Brooks kicker heading to Kansas college

QUITMAN -- Kevin Carroll's already had his 15 minutes of fame on the high school level. Now he'll get a shot at a repeat performance on the next level.

Carroll decided this week to attend Tabor (Kan.) College, an NAIA school. After three years -- and one big play -- as Brooks County's kicker, Carroll will give it a shot at kicking for the Bluejays beginning next fall.

"The college is great, and the people are awesome out there," Carroll said. "It's in a small town like Quitman, but it has everything Valdosta has."

Carroll may be best known for a game-ending 26-yard field goal last September which gave Brooks County a 10-10 tie with Madison (Fla.) County High. It was the start of Brooks County's season which ended in the Class AA playoffs.

The tie was Madison's lone blemish until the Class 2A state title game three months later.

"That was huge. That kick defined his career," said Brooks County head coach Ryan Branch. "The thing about it was he had to kick it twice with the penalties. He grooved the first kick (28 yards), and the second was even more solid.

"Definitely one of our biggest concerns is replacing him."

Carroll came to the Trojans' program as a linebacker, but found kicking would help the team most.

"He wanted to do something he could call his own," Branch said.

"I said we needed a kicker, and he ran with it.

"He got better every year. He was pretty solid on his extra points and we didn't have to worry about that. And he had decent range, so we knew we had at least three points."

"I had a natural talent," added Carroll. "It's an easy job to do and I did it well."