Auburn Picks Up New Football Commitment From Punter Ian Shannon

This news broke late during the night, so I saved it for this morning for an article. Auburn has picked up another commitment in football, this from punter/place-kicker Ian Shannon. Shannon is currently unranked by 247sports, but his the #2 punter in the country according to prokicker.com.

His stats are impressive. According to this "bolt" by 247sports, Shannon kicked a 60 yard FG when kicking for Auburn coaches this past summer. The Opelika-Auburn News article on Shannon says that last season Shannon was 16-18 on field goals, "nine of which were between 40-49 yards."

That's speaking of field goals, though. Daniel Carlson is currently a red-shirt freshmen handling the kicking and punting duties for Auburn. It is likely that Shannon would be brought in to compete for the punting job, first. It is still a close overlap in kickers. Auburn has made kicking a priority ever since I've been following football, but it always seems to be an overlap between redshirt and senior season for the kickers (Vaughn to Byrum to Parkey to Carlson). So where does Shannon fit in?

According to that 247sports bolt, Shannon is planning on enrolling in Auburn in January of 2016 even though he could be a part of the 2015 class. This is when things begin to make a bit more sense. If that's the case, he will redshirt in 2016 and begin kicking in 2017 when Carlson is a senior. This creates more of the traditional overlap between kickers. It's obvious the coaches really like Shannon if they're making a move like this and that Shannon really likes Auburn if he is willing to go that route.

Regardless, it appears Auburn is continuing to ensure that kicking is a priority and bringing in great kickers will continue to be an Auburn tradition.