sticking with Carlson

[aubiefifty 16,702]

Auburn sticking with kicker Anders Carlson despite field goal struggles

Updated 8:31 AM; Posted 8:30 AM

Anders Carlson has connected on just 11-of-21 field goal attempts this season. (Madison Ogletree/AL.com)

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By Tom Green

tgreen@al.com

Auburn does not plan to reassess its starting kicker job during the bye week despite Anders Carlson's struggles through eight games.

Following Auburn's 31-16 win against Ole Miss on Saturday, head coach Gus Malzahn was asked if there would be any plan to reopen the starting kicker competition amid Carlson's struggles this year. Malzahn said he intends to stick with his redshirt freshman kicker after the bye week when Auburn hosts Texas A&M on Nov. 3.

"Being a kicker is a lot about confidence, and he's a very talented kicker and it will be good to have a week to really refocus," Malzahn said. "There's no doubt in my mind that he won't finish the season strong."

After taking over the starting kicker job as the successor to his brother, Daniel Carlson, Anders Carlson's debut season has not gone as planned. He has made just 11-of-21 field goals through eight games, leaving him with a 52.4 percent accuracy, which is 98th among qualifying FBS kickers this season.

Seven of Carlson's misses have come from at least 50 yards out, as the 6-foot-5, 210-pounder has connected on 1-of-8 attempts from 50 yards and beyond. That lone make was a 53-yarder against Washington in the season opener.

Carlson has made two of his last five field goal attempts the last two games, including 1-of-3 during Auburn's win at Ole Miss. He made a 28-yarder against the Rebels but missed two reasonable attempts from 47 and 45 yards out.

Those were Carlson's first two misses on kicks between 40 and 49 yards. He's 2-of-4 on such tries this season, while he's 8-of-9 on field goal tries of fewer than 40 yards.

Malzahn has said multiple times this season that the Tigers need to boost Carlson's confidence by getting him some closer opportunities in games and limiting his attempts from 50-plus yards out. Despite that, Auburn has continued to trot Carlson out for longer tries in recent weeks.

"I really think putting him in a situation that we ask him to do so many long field goals didn't help," Malzahn said Saturday.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[Linayus 676]

53 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Carlson has made two of his last five field goal attempts the last two games, including 1-of-3 during Auburn's win at Ole Miss. He made a 28-yarder against the Rebels but missed two reasonable attempts from 47 and 45 yards out.

Those were Carlson's first two misses on kicks between 40 and 49 yards. He's 2-of-4 on such tries this season, while he's 8-of-9 on field goal tries of fewer than 40 yards.

I mean.. he wrote an entire article about Auburn sticking with Anders despite his "struggles (beyond 50)" and then sums it up with like two sentences. Slow news day, I guess.

It's funny how at Auburn, kicks of 45+ are still "reasonable" kicks. Is there any other team in the country where that can be consistently said?

[Guest lurtz]

54 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

 

"I really think putting him in a situation that we ask him to do so many long field goals didn't help," Malzahn said Saturday.

 

Gus keeps learning to coach football. I think Coach Ray said something to the effect that "experience is a hard teacher". Maybe by 2038 Gus will be Urban Meyer.

I know, I'm piling on. I actually feel awful for Gus and even worse for his family. But AU football shouldn't be his training wheels anymore.

[DAG 33,955]

Do we have a choice? I don't know too many teams that have multiple kickers who can bomb 45 -50 plus FG kicks 

[DAG 33,955]

4 minutes ago, lurtz said:

Gus keeps learning to coach football. I think Coach Ray said something to the effect that "experience is a hard teacher". Maybe by 2038 Gus will be Urban Meyer.

I know, I'm piling on. I actually feel awful for Gus and even worse for his family. But AU football shouldn't be his training wheels anymore.

You shouldn't. Gus makes millions upon millions of dollars to deal with such critiquing, which only increased when he went for it all in his last contract renegotiation. The family is a different story.

[gr82be 14,401]

First of all I'm glad he's sticking with him considering the 50+ kicks he's had to try. Anders missing on "reasonable" kicks between 40-49 yds is one thing. Gus missing on "reasonable" wins with LSU, MSU and UT is entirely different. We aren't trying out head coaches either at this point either....

