What Exactly Is The Root Of Casey Barth’s Kicking Problems?

Brian Barbour on October 1st, 2009 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)

No one really knows, least of all Butch Davis who says he still has confidence that Casey Barth can get the job done. The question is does Barth?

“I don’t know if his confidence has,’’ Davis said. “I know that he’s mad at himself; I think that any kicker would be. Sometimes kickers are like quarterbacks; they’re their own worse critics. They want to be perfect, and I know that he wants to be perfect – he wants to make every kick. When I talk to him about it – like any kicker I’ve had – you talk to him in the context of a golfer that’s putting. You’re sitting there, and as much as you say, ‘We don’t expect you to make 50-footers in golf’, we don’t expect you to make 55-yarders in games very often. You might make some, but the ones … inside of three feet you’d like to make ‘em.

“But still, you see guys that do that for a living, and they still miss them. And it boils down to blocking out all the previous kicks, and it’s fundamentals. It’s your approach to the ball, your trust in the snapper, your trust in the holder.”

Ultimately the problem with kickers is not the mechanics but the what goes on between the ears. As for Davis there are a couple of ways to parse this statement.  On one hand, he is certainly trying to bolster his young kicker with expression of confidence. On the other hand I think the eventual measure of Davis’ confidence will come when UNC is facing a fourth and short in the 30-45 yard FG range.  Davis says Barth needs to make the “three feet” putts which might not be as long as one thinks.  The good news is Barth, like the rest of the team, faces a couple of presumably easy opponents to work out the kinks.

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Category: 2009 Football Season, UNC Football

5 comments to What Exactly Is The Root Of Casey Barth’s Kicking Problems?

• william

  October 1, 2009 at 3:55 pm

  Has Carolina ever had a kicker who could make fifty percent from beyond 45 yards? With all the soccer players out there, it is hard for me to believe that we cannot find someone who can make a 35 yard field goal reliably.

• chuckheel85

  October 1, 2009 at 9:31 pm

  William,
  Jeff Reed was an awesome kicker and was All-ACC and is currently the kicker with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s gets lost in our memory banks because he played during the infamous Carl Torbush era and made All-Conference the year Carolina went 2-10 and lost to Furman at home…

• Tar Heel Fan

  October 1, 2009 at 10:13 pm

  That is the rub. In my opinion you need a guy who is nearly automatic inside 40 yards and at least a reliable option in the 40-45 yard range. The “red zone” is 20 yards to the goal line and if you are there you should come away with points. If the ball is on the 20 that is a 37 yard field goal. If Barth cannot be relied upon for even 30-40 yard FGs when UNC would need to get to the 13 or better before putting Barth out there. That simply is not going to work. Barth needs to get better and since there is no one else, he sort of has to.

• chuckheel85

  October 2, 2009 at 12:24 am

  THF,
  Has anything been said in regards to our other “kicking” problem, i.e, punting???
  In that vain, has any reason been given as to why Jeff Feagles’ son hasn’t been given a chance to punt??? It seems to me, he can’t do any worse than the guy they have punting right now…
  Also, do you think Barth was given the job over the kid from last year simply because his brother Connor played here???

• william

  October 2, 2009 at 11:06 pm

  I did forget about Reed, but as you point out, I guess what I really meant was “has Carolina ever had a decent kicker when Carolina was also decent?”

  Pittsburgh has a way of snatching our guys up. We had a punter who played for the Redskins for a while.

  Nevertheless, if Wake can find good kickers, you really have to wonder why Carolina cannot. That missed field goal was huge last week because the game was not necessarily going to end up the way it did.

  I don’t mean to come down too hard on the kid because he may be in over his head or whatever, but seriously, with the fields and hash marks they play on today, not to mention the tees, kids should be making no less than three quarters of their kicks form 40 yards and in, and an excellent kicker should be making at least half of his kicks from 45-52 yards.

  Didn’t Duke have a guy a few years ago who couldn’t make anything outside of 30 yards? I seem to recall them blowing some games as horrible as they were because they essentially couldn’t make any field goals.

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