Daily Orange
The Price is Right: After considering several D-I schools, John Barker landed at SU
By Dave Murphy
Published: Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Article Tools: Page 1 of 3
The last time the Xaverian Brothers High School football team traveled to St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass., for a Thanksgiving Day game, the Hawks lost on a Hail Mary. When Xaverian kicker John Barker returned to Cronin Field as a senior two years later, he had a shot at redemption.
Xaverian head coach Charlie Stevenson had full confidence Barker would drill the 37-yard attempt, but he didn't count on St. John's lineman Andrew Long blocking the kick, solidifying Prep's 22-21 victory.
"I don't remember anything about the kick except I hit it pretty good," Barker said. "But (Long) got through and he wasn't touched."
The kick - which took place on Thanksgiving 2003 - was the last kick Barker made in an official game until a little more than two weeks ago, when he drilled a 27-yard field goal against Virginia in the Carrier Dome. Barker sat on the bench during his first two weeks with Syracuse, but is now the full-time field goal kicker for the Orange.
"(Barker) is certainly the best kicker we've ever had at Xaverian," Stevenson said. "Even when he was in high school, I believed he had a major college leg, and I'm glad he found a home."
Finding a school wasn't as easy as Barker imagined. Shortly after graduating from Xaverian, Barker was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back that would take four months to heal. Though Barker was one of the best kickers in Massachusetts, schools were less likely to take a risk on him because of his injury.
"Kickers are hard to place because not every D-I school needs a kicker every year," Stevenson said. "There were only about 50 of 110 schools that needed a kicker last year and there are a lot of high school kickers."
Ohio State was willing to take a look at Barker, though, after a former Ohio State player recommended him to Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel. Barker verbally committed to walk on at Ohio State, but Tressel revoked the offer, leaving Barker without a school to attend or a team to kick for in the upcoming fall season.
"(Ohio State) lied a lot," Barker said. "They said they didn't have any more scholarships to give. Then they turned around and offered someone else a scholarship a week later.
"With all the recruiting and booster stuff going on there, I realized it just wasn't the place for me."
With the help of his father, Barker started the college search all over again. They researched every Division I school in the country and he came close to going to the University of Massachusetts to be a multi-sport athlete, playing baseball and football.
"(My Dad) told me, 'You have the chance to go to UMass and be a good kicker and a decent baseball player,'" Barker said, "'or you can play big-time Division I football, now pick.'"
Barker had a tough decision to make. He was a key member of Xaverian's state-champion baseball team and always dreamed of playing baseball at the collegiate level. His passion for football was stronger, though, and he ultimately chose football.
"I miss baseball badly," Barker said. "If I didn't get some sort of closure, which came with winning the state championship, I'd probably be somewhere playing baseball, too."
Once Barker made the decision to stick with football, he and his father worked to make sure they found the right school.
"You should've seen the stacks of papers we had," Barker said. "We did research on everybody. I could tell you the kicker for every single school in Division I football now."
During his months of rehab and research, Barker worked at his father's insulation company and made trips to the University of Virginia and the University of Connecticut, but the coaches at both schools wanted no part of him. He got a tryout with three other kickers at Boston College, but the Eagles didn't want him either.
Barker finally found a spot when he committed to Syracuse earlier this year.
"My Dad always liked Syracuse and we knew here that Colin (Barber) was leaving," Barker said. "We figured that this would be the best place for me. Plus, the academics are great, too."
In his first weeks with the Orange, Barker got the opportunity to compete for the role of starting field goal kicker. Unfortunately for Barker, SU head coach Greg Robinson passed him over for the starting role in favor of sophomore Ricky Krautman.
"Ultimately, the decision came down to Coach Robinson," Barker said, "and he didn't feel I should be the starter. That's the decision they made, and I had to live with it."
After Krautman had a field goal blocked and freshman Patrick Shadle missed a 39-yard attempt against Buffalo, Robinson decided to go with Barker against Virginia. With 6:25 left in the fourth quarter and the Orange down by three, Barker drilled his first field goal in almost two years, tying the game with Virginia, 24-24.
"Taking your steps back and looking through the uprights and seeing all those people up there makes you nervous," Barker said. "I was confident in my kick, though, because that's all I've been doing in the past year and a half."
Barker doesn't have to worry about recruiting now that he has a permanent home with Syracuse. After spending two years trying to find a team to play for, waiting two weeks to become the team's starting kicker was hardly any time at all.
"After the kick I was like, 'Thank God I got that over with,'" Barker said. "Now I can just cruise the rest of the way."