Unless Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson suddenly walks through the door, Bryan Harsin isn’t prepared to make any changes at kicker for Auburn despite some recent struggles on field goal attempts.

Anders Carlson is just 2-of-4 on field goals in SEC play, with two other misses waved off due to offside penalties by opponents, but Harsin is remaining confident in Auburn’s sixth-year placekicker as the team prepares for its first road game of the season Saturday at No. 2 Georgia.

“We have faith in Anders,” Harsin said Monday. “…He’s been very good in practice. Anders is a very consistent guy, and we still believe in him.”

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Harsin’s comments were in response to a question about whether the second-year coach has considered giving freshman kicker Alex McPherson — the younger brother of Bengals kicker Evan McPherson — an opportunity, especially on longer field goal attempts. The reporter accidentally mixed up the two brothers, prompting Harsin to joke that, “we’d give (Evan) a chance, yeah; can we get him here?”

Barring the older McPherson suddenly regaining eligibility following his career at Florida and now in the NFL, where he’s in his second season, Harsin appears content and confident in Carlson despite the recent misses.

Carlson made one of his two field goal tries in last weekend’s loss to LSU, pushing a 40-yard attempt wide right late in the first half with Auburn ahead 17-7. Earlier in the second quarter, Carlson connected on a 29-yard try that gave Auburn a 17-point lead.

A week prior against Missouri, Carlson officially made 1-of-2 field goals in Auburn’s 17-14 overtime win—including the game-winner from 39 yards out in the extra period. That make came after he missed a 44-yarder on the prior play, but Missouri jumped offside, providing Carlson with a mulligan. That sequence came after he missed two attempts just before halftime. He pushed a 50-yarder wide left but was afforded a do-over after Missouri was flagged for offside on that attempt. Carlson missed the second try from 45 yards, sending the teams into halftime knotted at 14-14.

“We’ve missed a couple of kicks, that’s very apparent,” Harsin said. “We need to make those, and that’s not anything that we don’t talk about in this room.”

Carlson, who opted to return for an extra season, is No. 2 on Auburn’s all-time scoring list with 380 career points. He ranks behind only his older brother, current Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson, the SEC’s all-time leading scorer (480). The younger Carlson is also second in program history in field goals made (72) and is third in career PATs made (164). He’s seventh on the SEC’s all-time scoring list and eighth in career made field goals.

Though his standing on those lists is noteworthy, Carlson has also connected on just 72 percent of his career field goals—including just 67.8 percent (19-of-28) since the start of last season. With the exception of his 2020 campaign, when he made 20-of-22 field goal tries (90.9 percent), Carlson has connected on just 66.7 percent of his career attempts (52-of-78).

This season, after returning from ACL surgery last November, Carlson has converted five of his seven field goal attempts. Both of his misses have been from between 40 and 50 yards, though his first make of the season came from 45 yards out. He’s 2-of-2 on field goals between 20 and 29 yards out, and 2-of-2 on kicks between 30 and 39 yards.

McPherson, the top-rated kicker in the 2022 class coming out of high school, has yet to attempt a field goal this season at Auburn, though he holds the Alabama high school state record for longest field goal (61 yards).

“Alex is available,” Harsin said. “Alex can go out there and have opportunities as well. But we still believe in Anders and know he’s a guy who’s played. He’s played at a high level…. This week, we’re going to have to prepare a little bit differently, even in the kicking game. Obviously on the road, it’s going to be a different environment, so different things we have to do to get our guys prepared.

“But the one thing about Anders, I know he will make any adjustments he needs to make to go out there and be successful for us in those moments. And he’s done that. Alex is ready, but Anders still has our full support, and this week is going to be a great week to get back on track and be consistent in the Georgia game.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.