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Report: Oklahoma Will Opt for Kicker Zach Schmit vs. South Carolina

According to OU Insider's Parker Thune, the Sooners will go with Schmit instead of Tyler Keltner to kick against the Gamecocks today.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma kicker Zach Schmit
Oklahoma kicker Zach Schmit / Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
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NORMAN — Apparently Oklahoma is trying to shake some things up.

According to a post on Twitter/X this morning by OU Insider’s Parker Thune, the Sooners will go in a different direction at kicker.

Zach Schmit will take over the position for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference game against South Carolina, Thune said.

He replaces senior transfer Tyler Keltner, who made 1-of-2 field goals last week in the Sooners’ 34-3 loss to Texas. 

Keltner won the job in the preseason over Schmit, who started the last two seasons. But Keltner has had timing problems, taking a delay of game penalty before making a 50-yard field goal against Tulane and then hurrying through his pre-kick routine last week and missing a vital 44-yarder on the opening possession after a Texas turnover.

Keltner had an appendix procedure three weeks ago and missed the Sooners’ trip to Auburn, a 27-21 win.

In his absence, Schmit stepped in and made two high-pressure kicks, including one in the fourth quarter.

Keltner is 7-of-9 this season on field goals, while Schmit is 2-of-2. Schmit also has handled all of OU’s kickoff this season, and hit 23 of his 32 kickoffs for touchbacks.

In his first two seasons as OU's kicker, Schmit made 27-of-39 field goal attempts. Keltner, who played as a backup last year for his hometown Florida State Seminoles, was a four-time All-Southern Conference honoree at East Tennessee State, where he made 56-of-74 field goals.

The Sooners go into Saturday's 11:45 p.m. kickoff with a 1-2 SEC record and a 4-2 overall mark. OU began the week as a 7 1/2-point favorite, but the betting line now favors the Gamecocks (3-3, 1-3) by a point.

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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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