Cameron Dicker ain't here anymore; who's got the leg up for Texas' kicking duties?

On Tuesday, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian was asked to list the position groups entering this first week of fall practices with more questions than answers.

Sarkisian noted that the Longhorns' offensive line will feature some new faces. And he mused about the look of his secondary. He also remarked that "in the kicking game, we're replacing all three phases."

Ah yes, the kicking game. After four years, Texas no longer has Dicker at kicker.

Cameron Dicker, Texas' all-time leader in field goals, signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent in April. Last season he attempted every one of Texas' 15 field goals and 50 of the team's 53 PATs. He boomed 47 of the Longhorns' punts. And for 72 of the 76 UT kickoffs, it was Dicker booting them. Add all of those up, and Dicker handled 95% of all Longhorns' kicks.

Texas special teams coordinator Jeff Banks was asked if he's ever had to replace a kicker, a punter and a kickoff specialist all in one year.

"I don't know if I have," Banks said. "I thank the Lord for Zach Edwards, who's our snapper that's a veteran and had the best summer of probably any specialists I've had."

While Dicker did it all in 2021, those duties likely will be split among several legs this fall. Freshman Will Stone and redshirt freshman Bert Auburn are competing to be the placekicker. Gabriel Lozano could factor into that mix as well. Isaac Pearson is the only punter listed on the roster, but Banks hinted that a walk-on could join the program this week.

So how did Auburn, Lozano, Pearson and Stone end up becoming options for the Longhorns? According to Banks, those origin stories involve the coordinator's own collegiate career, a lost recruiting battle with Clemson, a transfer and a coal mine.

Since it is the easiest to explain, let's start with the transfer. Lozano, a product of nearby Westlake High School, transferred to Texas last season after appearing in three games at Texas Tech from 2019-20. He attempted three onside kicks for the Red Raiders in 2020. His two kickoffs in 2019 came in a 49-24 loss to Texas.

Like Lozano, Stone is from Austin. He attended Regents Academy and was invited to a UT camp last summer as a punting prospect. He impressed with his leg strength and ability to kick, but the Longhorns wanted to sign only one kicker during the 2022 recruiting cycle and they had already extended a scholarship offer to Robert Gunn of Florida. So Banks said Texas decided to give Gunn a few days to decide whether he wanted to commit.

On June 14, 2021, Gunn announced that he would kick for Clemson. The Longhorns received a pledge from Stone the following day.

"Will was our next guy," Banks said. "We took him and we've been happy ever since that he's here locally and he's playing for us. He's had a good summer."

Banks himself is 25 years removed from his days as an all-conference punter at Washington State. During his college career, he became friends with UCLA kicker Chris Sailer and Iowa State's Jamie Kohl. Now, Sailer and Kohl are considered authorities when it comes to evaluating and training kickers and punters.

After Sarkisian took over at Texas in January 2021, Banks reached out to Sailer and Kohl to see if there were any kickers who were still available after the early signing period. He received a recommendation for Auburn, a Flower Mound kicker who eventually joined the Longhorns as a preferred walk-on.

Texas inserted Auburn into the second half of last year's 58-0 blowout win over Rice. He made three extra points and averaged 64.5 yards with a touchback on four kickoffs.

"Very accurate, very hard worker. It means a lot to him," Banks said. "Those are things I look for, right? I mean, leg talent, for sure. But as a walk-on guy that can help provide depth and now compete for a starting job the next year, I look for some of those things and he has it."

For what it's worth, Stone and Auburn have each been given Dicker's blessing. During the spring game, Dicker told the American-Statesman that Auburn "makes kicks, he's a consistent guy." Stone and Banks have also credited Dicker with initially alerting UT coaches about Stone, whom he had previously worked out with.

"It ended up turning into a scholarship," Stone explained last December.

Meanwhile, Pearson, who was recruited out of Australia by Texas' previous coaching staff, will be a redshirt freshman this fall; he didn't play in his first year on campus.

Banks described Pearson this week as a "blue-collar guy" and "tough." He also reminded reporters that his punter "used to work in a coal mine (after graduating high school in Australia)."

"He's a little bit of an over-worker, but the hardest worker on the team," Banks said. "Any day, it could be you're driving by Martin Luther King or you see the practice field or this stadium, DKR, and he's in there punting. That can be a pitfall, like when there's only so many punts we really want them to punt each day, but he's matured that way."

Due to a new NCAA rule, Banks was allowed to work closely with his specialists during summer workouts. It still may take a few days to decide who truly has a leg up for those jobs.

"What we have to do, right, is we have to evaluate the kicking and the punting positions with these guys in the next probably 15 and 20 days," Banks said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas needs a new football kicker, punter, kickoff specialist in 2022