 yards and 12 touchdowns in a starting role for coach Dominic D'Amico to earn for himself an all-area and all-conference selection. That same year, he was also the MIAA champ in the 100 and 200 meters, placed fifth place at the nationals, and was named All-American after placing 6th at the Nike High School Track and Field Championships in Landover where he was the only junior in the field of sprinters during the 55-meter championship.
As a senior, Heyward-Bey earned his third letter in football after tallying 47 receptions for 821 yards and 10 touchdowns en route to being named a first team All-state and PrepStar/SuperPrep All-American selection. On the track, he sprinted to the 55 meters title with a time of 6.35 and was also part of the team that won the 4x200 relay title with a meet record time 1:32.05 at the 2005 MIAA Indoor Track Championships.
Entering the recruiting period, Heyward-Bey was listed as the No.17 wide receiver in the nation by SuperPrep, the No.23 catcher in the country by ESPN.com's Tom Lemming, and was ranked as the fourth-best player overall in the state of Maryland and the 12th-best wide receiver in the country by Rivals.com.
[edit] College
Rivals.com's four-star rated player and Scout.com's three-star rated receiver received scholarship offers from Maryland, Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. He ended up in College Park as one of the 24 prep student-athletes signed by coach Ralph Friedgen.
[edit] 2005
Redshirted.
[edit] 2006
During the spring game, Heyward-Bey had 49 yards on a pair of receptions for the losing Red Team. In his first collegiate game, he earned the nod to start against William & Mary but only had a carry for a 1-yard gain in the 27-14 triumph. He recorded his first career reception the following week against Middle Tennessee State for a 19-yard tally in the Terps' 24-10 victory. At West Virginia, he managed to haul in a season high 5 receptions for 49 yards in the team's first loss of the season then followed it up with a 4-catch, 35-yard effort in the rebound victory over Florida International. At #18 Georgia Tech, Heyward-Bey matched his season-best of five receptions for 111 yards--- his first career 100-receiving yard game---as Maryland got edged by the Yellow Jackets, 23-27. After the loss, the Terps strung up five consecutive wins with victories over Virginia, N.C. State, Florida State, Clemson, and Miami (Fla.). Heyward-Bey was a consistent contributor during that span, matching his season best of five receptions for 39 yards against the Cavaliers, a pair of catches for 36 yards against the Wolfpack, caught the first two touchdown passes of his career (5 and 30 yards)---including the deciding score---with 57 yards receiving on three catches against the Seminoles, caught four passes for 18 yards against the Tigers, and had one of his most memorable games of the season with a season-high tying five catches and a career-best 175 yards and two TDs (65 and 96 yards) against the Hurricanes.
Heyward-Bey's peformance against FSU won him the ACC Rookie of the Week honors while his offensive showcase against the 'Canes, which had him scoring the longest TD in school history at 96 yards (surpassing the 92-yarder by Ed Bolton from Stan Levine against South Carolina in 1949) garnered an ACC Offensive Player of the Week accolade. In Maryland's regular season ending losses to Boston College and Wake Forest, Heyward-Bey had 37 receiving yards each on 4 and 3 receptions, respectively. He made his postseason debut at the Champs Sports Bowl against Purdue, catching four passes for 81 yards with a 46-yard TD reception in the 24-7 triumph. He ended the year with a team-leading 45 receptions (tied for 17th on the Terps all-time single-season chart and tied for 7th on the conference freshman single-season list) for a Terps' freshman record of 694 receiving yards (9th on the Maryland all-time single-season list and 3rd on the ACC all-time freshman single-season list). He also scored on five TD catches (tied for 15th on the Maryland single-season list) with an average of 53.4 receiving yards per game (5th in the ACC) and 3.5 receptions per game (9th in the ACC) in 13 appearances with 10 starts. Among his postseason accolades include All-ACC second team pick from the league and first team freshman All-American selections from The Sporting News and Rivals.com, among others.
