Oklahoma K Zach Schmit Missless, 'Able to Swing Freely' Since Return in Starting Lineup

The Sooners senior has made all seven of his attempts since retaking the starting field goal role against Auburn.

Oct 26, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Oklahoma Sooners kicker/kicker Zach Schmit (34) kicks a filed goal during the first half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

NORMAN — The best performance by a Sooners kicker in three years was overshadowed by Oklahoma’s 30-23 loss to No. 24 Missouri on Saturday.

Senior Zach Schmit made 3-of-3 field goal attempts, including a career-long 56-yarder before the halftime bell that tied the third longest kick in program history, and hit a pair of PATs as the Sooners fell short in Columbia.

“The past two years have been really rough, not only for myself but for the team,” Schmit, an Oklahoma City native and Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School alum said Wednesday night, “but for me, the past two years really hurt myself knowing how much I dragged the team down a little bit, in my own eyes. So, to be able to get back out this year and trust myself, my preparation and knowing that I’ve earned the guys’ respect, it’s helped me a lot to just have confidence in myself and it came through this year, I felt like.

“I’ve been able to trust myself, my preparation and just be able to swing freely."

Schmit walked-on at OU after an illustrious career at McGuinness and was groomed to succeed OU’s most memorable placekicker of the past decade, Gabe Brkic. He was rated a 5-star prospect by Kohl’s and a top-five kicker in the 2020 class. After redshirting in 2020 and appearing in four games in ‘21, he got his shot in ‘22 as the Sooners’ full-time starter.

As the Sooners floundered to a 6-7 record under then-first-year-coach Brent Venables, Schmit connected on 12 of his 18 attempts and was perfect on PATs (a streak that has persisted to now) but gained a reputation for missing important kicks, like his 34-yard overtime miss that allowed Texas Tech to defeat the Sooners 51-48 in Lubbock.

He retained the starting job in ‘23 but continued to struggle in high-pressure moments, finishing a slightly better 15-of-21 but missing several key kicks against UCF, BYU and Oklahoma State as the Sooners finished 10-3.

“I, myself am a perfectionist both in sports and in school and basically everything I try to do. So it was very hard for me to get away from that perfectionist attitude — I still am, trust me," Schmit said. "Trust me, I want to go out there and make every single kick, but I also know that if it doesn't go my way, that is OK. People are going to be upset, but people are going to be upset with you no matter what you do, whether it's football, work, just anything in life. You've just got to know that I have a tight circle of friends, family and those are the people that matter the most to me.”

Transfer Tyler Keltner was brought in to compete for the job in lieu of Schmit’s struggles in 2023 and assumed the starting role on field goals, though Schmit continued to be the kickoff man.

Transferring or quitting the sport altogether was “never a thought” that crossed Schmit’s mind.

“I have never been a quitter, I guess. My parents always raised me to never quit, never stop. If I'm committed to something, which I was committed to this team, I was not ever going to walk away,” Schmit said. “On my kickoff team, I've got Billy (Bowman), I've got Danny (Stutsman), I've got a lot of defensive guys who play a ton of snaps, so if my job is kicking a touchback for them so they don't have to make one tackle for one play then that was my job and I was going to try to do that to the best of my ability, regardless if I was going to be doing the field-goal kicking or not, so to me, no. It's never about the individual for me, it's about helping this team.

“So I was never going to walk away,” Schmit said.

Then, Schmit’s chance for redemption came. Keltner was inactive against Auburn, allowing Schmit to hit his lone PAT and a pair of field goals, including a win-sealing 39-yard attempt that delivered OU its first win against Auburn,a 27-21 victory in which Schmit scored 7 points.

Keltner returned against Texas but missed a first-quarter field goal after a Bowman interception that would have given the Sooners an early lead. Schmit returned to kick field goals the subsequent week against South Carolina.

“It’s about finding the identity. If you put the identity of yourself in this game, and you do really bad, then it can just crush you. But if you’re able to put your identity in your family, your friends, the type of person you are, your character, then you realize in the world of it, it’s just a really small game,” Schmit said. “So that’s allowed me to just be free with myself and say you know what, whatever happens here, I’m good. Everything’s OK. I have a plan. God has a plan for me. That’s helped me a ton. I have a path for myself. I know God has a plan for me, so it just helped me a lot.”

Since he was reinserted into the starting lineup, Schmit has hit all of his seven attempts, the 56-yarder his favorite of those.

“It was awesome. I’ve kinda been waiting for a 50-plus yarder my entire career, high school and college. I’ve missed, I think, three in my career here in college, so I’ve been itching to get one,” Schmit said. “I didn’t know if that opportunity was gonna come. Even before the (season), I was telling myself if I ever were to get a 50-plus yarder, I knew I would have to make it just because they can be so slim. So I know when I got out there and got that chance, I knew I just had to swing for the fences and just trust myself.”

Admittedly, Schmit wishes his perfection was contributing in wins, not losses. The Sooners sit 1-5 in conference play with two of their biggest tests, Alabama and LSU, awaiting.

“If I'm being 100% honest with you, if I could be 0 for 7 and the team could be 10-0 right now, I would check that box in a heartbeat,” Schmit said.