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Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian’s predecessor would never call them by name. He always referred to them as “the kicker” or “the punter.” It was a strange way of devaluing their importance. Even when “the punter” was Michael Dickson, an eventual NFL Draft pick, there was no acknowledgment of his real name. One specialist emerged as “Dicker the Kicker,” sealing the previous staff’s only win against Oklahoma. However, Cameron Dicker, now entering his fourth NFL season, received little recognition from his coach.
Sarkisian, in contrast, has no problem praising his punters and kickers and crediting those who deserve recognition.
Nevertheless, Sarkisian’s biggest issue in 2024 was that his punter and kicker did little to earn praise. These two departments were arguably the team's weakest areas last year. It was so dire that Sarkisian benched kicker Bert Auburn in favor of Will Stone before Texas played Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Semifinals. Additionally, punter Michael Kern struggled, leading the staff to acquire Jack Bouwmeester, a former Utah Utes all-conference first-team punter, from the transfer portal in December.
Each player is currently battling for more than just a starting job.
They are fighting to remain in Austin.
Texas currently has five special teams players eating up its scholarship numbers (the four previously mentioned and deep snapper Lance St. Louis).
That matches the number of tight ends on scholarship at Texas.
Meanwhile, the Longhorns have six running backs and six linebackers - only one more than the specialists acquired by special teams coordinator Jeff Banks.
Here is the last scholarship board graphic posted on March 27 by Ketch:
However, it's unlikely Texas will carry five specialists on scholarship this season. St. Louis is the only player in that group guaranteed a spot; everyone else could be encouraged to enter the transfer portal in a few weeks.
Let’s review Texas’ field goal performance since 2022.
Via ESPN
Field Goals
2024 (SEC)
* 15th in the conference (16 of 25 FGs) – 64 percent
* Kentucky led the SEC with a 93.8 percent FG percentage (15 of 16 by Alex Raynar); Georgia was second at 91.3 percent (21 of 23); Auburn was 16th with 54.5 percent (12 of 22).
* Bert Auburn made 16 of 25 FGs (64 percent).
* Auburn was 0-for-2 on FGs of 50 yards or more; he was 6-of-12 on FGs between 40 and 49 yards; 4-of-5 on fields between 30 and 39 yards.
2023 (Big 12)
* 1st in the conference (29 of 35 FGs) – 82.9 percent
* Bert Auburn led the conference at 82.9 percent.
* Auburn was 2-of-4 on FGs of 50 yards or more; he was 9-of-12 on FGs between 40 and 49 yards; he was 10-of-10 on FGs between 30 and 39 yards.
2022 (Big 12)
* Tied for 4th in the conference (21 of 26 FGs) – 80.8 percent
* Bert Auburn was the primary kicker that season.
* Oklahoma State led the conference at 95.7 percent (22 of 23), and West Virginia was third at 93.3 percent (14 of 15).
* Auburn did not attempt any kicks over 50 yards; he was 7-of-9 on FGs between 40 and 49 yards; he was 6-of-8 on FGs between 30 and 39 yards.
Summary: Auburn’s 2024 season wasn’t just a dip; it was a dive, especially when you break it down by distance. He was once a steady kicker for the Longhorns, but Auburn’s accuracy faded the farther out he lined up.
The trouble spot? Mid-range. Auburn hit just 6-of-12 kicks from 40–49 yards in 2024—a 50% mark, a steep fall from the 75% (9-of-12) he hit in 2023 and the 77.8% (7-of-9) in 2022. For a guy who once made those look routine, it became the Bermuda Triangle of his range.
Even the short stuff wasn’t as automatic. After going 10-for-10 from 30–39 yards in 2023, Auburn slipped to 4-of-5 in 2024. It's a minor miss on paper but symbolic of a broader decline in reliability.
Then there’s the long ball. Auburn didn’t hit a single kick from 50+ yards in 2024 (0-for-2), a regression from his 2-of-4 showing the year before. In 2022, he wasn’t even asked to attempt from that distance.
