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2002: Played in all 12 games and was Carolinas starting punter in 11 contests Punted 61 times for 2,235 yards, an average of 36.6 yards per game Placed 13 kicks inside the 20-yard line Had four punts over 50 yards, including a season-long 58-yarder vs. Georgia Tech Also had a 50-yard punt at Virginia, a 50-yard punt at Wake Forest and a 51-yard boot vs. Maryland Punted a season-high eight times for a 34.2 yard average at Arizona State Had five punts for a season-best 40.8-yard average at Wake Forest.
2001 Sophomore Season
Started every game at punter Punted 67 times for 2,656 yards, an average of 39.6 yards per kick His 67 punts were the most since Brian Schmitz had 74 in 1999 and were the third-most since 1990 Placed 15 kicks inside the 20 yard line Had seven punts over 50 yards, including a career-long 64-yarder against Virginia Punted nine times for a 44.0 yard average at Oklahoma in the first game of the season Had a 52-yard punt vs. the Sooners Punted a season-high 12 times for a 40.7 yard average at Texas, including a 54-yarder Also had a 52-yard punt against NC State, a 55-yard punt against East Carolina and a 59-yard punt against SMU Booted eight kicks for a 38.6 yard average against Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
2000 Freshman Season
Started three games at punter Started the first game of his career in Carolinas season-opening 30-9 victory over Tulsa Punted two times for 68 yards (34.0 average) vs. the Golden Hurricane Did not start again until the NC State game, five weeks later Was sidelined for the last four games of the season with mononucleosis Finished the year with 20 punts for 708 yards, an average of 35.4 per punt Had a long punt of 47 yards vs. NC State Dropped six punts inside the opponents 20-yard line Only nine of his 20 punts were returned and only three were returned outside the 20-yard line.
East Burke High School
Earned all-conference honors in five sports at East Burke High School Was all-state as a kicker and played in the Shrine Bowl as a senior Kicked the game-winning field goal to beat Freedom High School Was a three-time all-conference kicker Also was all-conference in soccer, tennis, swimming and track Was a four-time all-region soccer player and was an all-state selection on the states Olympic Development Team Was the conference player of the year in tennis as a junior and senior Competed in the long jump and triple jump and ran on the 4x400 and 4x800 relays in track.
Personal
Born John Connor Lafferty on Sept. 13, 1980 in Valdese, N.C. Favorite athlete is Michael Jordan Favorite part of punting is seeing a return man signal for a fair catch Favorite former Tar Heel player is Brandon Spoon His parents both graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UNC His father, John M. Lafferty, played freshman tennis at UNC and his grandfather, John W. Lafferty, played basketball at Davidson Likes to ski, camp out and play video games Greatest athletic moment was the fake punt in the Peach Bowl Is an Eagle Scout Plays the piano Majoring in psychology.
