What’s up with Wilmington native Connor Barth?
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington native Connor Barth hasn’t been a member of the Chicago Bears very long. We have an update on Barth from our friends at Inside Carolina.
CHICAGO ( by Steve Leventhal, Special to Inside Carolina) — In a profession where you are only as good as your last kick, former Tar Heel Connor Barth has managed to carve out an eight-year career in the NFL. From 2004-2007 Barth booted a team record 54 field goals at UNC. This year, the Chicago Bears signed him to replace the popular Robbie Gould. Listen to the full the in-depth interview in the audio player atop this page, or read below for a partial transcript …
What schools were recruiting you out of high school?
I had some options. It was really between Ohio State and North Carolina. At OSU, I would have had to redshirt behind Mike Nugent, who’s obviously a very successful kicker in the NFL [Cincinnati Bengals.] But coach Bill Dooley’s son was my holder in high school, and he always told me “you should go to your in state school and stay close to home,” and that stuck with me. Another guy, Dan Orner, who kicked before me at Carolina, he’s my kicking coach now. He worked with me, and I knew he was graduating, and I could come in as a true freshman, so it all kind of fell into place. It just felt like a perfect place to be. My dad, he’s a professor, so education is big for us, and our family. Getting an education from Carolina would be a huge thing in the long run, if football didn’t work out.
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