Carter Barfield - Football Coach

Carter Barfield

Title:
Special Teams Coordinator

Carter Barfield enters his second season as the Special Teams coordinator at Tulsa. He was hired in January 2025 by Head Coach Tre Lamb.
Barfield coached Angus Davies to the 2025 Ray Guy Award Watch List. Davies averaged 43.5 yards per punt, the third best average in the American Conference.
In week one, Davies achieved a season-long 80-yard punt against Abilene Christian, marking the fourth longest in Tulsa history and the second longest in American Conference history. This was also the longest punt of the FBS season.
Under the guidance of Barfield, kicker Seth Morgan was named Lou Groza Star of the Week on Sept. 23, 2025. Morgan hit a season-high four field goals and hit an extra point, scoring 13 points on the week. He was named the American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 22, 2025.
Morgan made 17 field goals during his final season of collegiate football, which was tied for the seventh most by a TU kicker in a single season.
Prior to coming to Tulsa, Barfield spent four seasons at Florida State University as a special teams analyst.
Barfield assisted special teams coordinator John Papuchis in multiple facets during his tenure with the Seminoles. He was an essential figure in the development of former punter Alex Mastromanno and former kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, who were both named AP All-Americans in 2024.
Mastromanno led the country and set an ACC record with 49.3 yards per punt. He also led the FBS with 30 punts of at least 50 yards, becoming a Ray Guy Award finalist for the second straight year.
Fitzgerald went 13/13 on field goals, including 5/5 from 50+ yards. His 59-yard field goal in the season opener against Georgia Tech is the second longest in program history. Fitzgerald was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award.
Before Florida State, Barfield served as a special teams analyst at Georgia Southern for one season in 2020. He was the interim tight ends coach for the Eagles before leaving for FSU.
Barfield spent seven seasons on staff at Mercer University. He served as the running backs coach and spent the last two seasons as co-recruiting coordinator.
As the running backs coach, Barfield led a stable of running backs that included senior standout Tee Mitchell, who broke Mercer's all-time rushing record with 2,660 career yards and gained 100-plus yards in four games before a season-ending injury.
He developed Tyray Devezin into one of SoCon's best backs, earning HERO Sports FCS sophomore All-American honors. Devezin finished the season with 926 rushing yards and averaged 24 carries and 117.0 yards over the last four weeks after Mitchell went down with an injury.
As the co-recruiting coordinator, Barfield played a key role in landing a 22-man 2019 recruiting class that ranked among the nation's best at the FCS level.
Barfield was at the University of Kentucky before Mercer. He served as an offensive quality control coach and graduate assistant for two seasons. He worked heavily with the quarterbacks and running backs.
Before his time at Kentucky, Barfield spent three years at the University of Tennessee-Martin, working in several different capacities with the team. He started his coaching tenure at UT-Martin as a defensive graduate assistant before moving to the other side of the ball as an offensive graduate assistant coach, where he coached wide receivers for one year. Barfield spent his last year at UT-Martin as the quarterbacks coach, helping create and develop the team's passing game while also assisting in recruiting.
Barfield played collegiate football for five years as a wide receiver under head coach Bobby Lamb at Furman University. During his playing years, the team drew top-12 national rankings in four of the five years, including a Southern Conference Championship in 2004.
A graduate of Furman, he received a bachelor's degree in history in December 2006.
He is married to the former Jenny Watson. The couple has two daughters, Hannah and Sarah James, and one son, Noah.