The freshmen shined at Senior Day.
Kicker Anders Carlson and receiver Seth Williams had career days in the 53-0 win over Liberty on Saturday night.
Freshman running back Shaun Shivers also ran in his third score of the year to add to the freshmen contributions.
Carlson improved on his lackluster field-goal track record, going 3-for-3, including makes from 49 and 53 and continuing his success on kickoffs. Entering the game, Carlson was just 3 for 11 from 40 yards or more.
"I thought Carlson had an outstanding day," said head coach Gus Malzahn. "We asked him to kick a fifty-plus yarder right off of the bat and he drilled it. He also did a good job with kickoffs too."
The relief of seeing a career-high 53-yard field goal sail through the uprights was something Carlson needed to see in order to possibly get over his past struggles.
“I think I was going through a little tough struggle there for a while and just to put that through, it felt good," Carlson said.
Williams proved to be Jarrett Stidham’s most reliable target on the day, catching nearly half of Stidham’s completions with five receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown – his first career game over the century mark.
The freshman phenom reeled in over half of Auburn’s receiving yards in the game, with a big chunk of it coming on a 45-yard diving touchdown catch early in the third quarter.
“It’s incredible,” said senior fullback Chandler Cox. “He’s like having your own personalized player on Xbox or something.”
In the second half of the season, Williams has stepped up his performance in a big way. In the past five games, Williams has 17 receptions, 337 yards and four touchdowns.
To the upperclassmen, Williams' second-half success shows his weekly improvement and willingness to put in work after hours.
“He’s continuing to improve every single week and that’s what you want to see, especially out of a young guy like him,” Stidham said. “You can’t really ask more of him, he’s doing his job at a high level and like I said he’s continuing to get better.”
“There’s never a point when I don’t want to stop working, I just always want to work and get better,” Williams said.
The never complacent attitude of Williams showed after the freshman dropped a key pass last week against Georgia.
“I’m not even going to lie that one hurt,” Williams said. “You get a chance like that to get a touchdown and knowing that the team in that moment and I didn’t come down with it, yeah it hurt.
“It actually did [motivate me]… I felt bad, so I went caught some more balls. It’s just a part of being a receiver, you might not catch all of them, so you just got to deal with it and get better.”
Next week, Williams and Carlson get their first taste of playing in the Iron Bowl. Williams, a Tuscaloosa native, fully expects to hear a few boos once he steps on the field Saturday, but knows he is ready for it.
"It's going to be a loud atmosphere," Williams said. "But I think I can handle it.”
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
