Oktaha, Oklahoma • Far down a miles-long stretch of country road, the asphalt abruptly turns into gravel. Just ahead, a Ford pickup truck caked in red dirt barrels past on this lonely road in eastern Oklahoma, kicking up a hazy cloud of copper-tinged dust.

If you continue to crawl east on this road you’ll make it to the entrance of a ranch, which greets visitors with its iron gates and a stark Utah-red signboard bearing the No. 15 and the name “Byrd Ficklin.”

Ficklin’s mom, Brandy Ridley, and his stepfather, Mark Ridley, own the cattle ranch just 20 minutes southwest of Ficklin’s hometown of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Oktaha is an agrarian town set against a backdrop of — you guessed it — acres upon acres of sprawling grassland and towering oak trees.

On this day, Brandy stands in the driveway wearing a custom Utes shirt featuring a mock-up of Byrd hurdling an Arkansas defender on the front, which says “Byrds really can fly” and “Mama Byrd” across the back.

Byrd Ficklin is a long way from this driveway now. At Utah, he’s a backup quarterback waiting for his chance to fully take the reins. But waiting is nothing new for Ficklin.

The ranch and his hometown of Muskogee helped teach him the value of patience, hard work and — maybe most importantly — loyalty to those that gave him a chance.

‘Go and be a kid’

Brandy Ridley can recall plenty of stories of Byrd gallivanting around the ranch, much like he now does at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturdays.

On nights after high school football games, Byrd would text Mark or Brandy that he was bringing friends over. Byrd got to live the best of both worlds: His father, Justin, lived in Muskogee, while his mom lived 20 minutes away in the country, surrounded by the serenity of cow moos and morning feeds.

When in Muskogee, Byrd said he’d go skating, catch a movie or go out to eat. In Oktaha, he lived the ranch life.

“It wouldn’t be uncommon for him to be out here and then ride four-wheelers,” Brandy said, while reclining in her chair in her Oktaha home

“Sometimes he’d load up a bunch of boys and be out here and swim ‘til late or have a bonfire or just play football in the front yard, acting like goofballs.”

In the mornings, Brandy would whip up a hearty breakfast that consisted of buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage for Byrd and his friends.

But maybe her favorite story? A young Byrd running toward his pet goat and headbutting it. It didn’t just happen once, either, she said. He’d roughhouse with all the animals.

Byrd would ride his horse, Clutch, across the ranch, where goats, chickens, cows and donkeys roamed and were sometimes lassoed by the young cowboy.

“We’ve always been really big on letting Byrd go and be a kid,” Brandy said. “If he wanted to take his four-wheeler out and ride and do donuts down by the pond, we’d let him go do it. We always made sure he was safe, though.”

During a tour of the ranch, Mark led Clutch out of the stable and into the grassy barnyard. “Smile for the camera,” he joked. Clutch is getting up there in age, so he hasn’t been ridden in a couple years, but signs of his surefooted personality are still evident in the stallion’s handsome profile and kind eyes.

After all these years, Clutch and Byrd have a bond for life.

“When he was here, he could get away from the town,” Brandy said. “Most of the time, his phone only half worked. The signal used to be pretty bad out here. He could just be a kid and ride Clutch.”

On the ranch, Byrd was also put to work plenty.

“When Mark and I first got together — he was working on the road a lot, and we had a mama cow die during calving season,” Brandy said. “Byrd and I had to bottle feed a baby, figure it all out, build a pen, do all the things. So yes, as far as the whole thing goes, he can work cows and everything.”

The ranch helped shape the person Byrd is today. But it was only part of his Muskogee story. About 20 minutes north in Muskogee, the gunslinger was working to become a hometown hero.

“I made lifetime friends in Muskogee,” Byrd said. “I would never turn my back on that town. I know they would never turn their back on me.

“But that’s what Muskogee is. It’s a lot of relationships, family, and friends.”

‘He brought it all together’

Justin Ficklin peered out over Rougher Village Stadium while the afternoon sun beat down on his black Utah Utes ball cap.

In 2023, Byrd helped the Roughers win their first state championship in more than 30 years. Before the Ficklins came around, Muskogee football had reached a low point.

The team went 0-7 in 2020-21, and it hadn’t won a state championship since 1986.

“We saw the stands, and it was like, ‘They’re not as full as they once were when I first got here in ’06 and ‘05,’” Justin told The Tribune.

Growing up, Byrd always envisioned himself being the starting quarterback for Muskogee High, wearing the Kelly green and black.

Muskogee has always been part of Byrd’s story.

He spent his early years wandering around Muskogee’s Bacone College in Muskogee, where Brandy played soccer and Justin played football. The now-closed college is just a stone’s throw across the street of Muskogee High.

“Bacone raised Byrd,” Brandy said, as she reflected on his Muskogee upbringing.

“If I was at practice, then he was usually at the football dorms. Or if his dad was at practice, he was at the soccer dorms with me. We took him to class with us. There was always somebody there that would grab him and play with him in the common areas.”

Muskogee is a tight-knit community, and Byrd had the same friends and teammates all the way from kindergarten through high school.

“Every kid wants to grow up to be that football player that, while they’re sitting in the stands, they’re watching on the field. I always wanted to be that person,” Byrd said.

By his freshman year of high school, 14-year-old Byrd had become the starting quarterback for the varsity team. Then-Muskogee head coach Travis Hill admitted he “didn’t want to start a freshman,” but a then-wiry Byrd forced his hand.

“He was our best choice from a quarterback standpoint,” Hill said. “We loved how he handled his business, especially as a freshman.”

