Oklahoma

Oklahoma Kicker Tyler Keltner Has a Big Personality and Bigger Confidence

Published

1 year ago

September 4, 2024

Oklahoma Kicker Tyler Keltner Has a Big Personality and Bigger Confidence

NORMAN — Oklahoma kicker Tyler Keltner has a boyish face and a slight frame.

But his personality belies his appearance, projecting through and overpowering any preconceived notions that he looks “young” or “small.”

And yet, his confidence, his humility and his right leg are even bigger than any of that.

That became evident on Friday night, when Brent Venables called on Keltner to kick a 50-yard field goal in the first quarter, and Keltner calmly stepped up and drove it right down Main Street. It was the Sooners’ first 50-yarder in three years, but for Keltner, it was no big deal.

“You might not believe me,” Keltner said after practice Monday, “but I get more nervous watching kickers on TV than me when I’m kicking by myself. When it’s me out there in a game, there’s a certain calmness that comes through.

“I think it’s just everybody practicing. I’m just so confident in everybody and confident in what I do. I go out there and it’s just like, pure bliss watching people on TV kick. … I’m like, ‘What are they going to do? How’s their operation? And they’ve been practicing? What are they doing?’ But when it’s us and when it’s me, it’s just the best feeling in the world.”

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Keltner is OU’s first-ever SEC Player of the Week, landing the league’s special teams accolades a perfect night with three field goals and six PATs.

Friday night in front of 80,000 citizens of Sooner Nation was a big, big step for Keltner, who beat out two-year starter Zach Schmit for the job. In four years as the starting kicker at East Tennessee State, he never saw a crowd like the one that watched OU beat Temple 51-3. Even last year, when he kicked one just PAT for Florida State — late in a November home victory over North Alabama — the announced attendance at Doak Campbell Stadium was 79,560, and most of them had cleared out by the time he lined up for the extra point.

“It’s just nice to be playing again through all the waiting, then all the work in the last two years,” Keltner said. “I truly feel like I’ve gotten a little bit better over the last two years. It’s just fun to go out there and just have fun with it again.”

He left a four-time All-Southern Conference career at ETSU to join his hometown Seminoles, but he couldn’t beat out Ryan Fitzgerald. So he hit the transfer portal one more time, landing in Norman with all the confidence in the world.

That confidence only grew once he got to OU. Keltner said a preseason training camp visit from Sooners linebacker legend Teddy Lehman gave everyone a fresh perspective, specifically how all the work they’ve put in starting in January means the 2024 season is already halfway over.

“When I think about how much work we’ve put in, how much running, kicking, all this and that, why wouldn’t I come out and feel some sort of confidence in all of that?” Keltner said. “It’d be disrespectful to the team and the university if I didn’t.”

Keltner was similarly grateful to get to play last year for the Seminoles. He grew up in Tallahassee rooting for FSU, and as the ‘Noles went undefeated last year, he got great joy out of it.

“That was a great team to wait on kicking for,” he said. “So I had a good time. I learned a lot about myself and my routine. I just really learned about my love for the game again. So just to get back and show all that again is such an unreal experience.”

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To listen to Keltner talk about college football, and OU football in particular, is to hear a young man who is is humbled by his good fortune in life.

“Just hearing guys talk about this field has been here for 100 years,” he said. “Seriously, that gives me goosebumps right now because I can’t fathom that. That was when my great-grandparents were being born. Like, come on.

“When you think about how many people stepped on this field and put their best foot forward and represented OU, that humbles me almost instantly. So I can walk out here and feel comfortable knowing that I’m representing them and I’ve got to put my best forward to honor that.”

Keltner beat out Schmit in a competition that was “as close as it can be,” he said. “I think me coming in here helped him and I think seeing how good he was, it helped me out. It really was an iron sharpening iron situation.”

“Just, there’s a body of work, and not just the training camp,” Venables said after the game Friday. “There’s the summer, there’s the spring, it’s a body of work, and he’s shown with his career he’s getting in the games, he made most of them, and so he had a good track record that way. But Zach had a great camp too, and as I said it, we went in, just made a decision, ‘This is what we were going to do.’ And, you know, glad for Tyler stepping up and executing. Really nice job in his debut.”

Keltner also gained an appreciation for Schmit’s ball-striking consistency and the power in Schmit’s right leg, which produced seven touchbacks among his 10 kickoffs.

“I was just telling somebody earlier that I’m not sure if I would have had the night I had if Zach Schmit didn’t have the night that he had,” Keltner said. “I mean talk about 10 kickoffs — we scored 10 times. That doesn’t happen too often. … When you have 10 kickoffs, that’s going to destroy anybody’s leg, especially if you’re doing both. So props to him. He’s such a massive, massive support beam for this team. We’re both just doing what we can to help this team out.”

While Keltner’s 50-yard missile was probably the most fun kick he had last week, the most stressful was a PAT on which the snap was inside and the hold was dropped. But holder Josh Plaster still gathered the ball and got it down just enough for Keltner to slap it through.

“Let’s thank soccer for that one,” Keltner said. “I’ve played soccer for a long time, and in those moments, when you walk out under these lights, your natural instincts coming out. The lights are on, there are fans in the crowd and everybody kinda blacks out a little bit.

“Soccer in my background, that has a lot to do with it.”

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Oklahoma

Former Colorado State RB Lloyd Avant headed to Oklahoma

Published

6 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Former Colorado State RB Lloyd Avant headed to Oklahoma

The Sooners have added reinforcement to their backfield for the 2026 season in the form of Colorado State transfer Lloyd Avant.

The rising junior has committed to Oklahoma, and will join the program with two years of eligibility remaining. He’ll add explosiveness and versatility to an OU running back corps headlined by returning workhorses Xavier Robinson and Tory Blaylock.

