UNC football kicker Noah Burnette ‘changes the narrative’ with performance against Duke

It was half past midnight Sunday morning when Drake Maye took to social media for an X-post: “Noah Burnette! Love this team.”

It’s not often a star quarterback posts about the team’s placekicker, but Maye felt compelled to give a shoutout. Had Burnette not kicked six field goals Saturday against Duke, had he missed a 43-yarder as time expired in regulation, North Carolina would not have won.

But Burnette did make it. He made another in the first overtime as UNC took a 47-45 double-overtime victory in the Tar Heels’ last home game of the season at Kenan Stadium.

“He was clutch,” Maye said after the game.

It has been almost a year since Burnette was being called anything but clutch. In the final home game of the 2022 season, against rival N.C. State, it was Burnette who needed to make a 35-yard field goal to send it to a third overtime.

And he missed. Badly.

The Wolfpack won, 30-27.

Social media can be coarse and cruel. Ask Kyle Bambard, the former NC. State kicker who missed what would have been a 33-yard walk-off field goal at Clemson in 2016. Or Owen Daffer, the former East Carolina kicker whose missed extra-point and field goal late in the game were the difference in a 21-20 loss to N.C. State last season.

Burnette’s miss against State made for a year that has tested his fortitude.

“I haven’t been able to get rid of it. It’s stayed on my mind,” Burnette said. “You get reminded about it a lot. A lot more than I would like. … That was rock bottom for me in my career.”

But the Raleigh native, who played high school ball at Leesville Road, didn’t transfer from UNC. He didn’t seek a new start elsewhere (ECU’s Daffer transferred to North Carolina A&T), even as UNC brought in graduate transfer Ryan Coe from Cincinnati.

Coe would take over as UNC’s top placekicker going into the 2023 season, but again Burnette would not slink away, not back away from the challenge.

“The biggest thing for me was just turning to my faith,” Burnette said Tuesday. “I found myself at the bottom. As a kicker that’s one position you never want to find yourself in, and I was there.

“I knew I had to change. I didn’t finish the season the way I wanted to last year, so it was just work. They brought Coe in for competition and it made me a better kicker.”

Coe was injured in the second game of the season, against Appalachian State. Suddenly, it was Burnette’s chance to kick again. To say he has made the most of it is an understatement.

After his six-for-six game Saturday — he was named ACC specialist of the week — the junior has made 18 of his 19 field-goal attempts and all 38 extra point tries this season. That’s called getting it done.

“We bring in another kicker and he’s not fazed,” UNC coach Mack Brown said this week. “He doesn’t start, doesn’t pout, doesn’t say anything about it.

“He has been another great lesson for this team about don’t pout, don’t quit, wait for the opportunity. And then the opportunity comes and he will be remembered now for making one of the biggest kicks in school history.”

Think back to late Saturday night at Kenan. Duke had taken a 36-33 lead with 41 seconds left, but Maye quickly led the Heels down field and into field goal range.

Brown debated whether to say anything to Burnette before the kick to ease the tension. Years ago coaching at Texas, Brown said, the Longhorns were playing Michigan in the 2005 Rose Bowl and trailed by two points in the final seconds.

Brown said he put his arm around kicker Dusty Mangum and quipped, “You’re going to be able to get any date in the state of Texas after you kick this field goal.”

Mangum made the 37-yarder. The ‘Horns won.

This time, Brown left Burnette alone. Which was fine with Burnette.

“You’re in your own sort of world and you want to stay locked in,” Burnette said.

Duke called a timeout before the kick, which was expected. That gave Burnette more time to think. If he makes it, the teams play on in overtime. If not …

Imagine that kind of pressure — everyone in the stadium looking at you, waiting, wondering.

“Kicking is one of the toughest positions, the mental health part of it,” Maye said Tuesday. “They expect you to make it and if you don’t make it everybody hates you. It’s a tough job. There are times when quarterback and kicker are probably the two positions in football with the most pressure, so I understand where he’s coming from.”

It was on the same end of the field — if a longer kick Saturday — where Burnette missed the kick against N.C. State.

“It was time to change the narrative,” Burnette said.

Burnette did not drill the kick straight through the middle of the uprights. There was some suspense. Players and coaches on both sidelines were leaning and straining to see as the ball sailed inside the right upright.

“I definitely mishit it,” Burnette said. “I didn’t hit my pure ball. But that’s what I’ve worked on this year, that if I do have a mishit it still finds its way through the uprights.

“It was a huge relief off my shoulders, knowing I could make those kicks.”

Burnette made another field goal, from 24 yards, in the first overtime. Before long, he left the field in jubilation. Then, later, the star quarterback was posting online about him, using an exclamation mark.

“Man, it’s awesome,” Burnette said, smiling.