The Auburn Tigers have strengthened their special teams unit by adding former Southern Miss kicker Connor Gibbs through the transfer portal, as reported by Caleb Jones.
Gibbs, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound sophomore, played in 16 games over his two seasons with the Golden Eagles. This season, he successfully converted 10 of 13 field goal attempts, with a career-long 59-yard kick. Additionally, Gibbs averaged 59.2 yards per kickoff on 30 attempts, including six touchbacks.
Ranked as a five-star recruit coming out of high school, Gibbs was the No. 20 kicker nationally in the class of 2023, according to Kohl’s Kicking.
The addition of Gibbs aims to help Auburn restore its reputation as a special teams powerhouse by 2025. The Tigers struggled with kicking in 2024, as Alex McPherson was sidelined for most of the season, only appearing in Auburn’s win over Kentucky and making one of two field goal attempts. Freshman Towns McGough stepped into the starting role but made just five of 12 field goal attempts. Sophomore Ian Vachon finished the season as the starting place kicker, making six of eight attempts.
As a result, Auburn ranked last in the SEC with a dismal 54.6% success rate on field goals, making just 12 of 22 attempts. The next worst team in the conference converted at least 66.7% of its attempts.
Gibbs joins former Oklahoma State punter Hudson Kaak, who also transferred to Auburn. The Tigers recently lost redshirt sophomore punter Gabe Russo, who never played a game in two seasons with Auburn, to the portal on December 3.
Auburn also added five-star punter John Alan McGuire, the No. 5 punter nationally according to Kohl’s Kicking, in their 2025 class.