Add it all up, and Auburn attempted 10 fewer kicks in 2024 than in 2023—yet missed more.
His 64% accuracy (16-of-25) in his first SEC season was a far cry from the 82.9% he posted atop the Big 12 the year before.
More brutal math: In 2023, Auburn missed once every 5.8 attempts. In 2024? Once every 2.8.
Of course, Auburn missed consecutive field goal attempts in the Peach Bowl against Arizona State—a 48-yarder and a 38-yarder. The latter would have won the game in regulation. He was benched in favor of Will Stone in the semifinals.
Via CFBStats
Punting
2024 (SEC)
15th in the conference (40.78 average)
Vanderbilt led the conference at 48.04 yards per punt; LSU was last at 39.56 yards per punt.
Michael Kern averaged 41.6 yards per punt for the Longhorns that season; Ian Ratliff averaged 44 yards per punt.
2023 (Big 12)
3rd in the conference (44.59 average)
BYU led the conference at 48.37 yards per punt, and Texas Tech was second at 45.5.
Ryan Sanborn was the primary Longhorn punter that season.
2022 (Big 12)
7th in the conference (40.62 average)
Oklahoma led the conference at 47.71 yards per punt, and Texas Tech was second at 44.83.
Daniel Trejo was the primary Longhorn punter that season.
Summary: Texas' transition to the SEC exposed another special teams sore spot: a punting game that went from quietly efficient to quietly ineffective. The Longhorns finished 15th in the SEC in punting average at just 40.78 yards per punt, ahead of only LSU. That’s nearly seven yards shy of SEC leader Vanderbilt, whose 48.04-yard average set the pace in a league where field position is often the first down before the first down.
Texas split punting duties between Michael Kern (41.6 avg) and Ian Ratliff (44.0 avg), but the results were inconsistent and lacked the field-flipping punch of years past. By comparison, Ryan Sanborn averaged 44.59 yards per punt in 2023, helping Texas finish third in the Big 12. In 2022, Daniel Trejo managed just 40.62, a number eerily close to 2024’s drop-off. The regression is noticeable and costly.
Here are the past three seasons:
2022: 40.62 avg (7th in Big 12)
2023: 44.59 avg (3rd in Big 12)
2024: 40.78 avg (15th in SEC)
Sanborn’s departure clearly left a void bigger than anyone - staff or Longhorn observers - could have anticipated.
Maybe it was the pressure of performing on the big stage for Kern and Auburn.
Auburn missed at least one field goal in five of Texas’s last games of the season. He missed two field goals against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and two against Arizona State in the playoffs. He also missed a 43-yard field goal against Michigan.
This is why Auburn and Kern are battling for their jobs. Each player is fighting for more than just a starting role.
They're fighting to stay in Austin.
Photo via the Austin American-Statesman
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
You don’t retire from the game – the game retires you
Max out day is officially over for him
To his wife’s credit, she was prepared for both scenarios
Cats …
Hit the mute button to avoid the annoying laughter and read it (h/t @Travis Galey )
Sports On A Dime
1. Texas women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer on his team’s season: “You're never ready for today. I don't have the words. We have four special seniors. Three are up here with me. Shay has been with me every day that I've been at Texas, five years. Taylor has been here three. Rori's been here four. And Aaliyah Moore has been here four. You're never prepared. I don't ever write notes down in case this happens because I don't want to speak it into existence. It always catches me off guard even after 40 years. But one thing I'll say about this group -- several things, but number one, man, what a blessing.
“God blessed me with an incredible group of young ladies that have won 35 games. They're SEC champions. They went to the Final Four. They're just an incredible group of young ladies. It's hard for them for Taylor and Shay -- Rori has an option, but these two don't. It's the end of the road for them.”
2. Schaefer on the future of his team: “Well, it does sting. It's crappy. But the kids put it best. We lost four games to two teams this year. Tell me when that's ever happened. That's hard to do, lose four games to two teams. But, again, I think it shows my staff's done a great job. We've done a great job evaluating kids in recruiting. Those kids have been impact kids all year long, both Bree and Jordan. You have those two. You've got Madison. That's three young kids that are really, really special.
