It's been a rough start to the season for Auburn kicker Anders Carlson.
Carlson, who is now second in Auburn career scoring with 377 points (the career leader is his brother Daniel Carlson with 480 points), is currently 5-of-7 on field goal attempts this season. He missed both attempts from 40-plus.
Not the worst showing statistically, but buried within that stat is the missed field goal he had against Missouri in overtime which was tried again because of a penalty.
After recovering from an ACL tear late last season, he hasn't been the same.
It's made Auburn fans curious as to whether or not Bryan Harsin will be willing to let freshman Alex McPherson try kicking for the Tigers. After all, he was the No. 1 kicker in the country coming out of high school this past cycle.
“We have faith in Anders (Carlson). He's been very good at practice," Harsin said in a press conference on Monday. "Anders is a very consistent guy, and we still believe in him. Yes, Alex is available, and Alex can go out there and have opportunities as well, but we still believe in Anders and know that he's a guy that has played at a high level."
McPherson does not lack talent, nor does he lack leg strength. He currently holds the high school state record for longest field goal - a 61-yard bomb against North Jackson last season. Is McPherson ready? Of course - and Harsin believe that because of the issues in the kicking game, the Tigers will have to "prepare differently" this week.
"We've missed a couple kicks, that's very apparent, and we need to make those," Harsin said. "That's not anything that we don't talk about in this room. So this week we're going to have to prepare a little bit differently, even in the kicking game. Obviously on the road, it's going to be different environments, so there are different things we have to do to get our guys prepared."
Whether or not "prepare differently" means letting Alex kick is unknown.
"The one thing about Anders is I know that he will make whatever adjustments he needs to make to go out there and be successful for us in those moments, and he's done that," Harsin said. "So Alex is ready, but Anders still has our full support and this week is going to be a great week to get back on track and be consistent in the Georgia game.”
Auburn travels to face No. 1 Georgia this weekend. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. central on CBS.
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