How Owen Heinecke went from a lacrosse player to starring for the Sooners

Sooner fans may not have been that familiar with the name Owen Heinecke before this season, but believe me, head coach Brent Venables knew exactly what he had in the hard-working, hard-nosed linebacker.

Heinecke's journey to Norman has not followed the normal path, but the Sooners' head coach took notice of him practically from the first day he stepped foot on campus three years ago, praising his work ethic and saying, "He has a case of the wants."

Heinecke a shinning example of not giving up on himself and his opportunities

After serving almost exclusively on special teams the past two seasons, Heinecke is taking full advantage of his opportunity in the linebacker rotation this season and has already matched his 11 combined tackles in 2023 and 2024 in the first two games this season. He led the team with seven tackles in the win over Michigan on Saturday. Additionally, he was credited with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.

In large part because of the impact made by Heinecke and his defensive teammates, the Sooners are off to a 2-0 start and ranked 13th in the Associated Press Top 25.

A dual-sport athlete in football and lacrosse at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Heinecke committed to Ohio State to play lacrosse. Although he did receive college interest for football, it was limited to the service academies and lower-level institutions, while prime lacrosse programs like Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame and Ohio State offered him for lacrosse. He decided Ohio State offered him the best opportunity.

After his freshman year at OSU, Heinecke came to the realization that despite his love for lacrosse, he loved playing football more, and he made the decision enter the Transfer Portal -- but not for lacrosse, for football. He had no idea if anyone would contact him or if any opportunities would present themselves. All he knew at the time was that he had to follow his dream to play college football.

As luck would have it, a short while after entering the Transfer Portal, Oklahoma reached out and asked Heinecke to come for a visit. He and his family took OU up on the invitation, and not long after, Venables offered Heinecke a spot on the roster as a preferred walk-on.

Heinecke knew it was taking a big risk as a walk-on, but he was willing to take the chance and put everything he had into the opportunity. He did not play at all in the 2022 season after suffering hip and knee injuries, but he got healthy and his hard work and perseverance landed him a spot on special teams as a redshirt freshman, where he saw action in every game the past two seasons.

This season, Heinecke has earned himself a spot in the OU linebacker rotation as backup to Bronko Nagurski Trophy candidate Kip Lewis.

"It's a lot of answered prayers and a lot of hard work," Heinecke said after the game on Saturday about his roundabout journey to become part of the Oklahoma football program.

"A lot of people are like, 'Did you think you would have been here? If you could have told yourself you'd be here three years ago would you believe it?' I always say yeah, this is what I dreamed of."

In his weekly press conference ahead of the road game at Temple on Saturday, Venables praised Heinecke as a shinning example of how you create opportunity for yourself and when you don't get it right away, you keep coming after it until you eventually break through.

"I'm really proud of him for not giving up on himself and not giving up on his opportunities," Venables said. "Give him credit, he's put the work in, and he kept showing up."

And he showed up in a major way against Michigan, and fans can expect to see a lot more of that as the season goes forward.

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