Lights-out punter Barney Amor took a roundabout route to Penn State

Barney Amor has been a consistent tour de force for Penn State’s special teams unit. If one of his punts doesn’t pin an opposing team deep in tough field position, it raises eyebrows.

“They put me out there, and my job is to put it inside the 10 on the divide to the sideline,” Amor said. “I’m dreading to think about what happens if I put one in the end zone. I’m like, ‘Oh gosh, everyone is really expecting this to kick back.’”

For a Nittany Lions team ranked No. 11 in the latest Associated Press poll, with a staunch defense and a collection of offensive weapons, the 23-year-old punter stands out from the pack with a story that, to him, doesn’t even feel real.

The Central Bucks East graduate was born in Netherlands and committed to Colgate in May 2017. While he was playing college football in Hamilton, N.Y., his family moved to Switzerland, in a town outside of Geneva.

Amor was the second-best punter in the Patriot League by 2019, averaging 42.1 yards per punt and living part time across the Atlantic Ocean. However, he never established permanent residency, barring him from traveling to see his parents, Marie and Andy, when the pandemic complicated travel restrictions.

He ended up moving in with his girlfriend’s family in Virginia.

“I hadn’t met like any of her family and we went to her house,” Amor said. “We thought, two weeks? That’ll be fun. No one thought COVID was going to last that long. Twelve-and-a-half months later, I’m still living at my girlfriend’s house. Her family are complete saints. I love them all.”

He spent that time training with Ricky Brumfield, a close friend’s father, who was the special teams coordinator at Virginia and now works in the same position at Florida International.

While living in Virginia with one year of eligibility left, Amor put his name in the transfer portal. His first move? Follow every FBS coach in the country on social media and start firing off direct messages.

One of the coaches he contacted was Penn State’s special teams analyst Eric Raisbeck, who coincidentally spent a year coaching in Switzerland.

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“He was like, ‘There’s no way you’re from Switzerland.’” Amor said. “It just kind of kicked things off. He told me, ‘We don’t know what’s happening with our season, I’ll call you in a month.’”

A month later, almost to the day, Raisbeck called and asked if Amor wanted to transfer to Penn State.

Amor arrived on campus in the spring of 2021 and burned his redshirt last season as a walk-on behind Jordan Stout, statistically one of the best legs to come through Happy Valley. The Baltimore Ravens drafted Stout with the 130th overall pick this past summer.

“I don’t know who decided he wasn’t, but Stout was the best punter in the country,” Amor said. “Was I planning on coming here and being behind the best punter in the country? No, but I learned so much from being behind him.”

At the outset of this season, while Eli Manning was on campus filming his Chad Powers segment for Eli’s Places on ESPN+, the retired Giants quarterback presented Amor with a full scholarship during practice.

Now, Amor is playing like one of the best punters in the country four games into the season. He ranks second among FBS punters with nine punts nailed inside the 10 and is tied for sixth with 10 punts inside the 20.

He’s also chasing his second master’s degree. His first was in management and organizational leadership. This one is in supply chain management. When asked what he’d like to do with his lengthy education, he responded bluntly, “hopefully get a job.”

Punting seems like his calling for right now.

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In Week 2 against Ohio, Amor skied a kick that tapped the grass inside the 1-yard line and bounced back, touching down inside the 2. He had three punts inside the 10 against Central Michigan — at the 3, 6, and 10. Another one was muffed, recovered by Curtis Jacobs at the 7.

Amor isn’t ignorant as to his impact. Punting is Penn State’s “first round of defense.”

Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz pointed out to him, if you look at a chart of an opposing team’s scoring percentages after starting a drive inside its own 10-yard line, it has a 91% chance of not scoring. Put the ball out of the end zone for a touchback and it drops to about 73%, according to Amor.

Penn State has a running ritual before games in which players and coaches share personal stories at the hotel before game days. Amor’s winding journey was the topic of his “share” before facing Central Michigan.

“Seems like a made-up story when you think about it,” Amor said.