The 'Weird Journey' of Penn State Punter Barney Amor
Barney Amor probably shouldn't be punting at Penn State this season. He should be working somewhere, using one of the two degrees he earned at Colgate, or perhaps baling hay on a farm, which he did in high school when he wanted to quit football.
Or maybe he should be doing something entirely different.
"I always joked that he's going to be a cruise ship entertainer," his father Andy said.
Yet here's Amor, a sixth-year Penn State senior who has thrived following Jordan Stout, the 2021 Big Ten punter of the year. Amor leads the nation in punt-rate inside the 10-yard line (52 percent), has had 12 punts downed inside the 10 (tied for the national lead) and ranks ninth nationally in net punting (42.55 yards per attempt).
According to Football Outsiders, Penn State ranks fifth nationally in punt efficiency thanks to Amor. He's a field-flipping wizard who "should be getting more people talking about how well he's playing," Penn State coach James Franklin said.
Franklin's right. So let's tell the Barney Amor story, an international tale of perseverance, resourcefulness, reverse psychology, even bribery. It travels from the Netherlands to Bucks County, Pa., to Switzerland to Virginia to State College. Eli Manning guest stars.
Ultimately, Amor's story resonates as a lesson in persistence — that opportunities rise, roadblocks crumble beneath effort and moms know how to provoke their kids.
"The reason Barney is where he’s at right now is because he hasn’t listened to people telling him he’s not good enough," Andy Amor said of his son. "That’s really the story with him."
Penn State punter Barney Amor leads the nation in punt-rate inside the 10-yard line (52 percent). Amor was named the Big Ten special teams player of the week for his performance against Northwestern.
Courtesy Penn State Athletics
From the Beginning
Barney Amor was born in the Netherlands, one of three kids to Marie and Andy Amor, who are British. As a result, he holds citizenship in the U.K. and the U.S. and can apply for Dutch citizenship as well.
Amor was 4 when his family moved to the U.S., where he initially played soccer (Andy was his coach). They moved often, landing in Doylestown, Pa., during Amor's high-school years. He shifted from soccer to football at Central Bucks East High, though Amor expected a short career.
Amor intended to quit football after his sophomore year. He wasn't playing and wanted to make money. Amor embraced work; he baled hay, fed cows and sheep and spent time as a busboy. However, his parents wanted him to give football another try, so they nudged him from different directions.
Marie Amor went with reverse psychology. "You're probably right," she told him. "Football's not for you."
"That made me mad," Amor said after Penn State's win over Central Michigan.
"I know how his brain works," his mom said.
Meanwhile, Andy Amor had his own plan. He incentivized his son's kicking and punting successes: a few bucks for a kickoff touchback, a few more for field goals over 30 yards, a few more for punts over 45 yards.
Intrigued, Barney began negotiating. "What about $100 for each school record?" he asked.
Sure, his father said, expecting no issue there. Barney set six school records at Central Bucks East, breaking his own field-goal record three times. More than $600 later, Barney told his father, "I can't take your money anymore."
Amor got serious. He trained with Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus (a nearby North Penn High graduate) and began fielding college offers. Penn State showed some initial interest, but Amor signed with Colgate in 2017.
He spent three seasons at Colgate, becoming the starting punter in 2019, when he ranked second in the Patriot League in average (42.1 yards). Following his last game of the 2019 season, on Nov. 16 at Lafayette, Amor looked forward to his senior year at Colgate, after which he would get a job.
A year later, Amor was living in Virginia, working out in a mentor's garage and messaging coaches nationwide in search of a new school. That's when he bonded with a Penn State special teams analyst over, of all things, Switzerland.
From Colgate to Penn State
Before Amor's freshman year at Colgate, his parents moved to a town outside Geneva, Switzerland. Barney loved it there, but an issue arose in March 2020, when Colgate closed because of COVID-19. He couldn't join his family in Switzerland, and Amor really had nowhere else to live. So he moved to the home of his girlfriend's parents in Virginia.
