If College GameDay is looking for a great segment in the final week of the regular season, the producers should look nowhere else but Auburn and Alex McPherson.
While Tigers fans know the story well, there are likely few outsiders who know what the young man has been through over the past two years. After a 2023 season in which he was perfect in field goal and extra point attempts, something was not right with the kicker during the spring of 2024.
What he thought was a stomach bug was diagnosed as ulcerative colitis in April 2024. He was losing weight at an alarming rate, once down to 110 pounds, 55 pounds lower than what he played under in his previous season. In December, he had surgery to remove his large intestine. A stoma that was connected to an ostomy bag was inserted outside of his body so waste could come out.
In a fighter's decision, he chose to have it placed on his left side so he could continue kicking.
Another illness, Crohn's disease, was diagnosed just a couple of months later. After regaining weight, he lost 30 more pounds. Doctors finally settled on a new treatment plan, and McPherson was on the field kicking in the season-opener against Baylor, making his lone field-goal attempt and all five extra points.
In October, he made all six field-goal attempts as Auburn defeated Arkansas 33-24. On Saturday against Mercer, McPherson nailed field goals from 47 and 49 yards, respectively. It was power he had been missing for the most part since the illness.
"That was awesome," McPherson said. "Tied the season long with a 47, and why not kick a 49? It was kind of fun to get to go out there and do. I'm just glad I was able to knock them down and put some points up."
The performance had interim head coach DJ Durkin praising the kicker.
"It’s just great," Durkin said. "If you saw the kid six months ago to where he is now, it’s just incredible. You talk about tough. We talk about tough all the time, and you see hard hits and guys playing physical, but that’s one of the toughest dudes I know. What he has gone through and what he’s bounced back from. What his day-to-day was less than six months ago, to just see him now. He’s back to full strength. He’s able to have the strength to hit it. He’s about as money as there is."
When asked about his coach calling him the toughest player on the team, McPherson said the illness brought a whole new view to him about football.
"I think for me especially, I think it really just put the game in perspective," he said. "When you can go through something like that, it makes football pretty easy. Coming back from that, I think that's kind of taught me a lot of lessons. And it's like I said, it's really strengthened my mindset whenever I'm out there on the field, and it just helps me knock down the kicks when I'm needed."