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Oklahoma football: Sooners pick up elite punter in transfer portal

By Chip Rouse

STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Punter Luke Elzinga #28 of the Central Michigan Chippewas kicks the ball during the first half of the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium on September 24, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Punter Luke Elzinga #28 of the Central Michigan Chippewas kicks the ball during the first half of the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium on September 24, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma football loses the best punter in the Big 12 this season but has picked up the commitment of another top college punter from the transfer portal.

On Sunday, the Sooners announced the commitment of Luke Elzinga from Central Michigan. The 6-foot, 4-inch, 210-pound punter is the likely replacement for Michael Turk, the Big 12 leader in punting this season, averaging 46.8 yards per punt. Turk, himself, was a transfer to OU, changing schools from Arizona State before the 2021 season.

Turk was a two-time All-Big 12 First-Team performer, and Elzinga comes to OU as a two-time All-MAC selection.

Elzinga, who kicks from the left side, spent the past three seasons at Central Michigan and will have two years of eligibility remaining at Oklahoma. He averaged 43.0 yards per punt this season and placed 22 of his 55 punt attempts inside the 20-yard line, second-best in the Mid-American Conference.

Although Elzinga provides an immediate answer to replace Turk as the No. 1 punter, he will have competition for the starter’s spot with 2022 Arizona State transfer Josh Plaster and redshirt freshman Brady Braun. Elzinga will join the Sooners as a preferred walk-on.

A Michigan native, Elzinga was the No. 23-ranked punter in the 2019 recruiting class nationally, according to 247Sports and was the first all-conference punter from Central Michigan since 2006.

Elzinga comes the sixth Oklahoma commitment in the transfer portal for 2023. He joins DL Jacob Lacey from Notre Dame and Trace Ford from Oklahoma State, S Reggie Pearson Jr. from Texas Tech, edge rusher Dasan McCullough from Indiana and TE Austin Stogner, a former Oklahoma Sooner who played last season at South Carolina.

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