Checking up on Former OU Football Punter/Kicker Tress Way

Native Oklahoman Tress Way was the OU football punter from 2009-12 and had an outstanding special teams career while playing for the Sooners.

Way, who found his way to Norman from down the road in Tulsa, played on two Oklahoma Big 12 championship teams and was the Sooner punter in the last Big 12 championship game in 2010 vs. Nebraska. The Sooners were a combined 40-13 during Way’s four seasons in Norman.

Rated as the No. 11 kicker in the country coming out of high school, Way had to wait a year to get on the field. He was redshirted as a true freshman in 2008 to the disappoint of a number of Sooner fans who felt he could have had an immediate positive impact on OU’s shaky kicking game that season.

As a redshirt freshman in 2009, Way lived up to all the expectations that preceded his Sooner debut. leading the Big 12 and ranked third in the nation with a punting average of 45.7 yards. That is the second-highest season average in OU football history.

Way went on to a career average of 44 yards per punt in his four seasons at Oklahoma, which ranks No. 1 in school history. He also owns the Sooner career record with 71 punts of over 50 yards, and a career long of 85 yards. Early in his OU career, Way shared some of the kickoff duties.

But what has happed to Tress Way since his Oklahoma playing days?

The former Sooner punter was not drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft. He signed with the Chicago Bears in the spring of 2013, but was released in preseason training camp in August. Way signed again with the Bears the following spring, but again was let go in training camp without ever making the Bears’ roster.

At that point, it appeared that Way’s dream of playing in the National Football League might be just that. That was before the Washington Redskins, in need of a punter, claimed Way off waivers prior to the 2014 season.

In his first preseason game as a member as a member of the Redskins, Way averaged over 45 yards on four punts. He made the Washington roster out of training camp, became the team’s starting punter and led the NFL. His 40-yard net punting average was the highest by a Redskins’ punter going all the way back to 1976.

In 2015, the Oklahoma career punting leader got off to a sluggish start as the Washington punter, but got back on track to average 46.1 yards on 70 punts.

This offseason, Way signed a five-year contract extension with the Redskins.

So what once looked like a dead-end road to an NFL career is now going Tress Way’s way, and if his two seasons with the Washington Redskins are any indication, don’t expect him to step off the beaten path anytime soon.