HOOVER, Ala. — Kickers don’t usually get much spotlight, but it’s no secret why Auburn senior kicker Daniel Carlson came to SEC Media Days. The two-time Lou Groza Award finalist holds 12 Auburn records, having eight field goals of 50 or more yards, the school record for field goals made (69, nice), and an SEC-best 141 extra points made.
Auburn took its kicker (!) to SEC Media Days, and he enjoyed the spotlight
He just got engaged, he’s mentoring his younger brother on the team, and he needs a dragon.
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
But there’s a lot more to Carlson. I spent 20 good minutes with him during his appearance (not only is he a kicker, his team was on the last day and had gone after Hugh Freeze’s attention-grabbing session), and learned a lot.
If Carlson could tame one animal to have as a pet, what would it be?
“I would say — I’m trying to think of a really big bird that could fly,” Carlson said. “Something like a dragon that you could sit on top of.”
Since he brought up dragons, I asked him whether he watches HBO’s Game of Thrones. He said he’s watched a little bit of it, but he’s not as into it as some of his friends. I asked a handful of players this question during SEC Media Days, but didn’t find many who watch.
His little brother, Anders, is a kicker on the team, too.
“It’s really special,” Carlson said of the true freshman. “It’s part of the reason I stayed an extra year in Auburn. I love it here at Auburn, and I think he will love it too. It’s fun to be able to practice with him and have me help him out and hopefully him help me out. It’s something similar to what I did with Cody Parkey in 2013. It’s nice to be able to have another year to practice, workout, and get ready for that next year without being thrown into the fire right away.
“My job’s never solidified until the end of fall camp, so I’m hoping my little brother doesn’t beat me out.”
He wants to kick a whole bunch this season.
“I would love to kick 10,000 extra points this season. It’d be a lot of field goals.”
He was the No. 2 kicker in the class of 2013.
After attending a top kicking camp, his ranking shot up to No. 1 at ESPN.
“That was a big ole surprise. The next week, coaches are calling me on the phone, and I’m getting all sorts of different attention that I never would’ve expected.”
He goes back to camps as an instructor.
He’s the first kicker at SEC Media Days in two years.
South Carolina’s Elliott Fry attended in 2015.
“It’s really special,” Carlson said. “You don’t often have a kicker here. I know there’s been a couple a few years ago here at SEC Media Days. But, its a big honor, Coach Malzahn feeling that I’m one of the leaders on the team.”
He was recruited by LSU, against whom Carlson kicked all 13 of Auburn’s points last season.
“It’s a tough business,” Carlson said of Les Miles getting fired the day after the loss. “And nobody’s happy with losing. Coach Miles is obviously a great coach, and he recruited me out of high school. It’s unfortunate to see him go, but that’s just how competitive the SEC is nowadays.”
Carlson attended an LSU camp and had an offer, but it wasn’t one of his top schools.
He learned how to kick a football just two weeks before his first game in high school.
Before football, he played soccer.
“I started, it was probably one or two weeks before the first game, varsity season of freshman year of high school. I had never kicked a football before that, and a family friend asked me at church one day if I knew how to kick a football.”
His high school team held a tryout, and he made the team. During his first game, he said he made all three of his extra points.
He just got engaged over the weekend!
His fiancée, Katherine Barker, recently graduated from Auburn.
“I knew for about a year that we were going to get married one day, and I finally popped the question. Luckily she said yes. Otherwise, I’d probably have some tough questions this week.”
Carlson said he told her his grandmother was sick, to convince Katherine to come to Birmingham for the weekend, so he could pop the question.
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