Auburn has determined its starting punter.

Gus Malzahn said he was "getting a lot closer" to making the decision on Monday and called Ian Shannon into his office before Tuesday's practice to tell the redshirt-sophomore he'd won the job.

"I was obviously very thrilled, but to me, my goal was to do this," Shannon said.

"I came to Auburn to do it. I'm really happy that I've gotten coach Malzahn's trust and blessing. I know that the team is going to support me, and it's awesome to have this opportunity."

Shannon beat out walk-on freshman Aidan Marshall, kicker Daniel Carlson and holder and former punter Tyler Stovall for the job. He was the backup to Kevin Phillips last season and had three punts for an average of 30.67 yards and averaged 64.36 yards on 11 kickoff with six touchbacks last season.

Malzahn felt punter was the "biggest question" for Auburn this offseason and took a personal interest in monitoring the position during practice.

"He wanted to strain us all, all the options that he had on the team," Shannon said. "He wanted to see what the best option was and it was a good competition every day; everybody brought their 'A' game. ... He put me in all different kinds of situations, different spots on the field where we'd be punting the ball and it was good. I've seen everything that I can possibly see in a game now."

Shannon was the No. 4 punter nationally in the 247Sports Composite for the class of 2015.