An underappreciated part of the Oklahoma football success last season was the kicking game on special teams.
Redshirt sophomore Gabe Brkic did not start the 2019 season as the Sooners’ field-goal kicker, but they are certainly glad that he finished it.
Calum Sutherland started the season kicking field goals and extra points for Oklahoma, but that last just three games. The kicker was suspended after being arrested and charged with public intoxication three weeks into September. At the same time, his girl friend filed a petition for a protective, accusing Sutherland of choking her and hitting her with a belt.
Sutherland was suspended from the team indefinitely in early October, and he did not play in another game for OU after Sept. 21. He was just two for four in field-goal tries in the Sooners’ first three games, but did make all 23 of his extra-point tries.
The loss of Sutherland turned out to be a huge gain for the Oklahoma team. Brkic, who came to the Sooners out of Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School in Chardon, Ohio, as a member of the OU’s highly rated 2018 class, was rated as the country’s No. 7 kicker.
Brkic kicked the first of his 17 field goals in 2019 in Oklahoma’s fourth game of the season, a 55-16 home win over Texas Tech. The Ohio native was successful in all 17 of his field-goal tries last season, including three of three from over 40 yards and one of 50-plus yards. He also converted all 52 of his point-after attempts.
In addition to his perfection as the Sooners’ field-goal kicker over the final 11 games of the season, Brkic also handled the kickoff duties, which he performed with equal precision. 61 percent of his 106 kickoffs reached the end zone for touchbacks.
Brkic is following in the footsteps of one of the most successful kickers in Oklahoma history in Austin Seibert, now with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL. Seibert handled all of the OU kicking duties (kickoffs, punting, field goals and extra points) and finished his career with an 80-percent field-goal success rate and 98 percent on extra points. Seibert is No. 1 in the NCAA record book with 309 extra points made and No. 12 all-time in Big 12 field-goal percentage.
The good news is that Brkic proved to be a blessing in disguise last season, and he is only going to get better with three more years in an Oklahoma uniform.