“It won't be easier tonight or tomorrow but it will be easier knowing them three are around. They are competitors. And, again, they're kids that invest in their craft. We talk about it all the time. The game's real fair. You get out of it what you put into it. Those three put a lot into it. I'm excited about those three. You win with guard play. That's three pretty good ones.”
3. Schaefer on what he hopes his players can take away from the loss: “ Well, part of my daily devotional today was sometimes it's not your time. We all think we have a plan and we have this great master calendar and it's going to be on our time. But sometimes it ain't on our time; it's on His time. God's got a plan. I'm going to have to have a conversation with him because I've had my heart broke now a couple two or three times in these deals.
“I don't know how much you can grow when Ogunbowale throws one off the wall from 35 feet. Hard to grow from that one. But I choose to look at the blessing of being here, the blessing of being able to be with this group each and every day and coach them and be around them. And they impacted my life, too. You can be impatient in life. I'm a "why" guy. I've lost both of my parents and in both situations I'm, like, why. You're not supposed to be a why guy but that's your flesh.
“I'm a little bit why-ish right now about how we could play today in a way that we haven't played this way in a while. We haven't played like this today. But at the end of the day I think you've got to stay grounded in your faith.
“I know there's a bigger plan. I'm not real fond of it right now, but I know there's a bigger plan, and I'm good with it.”
4. Longhorn guard Rori Harmon on what will go into her decision to declare for the draft or return to Texas for another season: “You're not putting me on the spot. That's okay. I've been getting asked this quite a bit. I had to think about what was important in the moment, and that was like what these people around me deserve is like my full attention, 100 percent effort. But, yeah, it's a family decision, family thing to talk about. I've got to really hone in on that, but that's not anything I want to tell to the public right now. Appreciate that. Thank you.”
5. South Carolina coach Dawn Stanley’s response when asked what separates her program from Texas: “ We score more points than they do. I mean, we're tough. Both of our defenses are tough. We make it really hard for us to just run our sets. We make it hard for them to run their sets. I think it comes down to -- I think depth really plays a part in our success. I can't go back to all the times that we've played them, but I'm pretty sure that depth played a part today. And depth played a part in the games that we played this season. So it's probably that.
“And I think we do a really good job on Booker just because we've got bodies to throw at her. We've got a defender in Breezy that really sets the example for some of the younger players that come in and play, like Tessa Johnson. Breezy is the example.
“They're just following her lead. And hopefully she's leaving a legacy of how we need to operate because Booker is not going anywhere. We're going to see her for two more years. Like two more years we'll see her.”
6. Sean Miller, you’re on deck
7. It is too early to predict which running back will be Steve Sarkisian’s go-to guy this season. However, it is hard to ignore the buzz around Christian Clark during spring football. If I had to place a bet on Sarkisian’s next 1,000-yard back, I would drop some fun money on Clark.
8. The most surprising aspect of Arch Manning this spring is the lack of overreaction from practice reports. Manning has checked all the boxes this spring, but nobody is going crazy.
9. Here is an important piece of information you need to know this week (via the Chicago Tribune):
“On Monday, before the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game tips off, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken will preside over a final approval hearing for the House vs. NCAA settlement.
“The settlement would initiate sweeping revisions in the college sports landscape, starting this summer. Along with awarding $2.8 billion in back damages to college athletes for missed name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities, the terms most notably would allow universities to directly share revenue with their athletes — up to $20.5 million per school in the first year.
“Athletes previously received compensation beyond scholarships via third-party NIL deals through collectives. Those deals still would be legal under the new rules, but athletes would have to report any deal worth more than $600. That deal would then be subject to review by a clearinghouse.”
10. My son, a huge Brad Stuver fan, has been shouting to catch the goalkeeper's attention for years, though it gets less traction than his unanswered Instagram DMs. As usual, Stuver did his part on Saturday..
Proud Dad Alert
Here are some highlights of my favorite goalkeeper
Attachments
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