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Auburn Place Kicker Daniel Carlson a Lou Groza Award Finalist

#Legatron is one of three finalists for the nation's top kicker.

By Walt Austin
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn place kicker Daniel Carlson is one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the best kicker in college football. He was named a semi-finalists a few weeks back, which led WarRoom Eagle to compile a method for comparing kickers.

He hasn't been asked to do much in the last few weeks, but his whole body of work speaks for itself. He's hit four field goals from 50+. Two of his three misses were in bad weather (and one of the short kicks was a bad/muffed snap). He owns the Auburn record for consecutive field goals made at 14 (a record that is still building). On top of that, 73% of his kickoffs result in touchbacks.

Auburn has had numerous players up for end-of-season awards in the last few years, and had quite a few win them. The Tigers have never had a Lou Groza Award winner, though. That's strange in a way, given the great kickers Auburn has had in its history.* I know I for one would love to see #Legatron** get a banner of his own on the side of Jordan-Hare Stadium. He's only a sophomore, too. Auburn has him for two more years if he doesn't pull a Sebatstian Janikowski and go pro early.

The other two finalists for the award are Memphis' Jake Elliot and UCLA's Ka'imi Fairbairn. You can see their stats in the WarRoom Eagle link above, but here they are in images from a tweet of his earlier this evening, too.

*It sure is nice that Auburn places a big emphasis on kickers, isn't it?

**I know I didn't coin the name #Legatron. I now know it is even a nickname that a kicker in the NFL has used. However, I will take credit for pushing it the most for Carlson. I love that the official site has run with it and even put it on the infographic. He deserves an awesome nickname for how clutch he's been in his brief Auburn career so far.

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