[Win4AU 4,052]

For a true freshman I think he’s done decent.  If he starts doinking XP’s and chip shots on a consistent basis then it’s tome to sound the alarm.  Anders is the least of Auburn’s problems for the time being.

[steeleagle 2,945]

I agree. 

I went back and looked at his brothers FG stats, as he started out as a RSFR too.

To compare their first year. Daniel only had to kick 1 over 50 (but made it). Anders has had to kick 8.

Daniel was 4-9 of 40-49, Anders is 2-4 (and both those misses were last week)

So Anders in his first year, has made 8-9 from 1-39 yds, Daniel was 13-14 from 1-39

I simply put this on the coaches, struggling to score points as the season has deteriorated, forcing AC to get us points on simply very low percentage kicks. Once he started missing and they started trotting him back out there...his confidence deteriorated. 

FIELD GOALS     FGM-FGA  Pct 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 Lg Blk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Carlson   18-24  75.0  0-0  10-11  3-3   4-9   1-1  51   1

Anders Carlson	11-21	0.5	1-1	5-5	2-3	2-4	1-8	53	0

[ArgoEagle 1,767]

Have yall noticed that on those long kick attempts, we have a bad habit of putting him on the left hash mark, which makes it a push kick, which is the most difficult for a fg kicker to make? Can somebody give a graph of his misses from the left hash, from the middle of the field and from the right hash? Just curious about this.

[Linayus 676]

I'd also say that only one of his "reasonable" misses was just a plain bad kick and that was on Saturday too. It was almost like he didn't follow through with his leg at all so it ended up being more of a line drive, or maybe he caught more of the middle of the ball instead of the bottom. I'm not sure, but I'm definitely not going to bench the guy. I just don't want to continually trot him out beyond 50 anymore unless it's an attempt for a last second win.

[Gowebb11 9,308]

We are now playing for the spoiler role and a mid tier bowl. And about to face 3 ranked teams. Time for Gus to start playing for 4 downs in long field goal territory and give Anders a break. 

[aubiefifty 16,702]

1 hour ago, lurtz said:

Gus keeps learning to coach football. I think Coach Ray said something to the effect that "experience is a hard teacher". Maybe by 2038 Gus will be Urban Meyer.

I know, I'm piling on. I actually feel awful for Gus and even worse for his family. But AU football shouldn't be his training wheels anymore.

urbie just got beat by a half ass team with little talent because he has no running game. how does that happen at osu and under him?

[aubiefifty 16,702]

31 minutes ago, ArgoEagle said:

Have yall noticed that on those long kick attempts, we have a bad habit of putting him on the left hash mark, which makes it a push kick, which is the most difficult for a fg kicker to make? Can somebody give a graph of his misses from the left hash, from the middle of the field and from the right hash? Just curious about this.

that would explain a lot............

[Guest lurtz]

14 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

urbie just got beat by a half ass team with little talent because he has no running game. how does that happen at osu and under him?

exactly why I referenced him in my post.

although I do think the boilermakers are better than 1/2 ass.

[Swamp Eagle 5,128]

5 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Auburn sticking with kicker Anders Carlson despite field goal struggles

Updated 8:31 AM; Posted 8:30 AM

Anders Carlson has connected on just 11-of-21 field goal attempts this season. (Madison Ogletree/AL.com)

0 shares

By Tom Green

tgreen@al.com

Auburn does not plan to reassess its starting kicker job during the bye week despite Anders Carlson's struggles through eight games.

Following Auburn's 31-16 win against Ole Miss on Saturday, head coach Gus Malzahn was asked if there would be any plan to reopen the starting kicker competition amid Carlson's struggles this year. Malzahn said he intends to stick with his redshirt freshman kicker after the bye week when Auburn hosts Texas A&M on Nov. 3.

"Being a kicker is a lot about confidence, and he's a very talented kicker and it will be good to have a week to really refocus," Malzahn said. "There's no doubt in my mind that he won't finish the season strong."

