Des Moines Hoover alum Byron 'Peewee' Jarrett hopeful about NFL Draft prospects

Byron ‘Peewee’ Jarrett tosses a football back and forth between his hands as he walks out onto a familiar football field.

Five years have passed since Jarrett last played a game on the grass field adjacent to Hoover High School. The memories from his senior season are still fresh in his mind.

Jarrett remembers the last game he played in a Huskies jersey. Hoover traveled to Council Bluffs Jefferson. He threw for 449 yards and six touchdowns, but that wasn’t what stuck out from the 56-55 win.

Domique Wright – who wore the No. 8 to Jarrett’s No. 7, and who Jarrett described as his best friend – made the winning catch on the walk-off, 2-point play.

Hoover’s quarterback ran up to his teammate and celebrated with him, and then with the rest of his teammates. That – and the last senior walk to midfield, arm in arm, alongside his “brothers” - is a moment cemented in Jarrett’s memory.

It’s a memory that remains, even as Jarrett moved through the ranks.

First, junior college.

Then, Division II football.

Now, the NFL Draft.

Individual success in high school fails to reflect in recruitment

Jarrett took the Des Moines Public Schools – and the state – by storm during his two seasons on the north side of the city.

He racked up 2,364 passing yards – the ninth-most in the state – and 18 touchdowns in his junior season.

The next year, Jarrett strong-armed his way – literally – to an even more successful season. He finished with 2,710 passing yards, the second-most statewide, and 23 touchdowns.

But with just five wins between the two seasons, his absurd individual stats didn’t entice college scouts.

Two words stand out on Jarrett’s recruiting profile: No interest.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound high schooler held no Division I offers, no Division II offers, no Division III offers. Only the coaching staff at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls took a chance on Jarrett.

His time with the Panthers, though, would be short-lived.

Football takes a backseat during two-year hiatus

Jarrett played seven games in an Ellsworth jersey before an injury shifted him to the bench.

His grandmother, Bettye, was sick at the time and, after undergoing the first of his two shoulder surgeries, Jarrett opted to move home and help around the house.

That decision allowed Jarrett to share in the last few months of Bettye’s life. She died in February 2019, but not before making an impact on her grandson.

"She was always the one who told you the things you didn’t want to hear,” Jarrett recalled, with a smile. “But she loved me to death. She was always telling me things that were going to push me to be great in life.”

The roadblocks ahead of Jarrett didn’t end there.

That summer, he had his second surgery. He worked through the rehabilitation and recovery process, just before the pandemic hit. Mentally, all those things took their toll.

“I’ve always been the kid with the strong arm,” Jarrett expressed. “Then, not being able to throw a football from October 2018 to March 2020 was crazy. Football was my home away from home. Nothing mattered when I was on the football field.”

So, when society started to return to normal and sports returned to their pre-pandemic form, Jarrett leaped at the opportunity to return to the gridiron.

But life wasn’t finished throwing him curveballs quite yet.

From nearly quitting to soaring on the stat sheet

Even after two years away from the game, some college coaches were willing to take a chance on the former Hoover star slinger.

Iowa Central offered Jarrett a spot, and he felt more than ready to get back behind center.

“Every 20, 21-year-old boy that plays football thinks they’re the best quarterback at the school and the best quarterback in the nation,” Jarrett chuckled.

Then another blow.

The National Junior College Athletic Association moved nearly all fall sports competitions to the spring of 2021. Jarrett – amped up and awaiting his return to the game – felt lost. He sat out of football for so long, letting other responsibilities take priority, and couldn’t take another setback.

“I was so set on quitting football,” Jarrett shared.

He called his head coach, Jesse Montalto, and shared how he felt. Essentially, Jarrett packed his bags and planned to head back to Des Moines from Fort Dodge. Montalto responded with the opposite of what his player expected to hear.

“I thought he was gonna get on the phone and beg me to stay,” Jarrett said. “He said, ‘Central football was here long before you and it will be here long after you were here. We wish you the best and think you could be a great player. But if you wish to leave, that’s your choice.’”

Jarrett called his father, Bryon Jarrett Sr., ready to vent after the conversation with Montalto. He admits he was immature at the time, but he hoped his father would tell him what he wanted to hear.

Instead, the older Jarrett sided with Montalto.

