Position pecking order No. 11: Punters, kickers

This week at AuburnSports.com, we're kicking off another rankings series, this time with the goal of determining the pecking order of 11 Auburn position groups.

We know who Auburn's most talented and most valuable players for this coming season are. But just how much a difference do they make when it comes to their position room as a whole? Are they one of a number of standout performers at their position, or are they the outlier?

Likewise, Tiger fans are well aware of what the most inexperienced or unproven spots on the field are.

Our staff ranked the 11 position groups on the roster based on a number of criteria. The staffer who voted a particular position the highest will have to defend his reasoning.

We begin with the kicking specialists.

VOTES: Jay G. (11), BMatt (11), J-Lee (11), Nate (11)

One of Auburn's longest tenured starters will reprise his role as placekicker next season.

Anders Carlson has been Gus Malzahn's ace field-goal specialist and kickoff man since his redshirt freshman season in 2018. The 6-foot-5 product of Colorado Springs is 66% on all field-goal tries in his Auburn career, with a long of 53. He's been nearly automatic from short range, connecting on 20 of 21 attempts from inside 40 yards through two seasons.

Once backed up, though, Carlson has struggled, as he's just 10-for-19 on kicks from 40 to 49 yards, and 3-for-10 on 50-plus-yard field goals.

Prior to last year's Iron Bowl, Carlson had missed six straight kicks from 40-plus yards. But he closed out the 2019 regular season with the best game of his career, making all four of his kicks from 43, 43, 44 and 52 yards out — including the "Whistle Kick" with 1 second before the half — in the 48-45 win over the Crimson Tide, en route to an SEC Special Teams Player of the Week nod.

Carlson also connected on a 54-yard field goal against Alabama that didn't show up in the final stats. The Crimson Tide jumped offsides on the play and Auburn accepted the penalty.

"[Carlson] had a big-time night," Malzahn said after the Iron Bowl. "We talked all year: 'Man, you're going to win a game for us.' Tonight, he did that."

While Auburn certainly knows what it has in Carlson, the punter position is a big unknown heading into next season, after two-year starter Arryn Siposs left following his junior year for the NFL.

The only player on the current roster with college punting experience is quarterback Bo Nix, who was effective on a few pooch punts last year.

The expected starter is Oscar Chapman, a product of the same Australian football factory that's molded Aussie-rules footballers into 17 All-Americans and five of the past six winners of the Ray Guy Award (best punter in college football).

Chapman will likely compete with walk-ons Patrick Markwalter and Evan McGuire for the starting job.

WHY NO. 11? (Nate): Carlson has been great from close range thus far in his career, and the Alabama game may have been the jolt of motivation he's needed to start connecting more consistently on big kicks.

But until we see that consistency materialize, it's hard to ignore his shaky performances. Carlson began his career 11-for-21 on field goals, and just as it seemed he was gathering more confidence, he reached that 0-for-6 stretch from long range last season.

No one is asking Carlson to be his older brother and SEC all-time leading scorer, Daniel Carlson. But he does need to develop week-over-week stability, regardless of where on the field Malzahn sends him out.

Malzahn admitted during the 2018 season he was putting Carlson into bad situations with how the offense often stalled in opponent territory, but that won't be a reliable excuse now that Carlson is set to be an upperclassman.

I do think Carlson is in line for a big junior season and has the talent to be one of the better kickers in the conference.

The punting situation also aids in tanking the position group down to the last-place slot for me. Auburn didn't have anyone learning from Siposs in a practical sense and attempting in-game punts.

Chapman could come in and instantly be great, as so many other Aussie punters have done across the country. But he won't even be on campus until August, and will likely be one of, if not the most unproven starters on the team.

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