A punter was singled out as the brightest spot in camp so far by East Carolina University Head Coach Scottie Montgomery at ECU football’s media day in early August. One could have assumed Montgomery would reserve that distinction for the newly appointed starting quarterback Gardner Minshew, or senior wide receiver Jimmy Williams, but the Pirates’ head coach was in fact talking about Austin Barnes. This should come as good news to ECU fans, as the graduate transfer looks set to improve a special teams unit that struggled at times last year.
Despite being one of the newest members of the team, Barnes is confident he can make a big impact.