"Aggressive, funny, talented." Those are three words that Bulls senior linebacker Kareem Byrom uses to describe himself. Another word you can add to that list is "confident." Byrom is definitely confident.
"I play NCAA football and play myself," Byrom said, "meaning I'm an impact player. I like to play myself and see how many plays I can make on the game."
He's not too shabby in the real world either. After finishing third on the team last year with 49 tackles, Byrom agreed to move to a new position for the third time in his Bulls career. After starting his collegiate career as a cornerback, Byrom moved to safety before moving to linebacker to replace the departed Ramon Guzman.
Moving to the new position has been a slightly painful experience.
"As far as practice, I'm a little bit more banged up. I like the contact, but I'm a little bit more banged up after practice. I find myself getting ice baths after practice nowadays," Byrom said.
Byrom is listed at 5'10" and 200 pounds, which is the perfect weight for a safety, but on the smaller side for a linebacker.
"They didn't tell me until the end of the summer that I was going to play linebacker," Byrom said. "They didn't want me to gain weight because they didn't want me to get slower."
One thing that has helped him make the newest adjustment is his aggressive nature on the field.
"A lot of the teams are going to see that I'm a linebacker now, and they're going to try to run at me, so I definitely need to come with a more aggressive point," Byrom said. "The fact that I'm only 200 (pounds), I have to be more aggressive. When linemen come at me, I can't just let them run over me. I have to be more aggressive and have to go get them."
At New Brunswick High School, Byrom played both offense and defense, scoring 16 touchdowns in his senior year. Byrom used both his offensive and defensive skills to create his favorite football memory of his young life.
"In high school, we had a state championship game, and we were in goal line defense. I was playing cornerback at the time," Byrom said. "The team tried to throw a five-yard out pass, and I took a 103 yard touchdown back to the house. I was tired after that play. Nobody likes running 103 yards, even just playing around."
Since joining the Bulls in 2003, Byrom has been named a team captain two times, including this season. Much like on the football field, Byrom met this challenge head on.
"I respect the team, and they respect me. I'm going to take the challenge and run with it," Byrom said. "I can get very vocal at times, but I'm more of a show-by-example."
Byrom says that he wants to be remembered as "the little guy with a big heart," and he has only one more season to leave his impression on UB and its fans, as well as opposing players.
"Last year, there was pressure on Ramon (Guzman) and Chad (Upshaw) on other seniors to get it done, and now this year there's more pressure on me to get it done," Byrom said.
With Guzman having recently made the Indianapolis Colts final roster, Byrom says he has more confidence than ever that there is a place in the NFL for a Bull.
"It definitely gives you more confidence in yourself, knowing that we were 2-10 last year and somebody was still able to make it," he said.
The star cornerback-turned-safety-turned-linebacker says he learned from the man who made multi-tasking on the football field famous: Deion Sanders.
"Deion Sanders was a real big role model to me. When I came here I was a cornerback, so I wanted to be a shutdown corner like him. I looked up to him a lot," he said.
While he may not have become the next star corner, Byrom believes there's one thing in which he may have bested Neon Deion.
"I probably danced a little better than him," he joked.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
