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Longhorns add kicker Bert Auburn

Shortly after taking a job at Texas, new UT special teams coordinator Jeff Banks reached out to kicker Bert Auburn, extending a preferred walk-on offer to the Flower Mound product.

On Sunday night, Auburn announced that he accepted Banks’ offer and he’ll be a preferred walk-on for the University of Texas.

“He called me and kind of explained their situation there. He talked about how he wasn’t even in Austin yet. He was still in Bama picking up his stuff. They wanted to bring in a kicker, chose me as the first option,” Auburn said.

According to Auburn, Banks is a longtime friend of kicking coach Chris Sailer, and that helped put Auburn on UT’s radar. Shortly after talking to Banks, Auburn listed Texas as his leader over a long list of other schools that had also extended preferred walk-on offers. Three days later, Auburn made his decision.

“It’s in state, only about 4 hours from where I live,” Auburn said. “And just the Texas Longhorn tradition. It’s just a great program to play for.”

The 6-0, 165-pounder, Auburn is ranked as the No. 10 kicker in the 2021 class by Sailer.

“He kicks with great technique and consistency. He is smooth and accurate on field goals. He hits a pure ball off the ground and easily has 55+ yard range,” according to Sailer’s scouting report.

Texas will feature senior placekicker Cameron Dicker next year, meaning Auburn could push for the starting job in 2022.

“I would definitely say what I bring to the table as a kicker would definitely be field goal accuracy,” Auburn said. “All throughout high school, I was 21 for 26 with two blocked. I had a long of 50. That 50-yarder came my sophomore year and I didn’t get any chances past that. But I have definitely gotten a lot stronger.”

Along with Texas, Auburn had preferred walk-on offers from schools like Texas A&M, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas Tech and several others.

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