In His First Real Shot at the FBS Level, Kicker Tyler Keltner Was Perfect for Oklahoma

Tyler Keltner spent four years at the FCS level before transferring to Florida State, where he got only one field goal attempt before coming to Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Sooners place kicker Tyler Keltner / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma seemed to have found itself a kicker. 

In his Sooners debut, OU kicker Tyler Keltner was a perfect 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts in the Sooners’ season-opening 51-3 win against Temple on Friday night in Norman. That included makes of 50, 42 and 24 yards. He also made all six of his point-after attempts. 

OU started a kicker search this past offseason after some inconsistency at the position last season, especially from beyond 40 yards. That search led the Sooners to Keltner, who transferred from Florida State after only one year there. 

Last season, OU starting kicker Zach Schmit was 2-of-5 on kicks over 40 yards. Keltner matched that total Friday night in his first game. 

Clearly, Keltner had a good enough camp to win the job, and now it seems he's created some separation in what was a two-man race.

“It was just the body of work and not just in training camp,” OU head coach Brent Venables said Friday night. “There’s the summer, there’s the spring. It’s a body of work. And he’s shown with his career, when he gets into games he made most of them. He’s had a good track record that way. 

“But Zach had a great camp, too. As I said, we went in, just made a decision of this is what we were gonna do. I’m glad for Tyler stepping up and executing. Really nice job in his debut.” 

Tuesday, when Venables met with the media, he said the plan was for Keltner to take care of field goals while Schmit would handle kickoff duties, and that's how the opener played out.

"We know Zach’s got a big leg and he’ll be our kickoff guy," Venables said at his weekly press conference. "And Kelt will start the season off as our field goal kicker, and what I saw, I’ve got a lot of confidence in both of those guys, based on what I saw from the spring and summer."

Venables proved to be a man of his word. 

Of the 10 kickoffs that Schmit handled, he booted seven to the end zone for touchbacks. And Keltner was obviously excellent in his role. 

Keltner was a backup during his lone season at Florida State, converting only a single field goal attempt. He cut his teeth for four years at FCS East Tennessee State, though. He started every season there before making the leap to the FBS level. 

At East Tennessee State, Keltner made an All-Southern Conference team every year, including on the first team his final two seasons there in 2021 and 2022. He was on the second team in 2020 and All-Freshman team in 2019. 

Keltner was 17-of-23 on field goal attempts during his last full season in 2022 at East Tennessee State. His long was 49 yards, which he already bested Week 1 this season. He was also perfect on PAT tries, going 38-for-38. 

Overall in his career at two different levels now, Keltner is 59-for-77 (76.6 percent) on field goal attempts. He’s never missed a PAT on 138 tries. 

For comparison, Schmit, with all of his numbers coming while at OU, is 28-of-40 (70 percent) in his career. That success rate dips to 58.8 percent, though, on attempts over 40 yards, with his long being a 46 yarder. 

Although Venables has emphasized viewing large bodies of work during this kicker battle, it seems like Keltner's small sample size Week 1 could be enough to secure his new job going forward.