Cal Football

Bear Insider Video: Cal RS Frosh Safety Hunter Barth

By Ingrid Houtkooper

August 7, 2022

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Redshirt freshman Hunter Barth, a 6’2’’ 210-pound safety from Chandler, AZ, has proven to be a force in the safety room. Barth enrolled early as a freshman and redshirted his first year, something that he said really helped him to get acclimated and learn what was going on in the defense and with the special teams.

Early on in his first spring ball, Barth played well and garnered great reviews.

“I just kept my mind on steadily improving, really paying attention to what I did and looking forward to what I could accomplish,” Barth said.

Coming out of high school with a career total of 160 tackles, four interceptions that he returned for 40 yards, and 18 passes defended, Barth continued to prove himself and use those skills at the college level. He is known to be one of the big hitters in the defensive backfield. However, Barth says he can get a little too carried away on occasion.

“Yeah that's something I take pride in but sometimes I get too ahead of myself and it can lead to missing tackles, so I've been really homing in on just wrapping up and finishing tackles,” Barth said.

As for the talent in the safety room, Barth is excited to be playing and working with everyone and credits several of his teammates with helping him build his skills.

“Daniel Scott has been really big for me, helping me out along the way. He's been around a lot of guys in the NFL such as Elijah Hicks and Ashton Davis, so he's been passing down the wisdom to me,” Barth said. “Guys like Craig Woodson, Miles Williams, and Ray Woodie have really been helping me a lot. And also competing with them has really brought up my game so hats off to those guys for kind of guiding me and giving me a path. It's been really helpful.”

Looking forward to the season, Barth seems excited about what the team will be able to achieve.

“I think we have a lot of good athletes. Our defense looks great, and we have a lot of young guys up front. We've got Brett Johnson coming back this year so we're really looking forward to that,” Barth said. “I think we'll have a good season.”