Auburn's Kicker Plan for 2025 After Struggles Last Season

AUBURN, Ala.-- The Auburn Tigers' special teams unit struggled immensely last year– the Tigers, racked with injuries, struggled to find any momentum at all in the kicking game, and finished with an abysmal 54.5 percent field goal rate.

It seemed to fall apart for the Tigers’ special teams unit when starter Alex McPherson was forced to exit the season due to severe gastrointestinal issues, a comeback story that is quite inspiring and makes it all the more impressive that he’ll be active and on the Tigers’ roster this year.

In McPherson’s absence, the Tigers turned to true freshman kicker Towns McGough, who seemed to struggle under the bright lights of college football, an understandable affliction for a true freshman but one that certainly hurt the Tigers’ winning chances.

From there, the Tigers bounced back and forth between McGough and emergency kicker Ian Vachon, who found himself 6-for-8 on the season, which, though better, was still not the consistency the Tigers were looking for.

Hoping to avoid those issues, Auburn special teams coordinator Chad Lunsford has a plan to avoid, and it’s likely not what most fans expected.

“I think we’ve got a really good battle going on between [Alex McPherson], [Towns McGough] and [Connor Gibbs],” Lunsford said. “Hard to say who’s probably in the lead right now, but I would say Alex and Towns have probably put themselves in position. If we need to play three guys, we’ll play three guys. If we need to play two guys, we’ll play two guys.”

The inclusion of McGough on this list may be a surprise to some Auburn fans, but he’s had a lot of time to work on his kicking, and he’s not exactly short of motivation. McPherson, though, is sure to be a comfortable sight for the Tiger faithful, though it’s certainly encouraging to hear that McGough has improved to a level at which he’s able to compete for the starting role.

Auburn seems to have embraced the depth of its roster this year, whether in the quarterback room, where head coach Hugh Freeze stated the Tigers may use two or even three quarterbacks, or on the defense, where the head coach admits he doesn’t see the difference between starters and backups.

It seems like kicking will be no exception, a gamble that the Tigers hope will pay dividends

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