And the younger Jarrett opted to stay at Iowa Central.

Over two seasons with the Tritons, he recorded just over 3,500 passing yards and 42 touchdowns. He posted nearly 600 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground alone in his second season at Iowa Central.

In year two, he earned first-team All-American honors.

Jarrett credits Montalto’s tough love with his success after a series of setbacks.

And that success – and support – motivated Jarrett to take the next step.

Migration from the Midwest leads to Jarrett’s most successful seasons yet

Higher-level colleges showed interest in Jarrett after he solidified his spot as one of the top junior college football players in the country.

Opting to stay in the Midwest, he enrolled at Western Illinois for a semester.

But he learned that, personally, it wasn’t a great fit. That team was working through a rebuild, according to Jarrett. He wanted to go to a program where he could take on more responsibilities, and where he could take his team where it needed to go.

West Florida checked the boxes.

The Division II program just lost its quarterback, and Jarrett liked the skill players who played for the Argos.

Just one thing: The born-and-raised Midwesterner had never set foot in Florida before his visit.

“I was so lost, like why is it 75 degrees in February,” Jarrett joked. “But it changed my perspective, coming from the slow Midwest and going down to Florida. You see a lot of different people and different things.”

Jarrett didn’t only experience a change of lifestyle and location.

He experienced the two best seasons of his career, despite jumping several levels from junior college to Division II.

In his first season in Florida, Jarrett threw for 2,719 yards and 33 touchdowns – completing over 51% of his passes. The next season, he recorded 2,989 passing yards and 32 touchdowns, while upping his completion percentage to 59%.

Year after year, Jarrett worked his way up the ranks.

All that experience – and patience and persistence – provided Jarrett with the confidence to take the next step.

The Des Moines Hoover alum takes a chance on himself with NFL Draft

Jarrett’s statistics speak for themselves.

But a free degree, that’s the best thing football provided Jarrett.

That degree will allow Jarrett to pursue a career when his time on the football field ends. He just isn’t quite ready to leave the sport yet.

Jarrett declared for the NFL Draft in December 2023.

The track record is there. The skillset is there. Heck, even the height is there.

He now measures 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, in stark contrast to his nickname ‘Peewee’ - a name he’s always responded to as the junior to his father’s senior in namesake.

Jarrett spent the last several months speaking with representatives for all 32 teams in the National Football League. Most of those people told Jarrett to enjoy the process, he says. As for his on-field product, they’ve advised Jarrett to be ready to learn.

“Football-wise, it’s kind of just to be ready to learn when I get to that level,” Jarrett said. “To be able to go somewhere and sit under a great quarterback and pick their brain and learn and dissect would be amazing.”

He is realistic about his prospects, but there is hope for a quarterback like him coming from a non-Division I school.

Last season, Tyson Bagent appeared in five games – and started four – with the Chicago Bears. Bagent earned his NFL debut after signing with the Bears as an undrafted free agent, and he came from Division II Shepherd University.

There is always the chance that Jarrett goes undrafted, too.

He’s come to peace with that possibility because he’s satisfied with what he did on the football field. Because he knows that there is more to Byron ‘Peewee’ Jarrett than football.

“Just waking up on Sunday,” Jarrett responded when asked what he would consider a success after the draft weekend. “Being able to get a degree for free and play football across the country and meet a ton of great people. That’s success.

“The NFL is just a bonus. Living out my lifelong dream would be great. NFL or not, I’ve had so much fun.”

Regardless of what happens on Thursday or Friday or Saturday, Jarrett will spend the draft surrounded by family.

Grandma Bettye won’t be there, but Jarrett knows that she would be proud of everything he accomplished. He also knows that she wouldn’t treat him any differently, making sure he was up early to finish his chores even if he was an NFL player.

Jarrett never thought he would play college football. He never thought he would break records. He never thought he’d be named an All-American.

Moral of the story: Jarrett knows how to make something out of nothing.

So, by the end of the weekend, Jarrett could receive a life-changing phone call.

Or he could not.

He’ll be okay with that because his journey took him to unexpected places and opportunities and turned him into someone other Hoover athletes can admire.

And – at least for Jarrett – that is just as good as a draft pick.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Hoover alum Byron 'Peewee' Jarrett hopeful about NFL Draft