OU Football 2015: Breaking Down Special Teams

Having to replace both your first-string placekicker and punter in the same season would be a giant concern for many college programs. At Oklahoma, however, head coach Bob Stoops feels very good about his kicking game, with two new guys taking over the kicking chores in 2015.

The Sooners lose placekicker Michael Hunnicutt and punter Jed Barnett, but with the recruitment of freshman Austin Seibert, rated by practically every national recruiting service as the No. 1 or 2 best placekicker and punter coming out of the entire 2015 national recruiting class, Oklahoma could be even stronger in 2015 and the years to come.

Seibert is highly capable of taking over both kicking roles, but probably will just be used for field goals and extra points because Stoops is very wary of having the same player fill both roles, especially a very young player in his first season of major college competition.

Nov 7, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners kicker Michael Hunnicutt (18) kicks a field goal against the Baylor Bears at Floyd Casey Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Sooners’ head coach has great concerns about the “endurance of it all.” Fatigue is a big factor when one player is asked to perform dual kicking roles, Stoops says, and it is not so much a problem in the games, but rather the wear and tear of all the repetitions with punting drills and all the place kicks attempted during practices.

Hunnicutt was one of the best field-goal kickers in the college game for most of his career at OU. He led the Big 12 in scoring and FG accuracy his junior season, missing just one extra point all season his junior year and hitting almost 90 percent of his 27 field-goal tries. Last season, however, the almost automatic placekicker experienced the uncharacteristic yips, missing critical field-goal tries against both Kansas State and Oklahoma State, and connecting on just 72 percent of his FG attempts on the season.

In high school, Seibert wielded a very strong leg and was considered Mr. automatic. He once kicked a 70-yard field goal in practice. Senior Nick Hodgson will retain kickoff duties in the coming season. Sixty-four percent of his kickoffs last season went as touchbacks and were not returned. Hodgson is also a candidate on field goals and extra points, but he did not have a particularly positive showing with field-goal tries in the spring game.

If Seibert relinquishes punting chores to concentrate on field goals and points after touchdowns, those duties likely will fall to junior Jack Steed. Barnett averaged almost 42 yards per punt for the past two seasons, which place the Sooner punter right around the middle of the pack among his contemporaries in the Big 12.

Oklahoma’s kick and punt-return game should be among the best in the conference again in 2015. Speedy Alex Ross, who averaged 31.2 yards on kick returns a year ago, with two returned for touchdowns. A healthy Sterling Shepard and junior-college transfer Dede Westbrook, will give the Sooners an explosive threat in the punt-return game, as well.