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The fourth-year kicker proved his clutch ability over the last two seasons, earning a scholarship in the process.
The Texas Longhorns are back on the Forty Acres in preparation for summer conditioning that leads into preseason camp and the program’s first year playing SEC football. On Sunday, that also meant that head coach Steve Sarkisian awarded a scholarship to senior kicker Bert Auburn in a team meeting with the walk ons, who could fall victim to a roster cap following the settlement that will pay athletes.
Scholarship Alert
Congrats @bert_auburn1, you’re now on scholarship! pic.twitter.com/S0sAHtG7Xb
Auburn becomes the fourth scholarship specialist on the 2024 Longhorns roster, which now stands at 84 scholarships, joining junior kickoff specialist Will Stone, junior deep snapper Lance St. Louis, and summer enrollee punter Michael Kern. One other former walk on is currently on scholarship at Texas — junior safety Michael Taaffe, who received his scholarship following the end of the 2022 regular season.
A Flower Mound product who walked on at Texas in 2021 and made an appearance in the win over Rice, Auburn took over for Cameron Dicker the following season after competing for the starting place kicker job against Stone, converting on 21-of-26 field-goal attempts and scoring 118 points, the second-most in a single season for a Longhorns kicker. Auburn started to demonstrate his ability in the clutch during the last-second Week 2 loss to Alabama in Austin, hitting on 4-of-5 field-goal attempts, including a 49-yarder with 1:29 remaining to take the lead. In the Big 12 opener against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Auburn came through again in a big moment, nailing a 44-yarder as time expired to send the game into overtime.
The 2023 season got off to an inconsistent start for Auburn working with graduate transfer punter Ryan Sanborn as his holder, resulting in five misses through the first five games, matching Auburn’s 2022 total, including two miscues against Kansas. Sarkisian stuck with Auburn, putting an emphasis on improving the entire field-goal operation.
Auburn responded to the vote of confidence from his head coach, setting a program and conference record with 19 consecutive made field goals and setting the school’s single-season record with 29 made field goals while scoring 143 points, the most ever for a Texas kicker and the third-most for any Longhorns player. In the overtime win over Kansas State, Auburn made all four attempts, including a 49-yarder, hit three in the road win against TCU, including another 49-yarder, then set his career high of 50 yards in the Iowa State win in Ames while connecting on three field goals.
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