[edit] 2007
In the annual spring football game, Heyward-Bey caught two passes for a game-high 97 receiving yards and a 68-yard touchdown reception for the losing Red squad. By virtue of his explosive debut as a Terrapin, Heyward-Bey was also recognized by several publications with entries to a number of preseason All-ACC first teams while being included in the watch list for the 2007 Fred Biletnikoff Award, a recognition for the best wide receiver in college football.
He opened the season with a career high 6 receptions for 81 yards with a rushing attempt for 13 yards in the 31-14 victory over Villanova. After catching 4 passes for 48 yards and tallying 3 receptions for 46 yards in the win over FIU and the loss to WVU, respectively, Heyward-Bey registered a catch for 12 yards to go along with his career long 54-yard run on a reverse hand-off in the third quarter of the 24-31 defeat at Wake Forest. At 10th ranked Rutgers, he chipped in 5 receptions for 61 yards and his first TD of the year then had 4 catches for a season high 109 yards in the follow-up win over the Yellow Jackets. In losses to Virginia, Clemson, and North Carolina, Heyward-Bey had 4 catches for 52 yards against the Hokies, was shut-out for the first time in his career against the Tigers, and had 5 receptions for 64 yards against the Tar Heels. In the upset win over 8th ranked BC, Heyward-Bey chipped in 5 receptions for 75 yards to go along with a 37-yard touchdown run as the Terps collected its second win over a ranked foe, 42-35. The team however could not sustain the momentum, losing to FSU with Heyward-Bey contributing 5 receptions for 82 yards and 1 TD before catching 6 more passes for 47 yards in the regular-season ending shut-out victory over N.C. State.
In his second bowl game appearance, Heyward-Bey had three receptions for his second-highest total of the season of 99 receiving yards (4th on the Maryland single-game bowl list) to go with a 63-yard touchdown reception in the Emerald Bowl loss to Oregon State. By season's end, he paced the team with 51 receptions (tied for 10th on Maryland's all-time single-season list) for 786 receiving yards (7th on all-time single-season list) with an average of 60.5 receiving yards per game (9th in the ACC) to go with 107 rushing yards (4th in the team) in 13 outings, all starts. He was also one of only three players on the offense to start each game and was named as the Terps' most valuable offensive player of the year.
[edit] 2008
During the spring game, Heyward-Bey caught 3 passes for 27 yards. He also received early recognition from Phil Steele who named him into its All-ACC and All-American squads, both as a first team selection.
[edit] Career Stats
| Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | ||||||||||
| Year | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | Lst |
| 2006 | 45 | 694 | 15.4 | 96 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 51 | 786 | 15.4 | 63 | 3 | 5 | 107 | 21.4 | 54 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
[edit] Highlights
| Darrius Heyward-Bey scores on a school record 96-yard touchdown catch against Miami (2006). |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- Phil Steele Preseason All-ACC First Team
- Phil Steele Preseason All-American First Team
[edit] 2007
- Athlon preseason first-team All-ACC
- Biletnikoff Award watch list
- Collegefootballnews.com preseason first-team All-ACC
- Collegefootballnews.com's #23 Preseason WR in the ACC
- Collegefootballnews.com's #29 Preseason Player in the ACC
- Lindy's preseason first-team All-ACC
- Maryland's Most valuable offensive player award
- Phil Steele Third Team All-ACC
- Pro Football Weekly honorable mention All-America
- The Sporting News preseason first-team All-ACC
[edit] 2006
- ACC Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Miami)
- ACC Rookie of the Week (vs. Florida State)
- All-Atlantic Coast Conference Second Team
- Collegefootballnews.com's #3 WR in the ACC
- Maryland Freshman of the Year
- Rivals.com first-team freshman All-America
- Scout.com Freshman All-American Second Team
- The Sporting News first-team All-Freshman ACC
- The Sporting News first-team freshman All-America
