Oklahoma football: TE Austin Stogner on Mackey Award watch
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football kept its string going of having at least one player named to every preseason individual award watch list when the preseason watch list for the 2021 Mackey Award came out on Friday.
So far this week, the candidate list of seven of the 16 NCAA national individual award categories have been announced. Representing OU on the Mackey Award watch list is junior tight end Austin Stogner.
The Mackey Award recognizes the best tight end in college football. The Sooners have had one previous winner of the award, which was first presented in 2000. Former OU tight end Mark Andrews (now with the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL) won the award in 2017.
Stogner, who was part of the 2019 Oklahoma recruiting class that included three five-star wide receivers as well as No. 1 quarterback prospect Spencer Rattler, was a preseason Mackey Award candidate in 2020 as well.
Stogner is one of 56 college players at the FBS level who are in consideration for the award.
A Texas native from the Dallas suburb of Plano, Stogner caught 26 passes last season for 422 yards and three touchdowns.
He was a prime target for Rattler and a top receiver for the Sooners a year ago until he suffered a knee injury that developed into a staph infection. The injury kept him out of the final two games of the regular season as well as the Big 12 championship game. He did return for the Cotton Bowl game with Florida, but caught just one pass for a dozen yards.
The Sooners have multiple tight-end sets in their offensive playbook, and Stogner has been a valuable weapon in the offense with his size (6-foot-6), length and pass-catching ability.