We’re taking a look at each position group as Oklahoma prepares to open spring practice on March 11. The 10th of a 10-part series looks at the specialists.

Oklahoma’s special teams was the weakest of the three facets of the game for the Sooners in 2023, and Brent Venables is hoping that changes in 2024 as the program makes its move to the SEC with a new assistant at the helm of the unit after bringing in Doug Deakin as special teams coordinator this offseason.

In the Sooners’ final season in the Big 12, their special teams unit ranked 94th nationally in SP+, according to ESPN. Only two Big 12 teams were worse in that aspect of the game: Houston (101st) and UCF (113th), both of which were newcomers to the conference and endured their own struggles as part of the transition to a Power Five league.

Most of Oklahoma’s struggles came at kicker, where Zach Schmit missed six field goal attempts for the second consecutive season. He finished 15-of-21 on field goals, including just 2-of-5 on kicks of 40-plus yards (and missed his lone attempt of 50 yards). Schmit was tied for 81st nationally and 11th in the Big 12 in field goal efficiency (71.4%), but he remained in the starting role as the Sooners did not have a more viable option to replace him during the season, thanks largely to an undisclosed injury to Gavin Marshall.

While Schmit’s inconsistency highlighted Oklahoma’s woes on special teams, he wasn’t solely responsible for the issues in that phase of the game. OU had a punt blocked for a touchdown in the Red River Rivalry, and Gavin Freeman—who electrified with a punt return for a touchdown in the season opener—endured his share of troubles fielding punts throughout the year. He muffed four punts and averaged just 6.8 yards per return (and just 2.4 yards per return outside of his 82-yard touchdown against Arkansas State).

It wasn’t all bad, though, as Luke Elzinga emerged as a solid punter during the second half of the season, averaging 46.5 yards per punt after taking over as starter, and Peyton Bowen proved to be a weapon on special teams, leading the Big 12 with a pair of blocked kicks.

Outlook: The seemingly good news for Oklahoma is that things should only get better on the special teams front in 2024, because the unit was a glaring weakness for the Sooners last season. Brent Venables tapped Doug Deakin, who spent the last six seasons overseeing special teams at San Diego State, to take over as Oklahoma’s special teams coordinator following the offseason departure of Jay Nunez (who joined Kalen DeBoer’s staff at Alabama in a similar capacity).

Deakin will have a chance to put his imprint on that phase of the game when spring practices begin, as the Sooners look to make considerable improvements on special teams this offseason.

The biggest question—at least, the one that everyone will have their eyes on this spring and into the fall—is what the Sooners end up doing at kicker. Schmit is back and will have a chance to retain his job, but he’ll have to show greater consistency and improvement than he did the last two years. Oklahoma has given itself options at kicker, though, with the addition of freshman Liam Evans, the eighth-ranked kicker in the 2024 class (per Kohl’s Kicking), and grad transfer Tyler Keltner, who was a backup at FSU last season but before that was an All-SoCon kicker at Eastern Tennessee State. He has connected on 56-of-74 career field goal attempts and all 132 point-after tries. The Sooners will have an open competition this offseason to see who emerges at kicker.

On the punting front, expect Luke Elzinga to retain his role as starter after emerging there during the second half of last season and averaging 3.93 seconds of hangtime, per Pro Football Focus, while not allowing a return on 17 of his 27 punt attempts (eight fair catches, three downed punts, four settled out of bounds and two touchbacks) and pinning opponents inside their own 20-yard line on 14 of his 27 punts.

Another aspect worth watching will be how Oklahoma divvies up return duties in 2024. Jalil Farooq is back after serving as Oklahoma’s primary kick returner last fall, averaging 22.21 yards on 19 returns, but expect to see multiple other players work on the return game in spring and fall practices (Billy Bowman Jr. was listed as the No. 2 return man last year and is also back, though he did not return a kick in 2023). As for punt returns, it’ll be interesting to see if Oklahoma sticks with Gavin Freeman after his struggles fielding punts last season. He obviously has some dynamic playmaking ability back there, but the frequency of muffed punts in 2023 have to raise some concerns. Expect the Sooners to evaluate their options on punt returns, whether it’s someone like Peyton Bowen or perhaps one of the new transfer additions like Deion Burks or Sam Franklin. No options should be off the table.