BOONEVILLE, Miss. - A summer full of showcases and a solid start to his second season at Northeast Mississippi Community College has Tyler Byrd firmly on the radar of scouts from around the country.
Byrd was rated as the No. 65 overall prospect in the initial top 100 player rankings by JucoRecruiting.com for the class of 2025.
"I'll give Tyler some credit. He's not a guy that worries about any of this stuff," said Tigers head coach Cord Wright. "He just knows that we're trying to win and he wants to be one of the best players on the floor. Hopefully this is an opportunity for him to stay motivated, stay grounded and stay humble."
Byrd is on track to become the first Northeast standout under the watch of Wright to rack up more than 1,000 career points. He would be just the 15th Tiger since 1980 to reach this prestigious scoring mark.
He enters the third week of conference play only seven points away from surpassing Leroy "Shaq" Buchanan as Wright's all-time leading scorer. Buchanan tallied 927 points in a black-and-gold uniform from 2015-17 before signing with Murray State (Ky.) University.
Byrd's averages are almost identical to that of his sensational rookie campaign that ended with National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American honors. He currently leads the Tigers with 16.7 points and six rebounds per game.
He has reached double figures in all but three of Northeast's 21 total contests so far this year. Byrd has 22 career 20-plus point performances, including three outings with 30 or more points.
Byrd was recognized as the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) Player of the Week after recording a career-best 33 points during the Tigers' Thanksgiving week victory at Volunteer State (Tenn.) Community College.
The Memphis, Tenn., native also earned NJCAA All-Region 23 and all-conference accolades. He averaged 20 points on the dot in league play while shooting just under 50 percent from the floor.
Byrd also topped Northeast with 2.7 steals per contest one season ago. He was the first Tiger to capture NJCAA All-American distinction as a freshman in nearly three decades.
His efforts helped Northeast secure its eighth conference championship in program history and advance to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament semifinals. The Tigers have been ranked as high as No. 21 in the nation this season.
Byrd represented Northeast across the United States last summer after receiving invitations to the JA48 in Phoenix, the All-American JUCO Showcase in Atlanta and the NCAA College Basketball Academy in South Carolina.