Connor Barth

Connor Barth
Connor Barth

Barth (#10) kicks a field goal in UNC's win over Maryland in 2007
No. 10     Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Placekicker
Personal information
Date of birth: April 11, 1986 (1986-04-11) (age 25)
Place of birth: Arlington, Virginia
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Weight: 193 lb (88 kg)
Career information
College: North Carolina
Undrafted in 2008
Debuted in 2008 for the Kansas City Chiefs
Career history
*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
  • Honorable mention All-ACC (2004)
  • Second-team Freshman All-American (2004)
  • First-team All-ACC (2007)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 10, 2011
Field Goals Made     64
Field Goals Attempted     78
Field Goals %     82.1
Long Field Goal     54
Stats at NFL.com

Connor Thomas Barth (born April 11, 1986) is an American football placekicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at North Carolina.

Barth has also been a member of the Miami Dolphins.

Contents

Personal

Barth is the son of Thomas and Susan Barth. He has a younger brother. Casey Barth, is currently the placekicker for the North Carolina Tar Heels football team.

Early years

Barth was named to the first-team high school All-America by USA Today. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, where he was named the top kicker in the combine. He was selected to the inaugural EA Sports High School All-America Team. Out of high school, Barth was considered one of the best kickers in the country by most recruiting services. He set the North Carolina state record for field goals in a season and career with 38. The Charlotte Observer ranked him among the top 25 overall players in North Carolina. In 2002, he had a string of 40 consecutive extra points. Playing as a punter and a kicker, Barth made 11 of 14 field goals that year. He also was 53 of 54 on extra point attempts as a Junior.[1] He kicked 75 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone. As a punter, he punted 42 times for a 38.2-yard average.[1]

College career

As a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Barth was named second-team freshman All-America by Rivals.com. He was also an honorable-mention All-ACC member. In 2004, he made 14 of 18 field goals and 35 of 37 extra point attempts. He is well known for a 42-yard game-winning field goal as time expired against No. 4 Miami.[2] He made his first career field goal on a 22-yard attempt at Virginia[1]

As a sophomore, Barth made 11 of 21 field goals.[1] He struggled throughout the season, but connected on eight of his last 10.[1]

In 2006, as a junior, Barth made all 10 field goal attempts and 24 of 26 extra points. He was the only kicker in the country with a perfect 100% field goal percentage. In a game against North Carolina State, Barth made a 54-yarder that was his career best and tied for the second-longest in school history.[1]

In 2007, as a senior, he made 19 of 22 field goals and 30 of his final 33 attempts, dating back to his sophomore season. He earned first-team All-ACC honors from Rivals.com and honorable mention all-conference honors from the Associated Press.[1] Against Miami, Barth kicked a career-high four field goals in the 33-27 win and was named the ACC special teams player of the week.[1] He graduated UNC with a Communications major.[1]

He holds the UNC record for most made field goals (54).[1]

Statistics

Year FGM-FGA PCT 0-29 30-39 40-49 +50 LG PAT
2004 14-18 .778 6-6 5-7 2-3 1-2 50 35-37
2005 11-21 .524 6-7 1-4 4-8 0-2 45 23-23
2006 10-10 1.000 4-4 2-2 2-2 2-2 54 24-26
2007 19-22 .864 5-5 6-6 7-8 1-3 51 21-23
Totals 54-71 .761 21-22 15-20 15-21 4-9 54 103-109

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Barth was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008. He failed to beat out Nick Novak for the team's placekicking job and was waived by the Chiefs on August 29.

Barth was re-signed by the team on October 21 after Novak was released, becoming the seventh kicker on the Chiefs roster in two years.[3] In his first NFL game, Barth went 1-for-1 on field goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra points.[4] He remained perfect up until a week 15 game (going in he was 9 for 9) where he missed 2 field goal attempts, including what would have been a game winning 50 yarder as time expired.

Barth was waived by the Chiefs on July 28, 2009, in favor of Ryan Succop

Miami Dolphins

Barth was signed by the Miami Dolphins on August 10, 2009 to compete with incumbent placekicker Dan Carpenter.[5] However, the Dolphins waived Barth on August 29.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Barth was signed by the Buccaneers on November 3, 2009 after the Bucs released Shane Andrus. Barth tied an NFL record held by three other kickers when he made three field goals of 50 yards or more against the Miami Dolphins on November 15, 2009; the kicks were from 51, 50 and 54 yards. The record is shared with Morten Andersen, Neil Rackers, Kris Brown, and Josh Scobee.

On December 27, 2009 Barth kicked a 47 yard overtime field goal to give the Bucs the win over New Orleans, 20-17.

On October 10, 2010 Barth kicked a 31 yard field goal with :01 left in the game to give the Bucs a 24-21 lead over Cincinnati.

References

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Shane Andrus
Tampa Bay Buccaneers placekicker
2009
Succeeded by
Incumbent