The Roughers went 2-8 in his first season, but the young quarterback’s calm demeanor and lively left arm gave the program hope.

The next year, the Roughers went 10-3. After that? A 12-2 record and a state championship.

On the way to the title game, Hill remembers seeing cars lined up 10 deep behind the team bus, with fans following to watch the game. When they returned, Hill and Byrd were welcomed with “more fireworks” than he’d seen on any Fourth of July, Hill said.

“He brought the community all together,” Hill said.

Justin added: “The community finally realized that we had something special that was happening here.”

Byrd began to get noticed by programs across the country, but didn’t receive any offers from Power Four teams. Almost every program in the Big 12 had come to watch Byrd throw in Muskogee, and they all walked away saying the same thing.

“He’s got a strong arm,” Byrd’s dad remembers coaches saying. Or, “He can rip it,” others said.

“But the conversation always stopped there,” Justin said. “That was the frustrating part. All these coaches come and watch him throw and throw, and they all are amazed by what they are seeing, but then they would always second-guess if they want to offer.”

One Big 12 school considered offering Byrd a scholarship but wanted him to play safety. “He told them no,” Justin said. “So he was never a kid who was P4 or nothing.”

Members of Byrd’s camp said his under recruitment came down to two things: Muskogee sits in the shadow of Tulsa, a major Oklahoma recruiting hub with some of the top high school football programs in the country.

The other reason? “there were a lot of coaches that didn’t want to coach a left-handed quarterback,” Brandy said.

“I thought he was special because he was left-handed.”

Those factors led Byrd and Justin to consider transferring elsewhere. He had already won a state title for the Roughers. Would transferring to a Texas high school bring more attention, perhaps even an extra star in the recruiting rankings? Byrd met with Hill and his father one day before his senior year to weigh the options.

At that meeting, Byrd came to this conclusion: “I don’t want to leave my friends. We’ve all stayed together, and we pulled through all this together and brought this community back to love and the sport again.”

By the end of his senior season, Byrd appeared to be headed to Texas State. But one SEC coach kept pursuing the quarterback.

That was Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables.

“OU always kept me in the back pocket,” Byrd said. “I was at games. They were recruiting me. I was taking visits, but I was never their guy, and they never really truly recruited me out in public.”

In November 2024, Venables called the quarterback again, asking, “What’s our deadline to offer you?” The Sooners had until Dec. 2.

On Nov. 20, Byrd was lying on the couch when he got a surprise call. It was from former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.

“He told me exactly who he is,” Byrd said. “I was kind of just like, ‘Who?’ It didn’t ring to me until he explained who he was.”

By the end of that phone call, Byrd had a hunch he was headed to Salt Lake City. Funnily enough, former Utah OC Andy Ludwig was originally on Byrd’s trail before his resignation in 2024.

The U. and Whittingham had stowed away his tape, filmed by Ludwig, until they needed a quarterback.

Brandy, who made her chicken fried steak with white gravy and mashed potatoes that night, could tell her son was relieved.

“He sat down, ate his food, and then he wanted more,” Brandy said. “Then he wanted more, and then he finished my food, and I’m like, ‘Kid, you eat, but you don’t eat like this.’

He said, ‘You don’t understand the stress that’s just off my back.’”

The choice to stay loyal to Muskogee paid off.

Little did he know that, after a breakout freshman season with the Utes, another tough decision would come almost a year later.

‘Utah feels like home’

After Whittingham left Utah for Michigan and offensive coordinator Jason Beck went with him, Byrd knew he had a decision to make.

With Whittingham and Beck gone, Byrd had to decide whether to stay at Utah or explore his options elsewhere.

Byrd and his mom made a pros-and-cons list to determine his best option.

“He and I were having the conversations and putting it into a note,” she said. “We went through every scenario — if you were to leave Utah, what would this look like? Where would you go? What are your options? What do we think our options are?

“If you stay in Utah, what does that look like? What are our options? What are we trying to gain?”

A call from new head coach Morgan Scalley helped convince Byrd to stay at Utah, where he could become the team’s starting quarterback in 2027.

Days after Utah’s bowl win over Nebraska, Scalley jokingly told Byrd he wanted him in his office immediately.

There, Utah’s new head coach put on his recruiting cap, helping convince the left-handed quarterback to stay.

“Scalley wanting to include him in the hiring of the new OC and the hiring of the quarterback coach was a big thing for him,” Brandy said.

Byrd called his mom after that meeting and said something that echoed the decision he made in high school.

“Utah feels like home,” he said to her.

“After things started changing, you would think there would be a lot of fallout because of it,” Brandy said. “It actually seems that everything went the opposite way. Like the boys really banded together, the coaches really supported him.”

Byrd is now trying to follow a similar trajectory in Salt Lake City, which he calls his second home.

Right now, he’s in a gadget role behind starting quarterback Devon Dampier. But 2027 could be his time to lead the offense. Dampier is eligible for a fifth season, but has stated that he intends to go to the NFL.

“I think the one thing he’s probably learned more than anything this past year is patience,” Justin said. “I think he now knows he’s ready, but he’s still the next guy.”

But Byrd has had to be patient before — it’s what his upbringing in Oklahoma was all about.

Waiting to play for the Roughers.

Waiting for a Power Four offer.

Now he’s waiting for his chance to be Utah’s next star quarterback.

“I live every day like my time will come,” Byrd said. “Just grind every day, and that’s what we’ve been doing. My time will come, whether it’s this next game or this next year.”