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Oklahoma Kicker Tyler Keltner Lands Sooners' First SEC Honor

The Sooners' transfer from East Tennessee State via Florida State made three field goals in his OU debut, including the program's first 50-yarder since 2021.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma place kicker Tyler Keltner (98)
Oklahoma place kicker Tyler Keltner (98) / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
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It took Tyler Keltner just one game to make his mark in the Southeastern Conference.

Keltner, Oklahoma's senior placekicker, was named Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday after his performance in Friday's season-opening victory over Temple.

Keltner, a sixth-year senior from Tallahassee, FL, banged through three field goals without a miss in the Sooners' 51-3 win over the Owls. He landed co-SEC special teams honors along with Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring.

Keltner knocked through a 50-yarder in the first quarter to give the Sooners a 17-0 lead. He made a 42-yarder in the second quarter to push OU's lead to 20-0. And he added a 24-yard kick in the third quarter to make it 37-0. While going 3-for-3 on field goals, Keltner also made 6-of-6 PAT attempts.

His first kick was OU's first 50-yard field goal since Gabe Brkic made three during the 2021 season and is just the fourth in a season opener in program history.

Keltner became just the second kicker in OU history to convert a 50-yard field goal on his first attempt as a Sooner. The other was a 60-yarder by Tony DiRienzo in 1973.

Keltner's 15 points tied as the second most by an SEC kicker on the week. Among the three SEC kickers who made three field goals, he was the only won with a 50-yarder.

Keltner transferred to OU to compete for the kicking job as two-year starter Zach Schmit struggled with his consistency in games in 2022 and 2023. Keltner, Schmit and freshman Liam Evans competed for the job in spring practice, but coach Brent Venables said over the summer that Keltner was the "odds on favorite" to win the Sooners' kicking job. The competition continued between Schmit and Keltner in August, and Keltner eventually separated.

“Just, there's a body of work," Venables said after the game on Friday night, "and not just the training camp. There's the summer, there's the spring, it's a body of work, and, you know? He's shown with his career, he's getting 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 played his first four seasons at East Tennessee State, where he made 56-of-74 field goals (77 percent) and all 138 PAT tries for 315 career points. Last season, he played for his hometown Florida State Seminoles but only got to attempt one kick.

Keltner made the All-Freshman Southern Conference Team in 2019, earned second-team All-SoCon honors in 2020, and was named first-team All-SoCon in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, he made three field goals in the season opener against SEC opponent Vanderbilt. In 2020, he made a program-record 54-yard field goal. In 2022, he made 17-of-20 from inside 50 yards.

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John E. Hoover

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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