Oklahoma football: Special teams will have say in Sooners’ 2019 season

Every Oklahoma football story line in the offseason has been about either the unstoppable force of the country’s No. 1 overall offense or the rebuild of a defense that hasn’t been able to stop anybody.

That is a highly intriguing dichotomy, given the Sooners’ sustained success as one of the nation’s top-five teams in each of the last four seasons, and is a principle reason so much media attention regarding Oklahoma is focused on either the high-scoring offense or the dysfunctional defense that last season allowed just 15 fewer points per game that the OU offense, which led the nation in scoring average (48.1 points per game).

While games fundamentally are won when the offense scores more points than the defense allows, a third element — special teams — can have a huge impact on the outcome of a game and many times are the critical difference.

Field position, or where on the field an offense starts a possession, can be the great equalizer in any game. The defensive strategy against offensive powerhouses like Oklahoma is not to give the opposing offense a short field, instead making them go the length of the field. The longer an offense has to go to score, the better the chance its will make a mistake and turn the ball over along the way.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

Favorable offensive field position is generally the result of the punt and kickoff-return teams. Oklahoma ranked second in the Big 12 last season in both categories, and the two primary return specialists — CeeDee Lamb, who averaged 12.8 yards in punt returns, and Tre Brown, who averaged 23.7 yards per kick return — are back for the 2019 season.

For the first time in four seasons, the Sooners will have someone other than Austin Seibert handling the kicking duties. Seibert did the placekicking, punting and field-goal kicking for Oklahoma for the better part of the last four seasons. He ended his career in 2018, establishing a new FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision record in career scoring (499 points).

Some football experts believed Seibert may have been spread to thin trying to handle all of the OU kicking game, which might have limited some of his potential. His 90 percent success rate in field goal percentage (17 of 19) his senior season was the best in the Big 12. Those numbers might have been even better except the Sooners didn’t settle for many field goals.

Where Oklahoma may really miss Seibert’s kicking skills this season is on kickoffs. The All-Big 12 first-team selection recorded touchbacks on 83.5 percent of his kickoff attempts last season (91 of 109). He also was deft in made extra points. Seibert was successful in 87 of 88 extra-point tries in the 2018 season and set a school record of 162 consecutive extra points without a miss from 2016-18.

Seibert’s 41.9 punting average last season was average among Big 12 punters. He punted just 31 times in 14 games, and nine of those were downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

There is no question Seibert helped win a number of games for the Sooners with his kicking. Replacing Seibert’s production and consistency is the biggest concern facing Oklahoma’s special teams unit this season.

The Sooners will go back to a more traditional kicking game with different players handling the placekicking and punting duties.

One week into preseason training camp, it appears redshirt freshman Gabe Brkic, from Chardon, Ohio, has won the placekicking job and will handle kickoffs, field goals and point-after attempts. Brkic appeared in just one game last season, the season opener against Florida Atlantic. He made his lone extra-point attempt and kicked off three times (with three touchbacks).

The punting duties will go to sophomore Reeves Mundschau. The 5-foot, 11-inch, 179-pounder out of New Braunfels, Texas, near San Antonio, was ranked as the No. 6 kicker in the 2017 recruiting class nationally. He has yet to appear in a college game.

The kicking game plays an important, if underappreciated, role in every team’s success. Oklahoma has been blessed with four years of strength and continuity in the kicking department.

Lincoln Riley and special teams coordinator Jay Boulware are hoping for a smooth transition and steady growth in the kicking game as the season progresses. This will be a key area to keep an eye on for Sooner fans and one that is likely to be a deciding factor in one more games this season.