Oklahoma's Tate Sandell on Friday was named the winner of the Lou Groza Award as the best kicker in college football, but that moment, or any moment at all kicking a football, was close to never happening.
Just days after winning the Lou Groza Award and being at the top of his position, Sandell was asked during Monday's press conference to reflect on this season's accomplishments, and in disbelief, he immediately went back to a time when he almost quit football.
Tate Sandell reveals he almost quit football before transferring to Oklahoma
Sandell's college football career started in 2022 when he walked on at UTSA after graduating from Port Neches-Grove High School in Texas. After redshirting, Sandell earned kickoff duties in 2023, but he made just one field goal on two attempts. But in 2024, he broke out for a record-breaking season before entering the Transfer Portal during the spring and ending up in Oklahoma.
A few months later, Sandell has put together the greatest season an OU kicker ever has while becoming the first Sooner to win the Lou Groza Award. He was also named SEC Special Teams Player of the Year and an All-American by multiple outlets. And after a time when money was almost the reason his career ended, Sandell could be getting paid for a long time to kick a football.
Before anything was accomplished, Sandell had to have a serious conversation with his dad that was a reality check for his future as a kicker. Money was tight with Sandell not on scholarship, so it looked like Sandell would be forced to quit playing football at UTSA, abruptly concluding the career of the best kicker in college football before it even started.
"If you were to tell me I'd be here in three years, I'd laugh at you," Sandell said. "There was a point where me and my dad had that conversation, 'Man, the money is running out, like we're gonna have to think about some things.' I'm not gonna put my family in a financial burden, so I was almost done.
"Just thinking back to that, and to what I was able to do this year, there's nothing sweeter."