Northwestern State University of Louisana

Talented transfer who had 147 career tackles and 12 starts at Mississippi State has moved close to home to play his senior season. A parade Magazine High School All-American at Longview HS, Byrdsong could fill the void created by the graduation of All-American linebacker Jamall Johnson, last year's Southland Conference defensive player of the year. Northwestern's defensive coordinator, Brad Laird, was an assistant coach at Longview High when Byrdsong played there under head coach Pat Collins. NSU graduate assistant coach Mark Peters was a prep teammate of Byrdsong's.

Before NSU: Played in every game the past three seasons at Mississippi State, starting 12...He had 147 career tackles, including 54 last fall while starting the first four games for first-year head coach Sylvester Croom...Chose to transfer after being moved to defensive end after the 2004 season...Had a career-best 12 tackles in his sophomore season against Oregon and made 10 as a sophomore and freshman against Arkansas...Eighth on the Bulldogs' team in tackles last fall...Led State with 11 tackles at LSU and had six against SEC champion Auburn, one of three games in which he was second on the team in tackles...Highly recruited out of Longview HS, he finalized his recruiting picks to Texas A&M and Mississippi State before choosing to follow in his older brother Shawn's footsteps to play for coach Jackie Sherrill at State.

High school: One of just eight linebackers named to the 2001 Parade Magizine High School All-American football team...Rated as the No. 8 linebacker prospect in the nation by Superprep in its season-ending All-America issue, and he was listed as Superprep's No. 12 prospect overall from the state of Texas...After making 154 tackles, seven sacks and two interceptions in his senior season for the Lobos, he earned his second straight  Texas All-State award...Was East Texas MVP and district defensive MVP...First-team Dave Campbell Texas Super Team...Played in U.S. Army HS All-American Game in San Antonio...Also lettered twice in track and field.

Personal: 21 years old, born 2/3/84...Son of Brenda and Marvin Byrdsong Jr....Mother works at Good Shepherd Hospital...Has two brother, Chris (31) and Shawn (25)...Chris played football at Alabama A&M and is now a police officer...Shawn played football for Mississippi State and in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints...His nickname is "Baby Boy."