The Bears on Friday signed kicker Elliott Fry to a three-year contract.
Fry, 24, played four seasons at South Carolina from 2013-16 and spent this spring with the Orlando Apollos in the Alliance of American Football, which suspended operations April 2 with two weeks left in its regular season.
Fry converted all 14 field goals he attempted with the Apollos, with a long of 44 yards.
Fry had a stellar career at South Carolina, arriving as a walk-on and leaving as the school's all-time leading scorer with 359 points. He connected on 66-of-88 field-goal attempts (75 percent) and 161-of-162 extra-point tries (99.4 percent).
The Frisco, Texas, native earned SEC All-Freshman honors in 2013 when he made 15-of-18 field-goal attempts. He converted 18-of-25 tries in 2014, 20-of-28 in 2015 and 13-of-17 in 2016, including a 55-yarder with :35 remaining that gave South Carolina a 13-10 win over Vanderbilt.
Fry is the third kicker the Bears have signed this offseason, joining Redford Jones and Chris Blewitt. In three seasons at the University of Tulsa from 2015-17, Jones converted 74.6 percent of his field-goal attempts (50-of-67) with a long of 51 yards and 98.3 percent of his extra-point tries (169-of-172).
Blewitt kicked for four seasons at the University of Pittsburgh from 2013-16, converting 69.6 of his field-goal attempts (55 of 79), including 4 of 8 from 50 yards and beyond, with a long of 56 yards. His biggest kick at Pittsburgh was a 43-yarder with :06 remaining that lifted the Panthers to a 43-42 win over Clemson in 2016. It was Clemson's only loss of the season en route to winning the national championship.