After taking over the starting kicker job as the successor to his brother, Daniel Carlson, Anders Carlson's debut season has not gone as planned. He has made just 11-of-21 field goals through eight games, leaving him with a 52.4 percent accuracy, which is 98th among qualifying FBS kickers this season.

Seven of Carlson's misses have come from at least 50 yards out, as the 6-foot-5, 210-pounder has connected on 1-of-8 attempts from 50 yards and beyond. That lone make was a 53-yarder against Washington in the season opener.

Carlson has made two of his last five field goal attempts the last two games, including 1-of-3 during Auburn's win at Ole Miss. He made a 28-yarder against the Rebels but missed two reasonable attempts from 47 and 45 yards out.

Those were Carlson's first two misses on kicks between 40 and 49 yards. He's 2-of-4 on such tries this season, while he's 8-of-9 on field goal tries of fewer than 40 yards.

Malzahn has said multiple times this season that the Tigers need to boost Carlson's confidence by getting him some closer opportunities in games and limiting his attempts from 50-plus yards out. Despite that, Auburn has continued to trot Carlson out for longer tries in recent weeks.

"I really think putting him in a situation that we ask him to do so many long field goals didn't help," Malzahn said Saturday.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

Tom Green aka...

[Swamp Eagle 5,128]

4 hours ago, DAG said:

You shouldn't. Gus makes millions upon millions of dollars to deal with such critiquing, which only increased when he went for it all in his last contract renegotiation. The family is a different story.

Gus can't be blamed for Leath's stupidity. Gus (or rather Sexton and Gus), were the smartest people in the room that day.

[AUloggerhead 2,225]

I think the most pathetic thing about this is that despite Anders' troubles with accuracy (not blaming him -- that's just a kicker's life,) his 33 points this season represent 1/7 of AU's team output of 227 points scored to date. 

[aujeff11 6,243]

I think Anders is a good kid and can be a good FG kicker but he just isn’t ready to be a weapon that Gus can use from 50+ yet  Gus acknowledges that he needs to put AC in better situations, but I think we just need to let him kick through the struggles. Like other have said, we don’t have much to gain from this season anyway. As a baseball player in HS, I was always taught the game was 90% mental and 10 percent physical, so I can kinda (but not really) relate to the mental block of a kicker. He’s just got to keep getting his hacks in.

He made a 62 yarder in the spring, and a 53 yard FG at A Day, so we know he has the tools to be a weapon. He’s just not a weapon yet. 

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Ok I’m going to give you some inside from a friends brother whose sister has an aunt whose son goes to class with a kid that sneaks in to watch practice. Brown is not only blocking field goals in games he is blocking them at practice too. He is getting in Anders head. The kid has nightmares about Brown. 🤥 oops. 

[weagl1 1,781]

Gus just needs to quit trying to make him kick at 50.  He has been accurate at the shorter distances.  

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

10 hours ago, steeleagle said:

I agree. 

I went back and looked at his brothers FG stats, as he started out as a RSFR too.

To compare their first year. Daniel only had to kick 1 over 50 (but made it). Anders has had to kick 8.

Daniel was 4-9 of 40-49, Anders is 2-4 (and both those misses were last week)

So Anders in his first year, has made 8-9 from 1-39 yds, Daniel was 13-14 from 1-39

I simply put this on the coaches, struggling to score points as the season has deteriorated, forcing AC to get us points on simply very low percentage kicks. Once he started missing and they started trotting him back out there...his confidence deteriorated. 

FIELD GOALS     FGM-FGA  Pct 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 Lg Blk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Carlson   18-24  75.0  0-0  10-11  3-3   4-9   1-1  51   1

Anders Carlson	11-21	0.5	1-1	5-5	2-3	2-4	1-8	53	0

I remember when people said, special teams is great except for DC, he needs to be replaced. I think Anders will get it right just like Daniel did

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

1 hour ago, weagl1 said:

Gus just needs to quit trying to make him kick at 50.  He has been accurate at the shorter distances.  

I believe he was 9-10 under 50 until the miss on Saturday 

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 hours ago, Maverick.AU said:

I believe he was 9-10 under 50 until the miss on Saturday 

Correct. That's damned good.