One of the areas in which head coach Brent Venables was hoping for a major upgrade in 2024 was in special teams.
During the offseason, Venables added Doug Deakin to the coaching staff to work with special teams. He also brought in another kicker, Tyler Keltner, formerly of Florida State, from the transfer portal.
The sixth-year player out of Tallahassee, Florida, made his Oklahoma debut against Temple on Friday night and delivered a 50-yard field goal in his first attempt, and followed that with successful kicks of 42 and 24 yards. He was also successful on all six of his point-after kicks.
On Monday, Keltner became the first Oklahoma Sooner to earn SEC weekly honors, being named Co-Co-Special Teams Player of the Week. He shared the4 honor with Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring.
Keltner's 50-yard field goal in the first quarter against Temple was the first made FG of 50 or more yards by an OU kicker since Gabe Brkic made one of 53 yards versus Texas Tech in 2021. It was also only the fourth of that distance in an Oklahoma season opener in program history.
It was only the second time in OU history that a player made a field goal of 50-plus yards on his first attempt in a Sooner uniform, Tony DiRienzo accomplished the feat with a 63-yarder in 1973.
Keltner finished the Sooners' season opener accounting for 15 of Oklahoma's 51 points. That was second most among SEC kickers over the weekend. Before transferring to Florida State, he spent four seasons at East Tennessee State.
The sixth-year kicker has a career success rate of 77 percent on field goal tries (59 of 77) and a career long of 54 yards.