LSU has lots of players who are newcomers to the program or are taking on more prominent roles this season.

Many have been attention grabbers during the first two weeks of the season – quarterback Joe Burrow, running back Nick Brossette, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, tackle Badara Traore, defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko, linebacker Jacob Phillips and cornerback Kristian Fulton, to name a few.

It’s always easy to overlook kickers until they miss a kick and so it has been easy to overlook one of the most important newcomers – senior kicker Cole Tracy, who was brought in as a graduate transfer to upgrade what was one of the weakest positions on the team last season.

Tracy was named the top kicker in Division II last season when he made 27-of-29 field goals and all 67 of his PATs at Assumption College, a small Catholic institution in Worcester, Mass.

LSU’s kickers combined to make 16-of-27 field goals and 40-of-43 PATs. Jack Gonsoulin was 5-of-11 on field goals and Connor Culp was 11-of-16. Tracy twice was 6-for-6 in a game at Assumption.

Coach Ed Orgeron was determined to upgrade that position for this season and did so by bringing in Tracy, who has been everything Orgeron could have hoped for. Tracy is 5-for-5 on field goals, including a 54-yarder and a 50-yarder, and has made all 7 of his PATs during the No. 12 Tigers’ 2-0 start.

“I just wish I had him for one more year,” Orgeron said after Tracy went 4-for-4 on field goals in his debut, a 33-17 victory against Miami two weeks ago.

After Tracy kicked the 50-yarder in a 31-0 win against Southeastern Louisiana in Week 2, Orgeron said, “I still wish him I had him for another year.”

Undoubtedly Orgeron wishes he had had him last season too.

In the Tigers’ 24-21 loss to Troy, Gonsoulin was wide left on a 35-yard field goal. In the 21-17 loss to Notre Dame in the Citrus Bowl, Culp was wide right on a 22-yarder and moments later, Gonsoulin was wide left on a 37-yarder.

Along the way, LSU special teams coordinator Greg McMahon reached out to Tracy, who was looking to join a larger program upon graduation from Assumption.

Tracy was surprised when he was lying in his dorm room, answered his cell phone and heard the voice on the other end say, “Hey, this is coach McMahon from LSU.”

Tracy wasn’t sure if the call was on the up and up. Or maybe it was and there was another school that used the initials LSU besides the one in the SEC.

“You mean, like the Tigers?” Tracy asked McMahon.

“Yes, as in the Tigers,” McMahon replied.

Suddenly LSU had a kicker.

Tracy’s statistics at Assumption clearly demonstrated that he was capable of being an outstanding college kicker. His kicking in practice confirmed it.

But Division II games and Division I practices aren’t exactly the SEC.

“We had confidence in Cole,” Orgeron said, “but obviously he had to do it in a game and he did it (against Miami).”

Assumption’s home stadium seats about 1,200 people and Tracy said the biggest crowd he kicked in front of at Assumption was 5,000 for a playoff game.

His first game at LSU was in front of some 65,000 people and a national television audience. The attendance at the home opener was 70,000-plus.

On Saturday the Tigers visit No. 7 Auburn and the crowd will be even bigger. And hostile.

But so far nothing has been able to unnerve Tracy.

When he lined up for his first kick against Miami, a 43-yarder, he thought the ball was in the middle of the field in Cowboys Stadium. It was on the left side.

But just as sure as LSU is the Tigers, Tracy sent the ball right down the middle between the uprights.

“I think probably that kick was actually a little bit bigger than the 54-yarder, at least in my mind,” Tracy said. “It gave me a little confidence, a little bit of feeling that “all right, this is something that I’ve been doing.’”

After making a pair of 21-yard chip shots, Tracy went back out to try the 54-yarder. Again he didn’t have precise bearings when he entered the field. It was obviously a long kick, but …

“I knew I was back there and I knew I needed to put a good leg on it,” Tracy said. “But did I know it was exactly 54? No I did not.”

Tracy said that game against Miami was “a night I’ll never forget.”

He now has 73 career field goals between Assumption and LSU, the most of any active kicker in any NCAA classification.

And Orgeron wishes he could stick around long enough to double that total.