It’s a return to the Sooner State for Avant, who spent his freshman season at Tulsa in 2024. He signed with the Golden Hurricane out of high school as a three-star recruit. At the time, TU’s head coach was Kevin Wilson, who’s now on staff with Oklahoma as an offensive analyst.

Avant made an immediate impact at Tulsa as a true freshman, rushing for 259 yards and a TD and adding a kick return touchdown. But after Wilson’s dismissal, the 5-foot-10, 200-pounder elected to enter the transfer portal and eventually landed at CSU. There, he became a weapon in several facets for the program during his lone season with the Rams. He totaled over 900 all-purpose yards, 417 of which came on the ground and 261 of which came via pass reception. He scored six total TD’s and averaged nearly six yards per touch.

Upon Avant’s second portal entry, the Sooners quickly emerged as the team to watch in his recruitment. He visited campus Sunday and didn’t take long to lock in his decision.

A native of Humble, Texas, Avant gives Oklahoma six scholarship running backs heading into the new season. He joins Robinson, Blaylock, Andy Bass, and a pair of incoming freshmen in Jonathan Hatton and DeZephen Walker. It’ll also be of some intrigue to see whether OU offers him the chance to return kicks. As a team, the Sooners attempted just two kickoff returns in 2025, opting almost exclusively for fair catches. That philosophy could change with a proven special teams weapon like Avant in the stable.

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Oklahoma

Oklahoma City takes on Charlotte, looks for 4th straight home win

Published

18 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Oklahoma City takes on Charlotte, looks for 4th straight home win

Charlotte Hornets (12-23, 12th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (30-6, first in the Western Conference)

Oklahoma City; Monday, 8 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Thunder -15.5; over/under is 232.5

BOTTOM LINE: Oklahoma City hosts Charlotte looking to continue its three-game home winning streak.

The Thunder have gone 17-2 at home. Oklahoma City scores 121.9 points while outscoring opponents by 14.7 points per game.

The Hornets have gone 5-13 away from home. Charlotte ranks fourth in the league averaging 15.1 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 36.7% from downtown. Kon Knueppel leads the team averaging 3.6 makes while shooting 42.8% from 3-point range.

The Thunder’s 13.6 made 3-pointers per game this season are the same per game average that the Hornets allow. The Hornets are shooting 45.6% from the field, 2.5% higher than the 43.1% the Thunder’s opponents have shot this season.

The teams square off for the second time this season. The Thunder won 109-96 in the last meeting on Nov. 16. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 33 points, and Miles Bridges led the Hornets with 15 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Chet Holmgren is averaging 18.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 25.0 points over the last 10 games.

Bridges is averaging 20.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Hornets. Brandon Miller is averaging 4.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 6-4, averaging 118.9 points, 42.5 rebounds, 24.7 assists, 9.9 steals and 5.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.3 points per game.

Hornets: 5-5, averaging 118.7 points, 45.6 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 7.6 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 117.8 points.

INJURIES: Thunder: Nikola Topic: out (groin), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee), Ousmane Dieng: out (calf), Jaylin Williams: out (heel), Isaiah Hartenstein: out (calf).

Hornets: Mason Plumlee: out (groin), Grant Williams: out (acl), Ryan Kalkbrenner: day to day (elbow), Tidjane Salaun: day to day (ankle), Moussa Diabate: day to day (wrist).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Oklahoma

Three Big 12 Transfers Oklahoma State Is Reportedly Interested In

Published

1 day ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Three Big 12 Transfers Oklahoma State Is Reportedly Interested In

PORTAL TRACKER

Oklahoma State’s newly constructed staff got on the board Saturday, picking up portal commitments on offense and special special teams, so how about some defense?

Three Big 12 defenders have been linked with Oklahoma State via the transfer portal over the past few days, including a pair of former OK Preps standouts. Here’s a look.

Kanijal Thomas, CB, Kansas State

Thomas is an Oklahoman, playing his high school ball at Del City. He visited Stillwater on Saturday, according to On3.

He was a redshirt sophomore for the Wildcats in 2025, playing in seven games as a true freshman in 2023 before an injury saw his sophomore season end two games in.

Thomas played in eight games at K-State in 2025, finishing the year with five tackles, a PBU and a forced fumble. According to PFF, he gave up four catches for 21 yards this season on seven targets.

Now listed at 5-foot-11, 186 pounds, Thomas was a three-star prospect coming out of Del City in the 2023 class. He picked K-State over offers from OSU, Texas Tech, Iowa State and others.

Maurion Horn, CB, Texas Tech

Another Oklahoma kid, Maurion Horn has spent the past four seasons in Lubbock, where he has played in 30 games during that time. According to 247Sports, Horn will visit Stillwater on Monday.

He started all of Tech’s games in 2024, finishing that season with 56 tackles, three tackles for loss and five pass breakups. He played in seven games and dealt with some sort of injury, appearing on Tech’s availability report in Weeks 4, 14 and 15.

Horn has been targeted 88 times in his career, per PFF, where he has allowed just 47 catches.

He was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of Broken Arrow. He ended up picking Tech over offers from OSU, OU, Texas, Baylor, Arkansas and others.

Braylon Rigsby, Edge, Texas Tech

Listed at 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, Braylon Rigsby will join his Texas Tech teammate in Stillwater on Monday, according to 247Sports.

He’s played in 26 games across the past two seasons in Lubbock, accumulating 25 tackles and three tackles for loss during that time.

Per PFF, Rigsby has 21 QB pressures in his career to go with two QB hits.

He hails from Woodsville, Texas, which is near the Louisiana border. Rigsby was a three-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, coming in as the No. 861 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking.

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