Punter was Auburn's "biggest question mark" entering the offseason, in Gus Malzahn's opinion, and remains a wide open competition.

After five practices in fall camp, including Saturday's first in full-pads, the battle between Ian Shannon, Daniel Carlson and walk-on Aidan Marshall is close to being determined.

"I'll say this, nobody has separated themselves yet," Malzahn said Saturday. "We'll do some live punt and punt return in the stadium on Monday. That will be very important. ...

"It's concerning that we don't have a starter at this point, no doubt. I do feel like we've got some solid options and like I said before, Daniel Carlson can do it. He did it as a freshman."

He punted on his own during the early periods of Saturday's practice while Shannon and Marshall punted to returners and Anders Carlson did kickoffs.

The clear preference is for Daniel Carlson, a two-time Lou Groza award finalist, to be exclusively at kicker.

Is it ideal, is it best for our team? It would be best for our team if one of those other guys would step up. Daniel has done it and if he has to do it he'll do it and do a good job. That's a good competition."

In April, special teams coach Tim Horton said "the door is open" to Shannon, Anders Carlson and potential transfers to win the job. Now, Malzahn said the players on the roster are "the guys we're planning on" punting this season.

Asked if the job could be evaluated week-to-week during the season, Malzahn was against that happening.

"Oh, I hope not," he said. "That won't be good. We need somebody to step up and get it done. That's our plan and at this point, I think we'll be able to do that."