special teams faces 1 key question this spring

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Auburn Football

Auburn’s special teams faces 1 key question this spring

Updated Mar 12, 8:30 AM; Posted Mar 12, 8:30 AM

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

We’re taking a look at each position group as Auburn prepares to open spring practice on March 15. The final installment of a 10-part series looks at the specialists.

Auburn’s special teams should be in a good position this spring, with only one real role-related question mark needing to be answered.

The Tigers return a steady veteran kicker in Anders Carlson, two capable punters with different styles, their top-two kick returners and a long snapper with ample SEC experience. The only real question for Auburn and new special teams coordinator Bert Watts will come at punt returner, where the Tigers must replace all four players who fielded punts the last two seasons.

Projected depth chart:

Kicker

Anders Carlson, redshirt senior, 20-of-22 on field goals, including two 50-yarders; 24-of-25 on point-after tries; touchbacks on 62 percent of kickoff attempts in 2020.

Ben Patton, redshirt sophomore, served as backup kicker in 2020.

Punter

Oscar Chapman, sophomore, 28 punts for 1,148 yards, averaging 41 yards per punt over nine games.

OR

Aidan Marshall, senior, 16 punts for 676 yards, averaging 42.25 yards per punt in seven games.

Long snapper

Jacob Quattlebaum, junior, appeared in one game last season.

Holder

Ben Patton, redshirt sophomore.

OR

Jackson McFadden, junior.

Kick returner

Tank Bigsby, sophomore, 13 returns for 306 yards, 23.54 yards per return last season.

Shaun Shivers, senior, six returns for 102 yards, 17 yards per return last season.

Punt returner

Ja’Varrius Johnson, redshirt sophomore wide receiver.

Departed: Bill Taylor, two-year starter at long snapper; Eli Stove, punt returner; Christian Tutt, punt returner.

Due to arrive in the fall: N/A.

Outlook: Auburn’s special teams and the Carlson name have been inextricably linked since 2014, when Daniel Carlson made his way to the Plains as the Tigers’ starting kicker. Now, Auburn is entering its eighth season with a Carlson in that role, as Anders Carlson enters his final college season.

The redshirt senior is coming off his best season to date, connecting on 20-of-22 field goals — ranking ninth nationally in field goal accuracy — and hitting 24 of his 25 extra-point tries while also handling kickoff duties. He’ll look to build off that campaign this season and close his Auburn career on a high note, though he’ll be replacing his longtime long snapper, Bill Taylor. Still, Auburn returns Jacob Quattlebaum, who was the Tigers’ primary long snapper on PATs in 2019 and who handled all long-snapping duties for the final five games of that season thanks to a hand injury that sidelined Taylor. The Tigers also return their top-two holders from a year ago, so there shouldn’t be much adjustment there for Carlson from a process standpoint, at least.

As for punter, Auburn welcomes back both Oscar Chapman and Aidan Marshall, both of whom saw their share of opportunities last season and bring differing punting styles to the table. Chapman, a former Aussie rules football player, averaged 41 yards per punt attempt last season, while Marshall averaged 42.25 yards per attempt in his return to the team after nearly two seasons away from the program.

On the return side, Auburn should be set on kickoffs, with each of its top-two returners — who happen to be Nos. 1 and 2 on the running back depth chart — back in the fold. Tank Bigsby emerged as Auburn’s go-to kick returner last season, averaging 23.54 yards per return last season (while also having a touchdown return called back due to a questionable holding call). Shaun Shivers, meanwhile, has 11 kickoff returns over his three seasons at Auburn and has averaged 16.5 yards for his career.

The bigger question for Auburn on special teams comes at punt returner, where the Tigers lost all four players who fielded punts last season: Christian Tutt (three returns totaling 30 yards), Eli Stove (four returns totaling 30 yards), Mark-Antony Richards (one 18-yard return) and Jordyn Peters (one 4-yard return). Tutt declared early for the NFL Draft, while Stove and Peters both graduated, and Richards transferred to UCF.

That leaves Auburn with just no experienced punt returners. The only player on the roster this spring with any sort of punt return at the college level is reserve running back Devan Barrett, whose lone “return” came when he recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown in 2018. Who Auburn decides to trot out at punt returner this spring remains to be seen, and our decision to list Ja’Varrius Johnson there right now is purely speculative. However, Johnson’s skillset has been compared to that of former Auburn receiver Ryan Davis, who spent the 2018 season as the Tigers’ punt returner. The 5-foot-9, 160-pound receiver feels like a natural option at punt returner, but expect Auburn to trot out a handful of different candidates in that role this offseason.

Up next: The start of spring practice next week.

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