'A big deal' for Daniel Carlson, SEC's all-time scoring leader: Auburn notebook

'A big deal' for Daniel Carlson, SEC's all-time scoring leader: Auburn notebook'A big deal' for Daniel Carlson, SEC's all-time scoring leader: Auburn notebook

Oct. 8, 2017

By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com

Of all the great players and great kickers in Southeastern Conference history, Auburn's Daniel Carlson stands alone.

Carlson scored 14 points Saturday in Auburn's 44-23 win over Ole Miss on three field goals and five PATs, giving him 413 career points, No. 1 all-time in the SEC.

"It's a big deal," Carlson said. "It's been a long time coming. A lot of kicks. It's something I personally have wanted to do, coming back this senior year. That was one of the things I really wanted to do.

"Working with Tyler Stovall and Ike Powell the last four years has been a huge help to me. Coach Malzahn, the offense, the defense, everybody put me in place to be able to do that."

Carlson claimed SEC supremacy by passing a trio of Georgia kickers, Blair Walsh (412), Billy Bennett (409) and Marshall Morgan (407).

"Something I'll be bragging about until the day I die. I'm really excited about that," he said.

"Hats off to Daniel," quarterback Jarrett Stidham said. "He's a phenomenal person. He's obviously a phenomenal kicker. I couldn't be happier for him."

The Breakfast Club

Auburn held the Rebels without a touchdown in the first quarter, something the Tigers' defense has accomplished 10 times in 11 games. For the first time this season, Auburn's defense allowed more than 14 points in a game.

"You could see on the sideline, we were kind of disappointed," linebacker Deshaun Davis said. "That was a little swagger that we had about ourselves. The only team in the nation that had held guys under 14 points. I know we had some twos in, but it's no excuse. When you're on the field on the defensive side of the ball, you have to play Auburn defense."

Lineman Derrick Brown tied his career highs with six tackles and two tackles for loss.

"I think we're doing very good," Brown said. "We're playing very good assignment ball right now. Every week we just aim to get better and better."

The Tigers responded well to the challenge of playing at 11 a.m., Brown said.

"We had to get up early this morning," he said. "It was just a different excitement. We got up early this morning, everybody had juice about them. You could tell during breakfast that we were ready to go."

Steady Stidham

While Kerryon Johnson's 204-yard, three touchdown performance attracted attention, Stidham continued to excel, throwing for 235 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"Each week I sit down and watch the film from the game and really see what I can improve on as a passer and a quarterback," said Stidham.

In Auburn's past four games, Stidham has completed 79.1 percent of his passes for 1,081 yards and five touchdowns.

"Any tweak I feel like I'm getting to where I want to be, I still want to keep growing as a quarterback," he said. "I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable within the pocket, trusting my eyes, trusting my feet. It's slowly starting to come to me, but I'm not going to be complacent with anything. I'm always just trying to get better"

Stidham and several teammates celebrated by going into the stands to sing Auburn's alma mater with students.

"I almost fell in the bushes," he said. "That would have ended the day terribly. It's a lot of fun any time you can give back to the students. Sing with them. It's just a good time. They love it and I love it."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer