Walk-on Hero: The Rollercoaster Journey of Game Winner Alex Barbir

After the fans had all filed out of Lane Stadium, everything went quiet. The crowds cleared and the chaos subsided on Worsham Field after Liberty’s game-winning field goal to defeat in-state rival and ACC stalwart Virginia Tech.

But Flames kicker Alex Barbir remained, sitting alone at midfield, absorbing the moment and remembering his journey leading up to the 51-yarder that propelled LU to victory.

“I’ve been really trying to live a God-first life and having him as my priority and my No. 1 and understanding that whether this field goal goes in or not, that doesn’t determine who my God is for me,” Barbir said. “I just wanted time to myself to let it all soak in, thank God for what has happened and reflect on where I’ve come from.”

From entering college as a top-rated recruit and kicking for Penn State, to briefly quitting football before walking on at Liberty, Barbir never envisioned his road to become Saturday’s hero for the Flames.

Coming out of high school in Cumming, Georgia, Barbir ranked as the seventh-best kicker in the class of 2016 by 247Sports. He ultimately chose to attend Penn State University, where he redshirted his freshman season and appeared in three games as a kickoff specialist during his second year in Happy Valley.

While at Penn State, Barbir suffered a hip injury which required surgery, and despite being a front-runner for the starting kicker position in 2018, he opted to transfer before his redshirt sophomore year.

“Part of the reason I left Penn State was just because of the environment,” Barbir said. “Now, I’m not going to sit here and speak bad on Penn State or anything like that, but as a Christian and (considering) what I valued, being at Penn State was just not good for me.”

In coming to LU, Barbir joined his two older brothers, who both attended Liberty for their undergraduate degrees and his best friend and current Liberty student Seth Sasser. When Barbir arrived in 2018, his middle brother, Joshua Barbir, was still in medical school at Liberty and lived in Lynchburg with his wife.

With the move to Liberty, Barbir also hoped to move on from football and turn the page to the next chapter of his life.

“Football was not in my plan for the rest of my life,” Barbir said. “I was done. I wanted to live a normal life, be a student, get a job (and) move on.”

For Barbir, the biggest hurdle holding him back from trying out to kick for the Flames was the presence of four-year starting kicker Alex Probert. 

“(I thought,) ‘Is it really worth possibly playing or just sitting on the bench for a year. To me, it wasn’t,” Barbir said. 

Following the 2019 season, Probert opted to use his last year of eligibility elsewhere, transferring to Iowa State for his redshirt senior season and opening the door for Barbir to step in. Barbir found out Probert was transferring from a friend the night it was announced and the next morning Liberty coaches called Barbir to talk to him about walking on to the team.

“When the opportunity came, I decided that I’d rather say that I at least tried,” Barbir said. “And if I fail, I fail. But at least I put in the effort to try to be the kicker. Versus being 20 years down the road and be like, ‘Man, if I would have kicked, would I have been good? Would I have gone to the NFL?’ When you close the door like that, you have no clue.” 

While preparing for the 2020 season, Barbir suffered a groin injury that set back his training schedule. He only had one month to prepare following the injury and the results showed early in the season for the senior, who hadn’t attempted a field goal in a game since high school.

Barbir started the season one-for-three on field goal attempts and missed a couple of PATs. 

Barbir soaks in the moment after kicking the game-winning field against Virginia Tech (Photo by Jessie Rogers).

Things have turned around recently, however, and before Saturday, Barbir had made six of his previous eight field goals, including his season long against ULM, a 42-yarder.

As the clock wound down during the fourth quarter against the Hokies, Barbir began mentally readying himself for the possibility of a last-second kick.

“I was just preparing myself,” Barbir said. “I wasn’t talking to anyone, I was just doing my steps, going through my motion (and) visualizing the ball go through on my own to get myself prepared for that.”

After the blocked 59-yard attempt that was blown dead, Barbir stepped into the 51-yard game winning attempt with a nervous confidence.

While Barbir had experienced a similar situation in high school, that could not be compared to the magnitude of Saturday’s opportunity.

“I had a similar (kick) in high school – my junior year. (I) hit a 56 (yard field goal) but it can’t be compared with beating an ACC opponent like Virginia Tech to go 7-0,” Barbir said.

The kick was good with plenty of distance, sailing through the goalposts and hitting the netting behind. Barbir ran sobbing across the field, mobbed by his teammates.

Once the celebration settled down and the team walked off victorious, Barbir waited back. 

As he sat alone on top of the Virginia Tech logo, Barbir could not help but think back to the journey that brought him to Liberty, and ultimately gave him the opportunity to be a hero Saturday. 

“It has been mentally very tough in getting back in to being myself and who I am,” Barbir said. “To have this happen, at this time in the season, it is just – to me, it’s completely God. That’s truly what has gotten me through what I have been through in my life and all the detours I have been on, and I’m blown away, to be honest.”

Christian Weaner is the Asst. News Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @christianweaner.

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