Auburn football: 10 players most important to accelerating offense in 2018

Ryan Davis and the Auburn football team had little trouble vs. the Bulldogs last season. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
Ryan Davis and the Auburn football team had little trouble vs. the Bulldogs last season. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
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Auburn football
Yes, that’s Daniel Carlson (38), but no, he is not back at Auburn. He’s the Tigers’ all-time leading scorer and his vacated job falls to his younger brother. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

3. K Anders Carlson

How do you replace an all-everything kicker who did the following over the last four seasons?

  • Made 92 out of 114 field goal attempts (80.7 percent).
  • Made all 198 of his extra-point attempts.
  • Sent 221 of 315 kickoffs for touchbacks (63.4 percent).
  • Three-time Lou Groza Award finalist.

You keep it in the family.

Redshirt freshman Anders Carlson steps in for his brother, Daniel, this season. Daniel Carlson is the SEC’s all-time leading scorer.

If there’s someone up to the task, it’s Anders Carlson. He’s shown the leg strength and accuracy — he was special teams MVP in the spring game when he kicked field goals of 53, 45, 41 and 38 yards — now all he has to do is execute in games.

Auburn fans know all too well how important kicker is under Malzahn. Were the Tigers too reliant on kicking field goals at times during the last four seasons? It’s possible. Were the Tigers very, very good when they opted to kick during the last four seasons? Without a doubt.

Expect Anders Carlson to get opportunities, maybe lots of them. If he can closely resemble his older brother then Auburn will be in good shape for the next four seasons.

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