Seymour Eagles’ senior quarterback Kris O’Barr has been named the first recipient of the Seymour Herald offensive player of the year in football.
O’Barr, who is also a talented tennis player, led the Eagles to an 8-4 overall record while compiling 1402 passing yards during the 2002 campaign. O’Barr also made significant contributions as the teams punter and place kicker and was named All-Region for the latter. Though very appreciative of the award, O’Barr isn’t far enough removed from the way the football season ended to deliver any Academy Awards speeches.
“It’s a big honor,” O’Barr humbly said of being named Offensive Player of the Year. “But when I was out there on the field, I didn’t think that I stood out anymore than the rest of the team. Myself, I think Player of the Year should go to my line. I also had a great running back and blocking back in B.J. Everett. Looking back at film, B.J. saved my butt on a lot of plays.
“But we had a lot of team-unity this year. We just didn’t have a lot of size and speed. Being a quarterback and kicker, I probably get more attention than other people who might not get as much recognition.”
It is his skills as a kicker that O’Barr hopes to parlay into a football opportunity after high school. His 48-yard field goal in the season opener against Sevier County was one of the longest in East Tennessee in a year with several talented kickers in the area. His strong leg has a chance to open some doors at the next level.
“I’ve talked to a couple of colleges about kicking,” he said. “I’d like to get a chance to go and kick for Carson Newman. But I’ll just wait and see what happens.
Though O’Barr led the team in total points scored with 65, he alluded to the fact while scoring four touchdowns; he finished 26-28 on extra-points and 5-7 on field goals.
“I guess looking back, I had a good year kicking,” he said. “My mind was really focused on the Sevier County game when I hit the 48-yarder. But I kind of expected better of myself”.
It might be a little too soon for O’Barr to properly reflect on the bittersweet season, he does realize that his senior year of high school will be something that he will be able to look back on fondly in years to come.
“It was loads of fun,” he said. “I guess it was more exciting because I was the starting quarterback and stuff, but I kind of expected more. There were just so many close games that we lost. The only game that I thought we should have lost was against Fulton.”
It was the loss to Fulton during the regular season, and the loss in the playoffs that ended the Eagles’ season, that helped separate O’Barr from the rest of the pack to win Player of the Year honors.
During both of the contests, he was under constant pressure from the fast Falcon defense, but displayed why coach Gary Householder named him the starting quarterback in the spring. He seemed to emerge as a team leader in times of difficulty and kept the rest of his team focused on the task at hand.
O’Barr said that several games stood out as favorites, but it was the Eagles’ playoff upset of defending state champion Austin-East that was the most gratifying for him.
“I loved beating Austin-East,” he said. “Because they were the state champions and they were talking a lot. I also liked playing Gatlinburg-Pittman even though we lost. It was a real exciting game to play in because it kept going back-and-forth. The Sevier County game was also exciting and beating Carter was a lot of fun because they talked a lot too.”

… read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.