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If this article had been written prior to the season, I would have said Jeremy Johnson and Duke Williams were the perfect combination. Maybe Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams.
Things haven't gone quite the way we expected, though, have they? Lawson left the Louisville game in the first half with a hip injury and won't return to the field for some time. Jeremy Johnson has struggled considerably and yesterday was replaced by Sean White.
Other options? Combinations of the safeties? On the offensive line? Maybe the combination of Gus Malzahn and Will Muschamp?
Well, none of those have proven themselves to be perfect combinations so far this season. So I picked two people who have been just about perfect.
Daniel Carlson and Kevin Phillips. The place kicker and the punter.
Carlson has kicked off 14 times and has 12 touchbacks. He also has one kickoff out-of-bounds. He's typically money when it comes to kickoffs. He's also been spectacular at place kicking so far, too. He's a perfect 3-3 on field foals, with a long of 56 yards, and 10-10 on extra points. He's exactly what we've come to expect at Auburn in our kickers.
Replacing Steven Clark is something Auburn struggled to do last season. In fact, Auburn struggled so badly that Carlson was called into duty to handle all kicking. This season, through three games, Kevin Phillips has done a fantastic job with the punting. He's punted 11 times for an average of 46.27 yards/punt. That's almost a full four yards further on average than Clark was in 2013. It's on track to be Auburn's highest average since before 2008 (which is the furthest back cfbstats.com goes). He's also been pretty good at putting opponents inside the 20, too.
It's rather depressing that three games into this season they are the two players I can come up with who are the "perfect combination." I really wish I could say more. But, hey, they have done excellent jobs at their positions. The kicking game is something I have ZERO worry about right now, and punting in particular was a concern for me going into the season. Perhaps after this weekend we'll be able to say "Sean White and [INSERT RECEIVER]."
War Eagle.