Amor expected to be there a few weeks. It ended up being a year. He's eternally grateful for their hospitality.
Amor's parents bought him some weightlifting equipment and found a Charlottesville garage where he could lift. The garage belonged to Ricky Brumfield, then the special teams coordinator at Virginia.
Amor played football with Brumfield's son Kyan at Colgate, and this relationship was vital to keeping his training consistent and his mind right. "Ricky has been huge for me," Amor said. Brumfield's now the special teams coordinator and assistant head coach at FIU.
After the Patriot League canceled its 2020 football season, Amor entered the NCAA Transfer Portal and started following coaches across the country. He built a resume and began making contacts through social media. A few coaches wrote back. One from Penn State was among the first.
Eric Raisbeck, a special teams analyst for the Lions, checked in with Amor soon after seeing his name in the portal. Raisbeck had coached with the Calanda Broncos, an American football team in Switzerland, in 2013, so Amor leaned on that Swiss bond. About a month after their initial contact, Raisbeck called back and asked, "Do you want to come here?"
In the end, Andy Amor said, USC and Penn State were interested in offering Barney as a walk-on. Penn State had an edge.
"The difference between USC and Penn State was James Franklin," Andy Amor said. "He took the time to call us and talk to us."
Barney Amor arrived at Penn State in 2021 having never been on campus. He was starting over again, this time behind one of the best punters in Penn State history. That made him even hungrier.
Becoming a Nittany Lion
Amor would kick 55-yard punts at practice, thinking they were pretty good. Then Stout would hit a 75-yarder. "This kid's doing it way better," Amor thought.
But he worked, leaned on Stout's guidance and accepted his role with the Lions in 2021.
"Was I planning on coming in and being behind the best punter in the country? No, but I learned so much from being behind him," Amor said. "And it makes it so much more valuable, having success now because I was behind Stout."
Everything about Penn State football was different: facilities, strength staff, resources, all of it. "I came here and there were apples in the fridge," Amor said.
He took advantage of everything, and by the spring of 2022 was contending to start. Franklin and special teams coordinator Stacy Collins kept mentioning his improvement. As training camp concluded, Amor had won not only the starting job but also a scholarship. That's where Eli Manning enters the story.
Manning was at Penn State in August filming the ESPN+ special in which he introduced the world to Chad Powers. Manning also stopped by practice, where he announced Amor's scholarship.
The Amors had been to campus just a week before for their son's birthday. "Wouldn't it be nice if they gave him a scholarship on his birthday?" Andy Amor allowed himself to wonder.
A few weeks later, before Penn State's season-opening game at Purdue, Franklin approached the Amors, gave them a hug and apologized. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you," Franklin said. "It had to be a surprise." That night, Amor punted in a game for the first time in nearly three years.
The Amors since have returned to the U.S., living near Chicago where they're closer to their kids and can attend Penn State games. It's still overwhelming. Or, as Marie Amor put it, "Terrifying."
"I get so anxious for him, because it’s a fairly isolating position," Andy Amor said. "If you have a bad punt, it’s obvious who did it. But we’re incredibly proud of him and what he’s doing and what he’s done."
Barney Amor now considers punting beyond college, though he's pragmatic about it. He is working on his second Master's degree (in supply chain management, his father's field) at Penn State and will have four degrees when he's done. In addition to his undergrad degrees in sociology and educational studies from Colgate, Amor already has finished a Master's in management and organizational leadership from Penn State.
"I knew I needed to do well at this level if I wanted [a professional football career] to be realistic," Amor said. "But regardless of what was going to happen, I wasn’t going to put the rest of my life on hold this season. So I wanted to put myself in the best academic situation I could."
His mother no longer uses reverse psychology. First, she said, Barney has "sussed it out." Second, if a professional opportunity presents itself, "you've got absolutely nothing to lose," she tells him.
Amor understands how far-fetched all this sounds. "It all seems like a made-up story," he said. Which makes it even more satisfying.
"It's been a weird journey," he said. "I think about that all the time. There are so many ways that it could have all been over, so I’m enjoying it."
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