Transfer Tales: Why TE Austin Stogner Followed His Heart Back to Oklahoma

Stogner watched the Sooners struggle through the 2022 season and admired former teammates Brayden Willis' emergence as a dominant tight end in Jeff Lebby's offense.

John E. Hoover | Mar 20, 2023

Austin Stogner couldn’t help it.

All the way from Columbia, SC, he watched the Oklahoma Sooners play football every week.

Ultimately, that helped him discover that Oklahoma, not South Carolina, was the place he needed to be.

“I love this place and I wanted to play here one more season,” Stogner said. “Maybe you take it for granted when you’re here but when you leave, you miss it.”

Stogner is one of 11 OU arrivals via the NCAA Transfer Portal who enrolled for the current semester and resume their college football careers on Tuesday, when the Sooners open spring practice.

Stogner, of course, has been through it all before at OU. But never with Brent Venables as his head coach and Jeff Lebby as his offensive coordinator. He’s back at OU hoping to make a difference in the offense, hoping to help his team win — and hoping to catch some passes.

Stogner met his new head coach soon after Venables was hired in December 2021. Venables was prepared to make a sales pitch to keep him, but he said Stogner’s mind was already made up. The meeting was more like, “Hi coach, I’m Austin, nice to meet you, I’m transferring to South Carolina.”

Austin Stogner :: BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

But that brief meeting left an impression on both men, and it certainly served Stogner well when he decided he wanted to come home.

“I called my buddy (former Sooner quarterback) Tanner Schafer,” Stogner said. “I used to live with him and now he's a coach. So I called him and I was like, ‘Hey, can you talk to them? I want to come back.’ ”

Stogner said he “was hoping (Venables) would say yes,” and that it would have been “awkward” if he’d said no. Once Venables said yes, Stogner said he “didn’t talk to anybody in the portal” even though he had inquiries from Colorado, West Virginia, Ole Miss and SMU.

“I just wanted to be here,” he said.

“He’s really happy to be back,” Venables said. “I think he’s in a comfortable place. I think he enjoyed his time at South Carolina — maybe something that he needed at that time of his life. But also I think it gave him an opportunity to have the right perspective about this opportunity here at the University of Oklahoma.

“And being close with his family — and, having an opportunity to be in this type of system to highlight ‘his ability’ in the use of our tight ends.”

Stogner said the family element was a big part of it. Flying out of Dallas every week to various SEC venues was hard on his family. Driving up I-35 for his senior year will be much easier for everyone.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Stogner has had a busy career, but he still hasn’t come close to reaching his potential as an offensive weapon.

Recruited by former Lincoln Riley assistant Shane Beamer, Stogner arrived as a 4-star tight end in OU’s ballyhooed class of 2019, with 5-stars Spencer Rattler, Theo Wease, Jaden Haselwood and Trejan Bridges. That collection of offensive talent was supposed to set the college football world on fire, but it never materialized. There were no 1,000-yard seasons, no All-American accolades. In fact, all five players transferred away from Norman. Rattler, too, ended up with Beamer at South Carolina.

Now, thanks to Stogner’s almost unprecedented return, only one of them will finish his career as a Sooner.

As a true freshman in 2019, Stogner caught just seven passes for 66 yards with two touchdowns — both in the school-record comeback at Baylor.

He broke out with 26 catches for 422 yards and three TDs in 2020, but three-quarters of the way through the season, Stogner suffered a devastating injury — a deep thigh bruise that became a near-fatal infection — and lost 35 pounds.

The following year, with Joe Jon Finley as his position coach, Stogner continued to work his way back into shape and caught just 14 passes for 166 yards and three TDs.

At the end of the 2021 season, Stogner and his teammates were gut-punched by Riley’s departure to USC. Stogner decided he wanted to reunite with his old position coach, Beamer, who had taken over the head coaching job at South Carolina.

So Stogner split for Columbia, where last year he made 10 starts but shared time and finished with 20 catches for 210 yards and one TD.

For More Transfer Tales

In February, Stogner gave his perspective on the carnage initially wrought by Riley’s exit.

“(Joe Castiglione and Bob Stoops) came in there and said, ‘Coach Riley came in there and said he's leaving; going to go into USC,’ ” Stogner said. “And then, ‘You just have to make a decision that's best for you.’ That's all I kind of remember.

“I was like, ‘That's crazy.’ But I mean, I guess I get it. He's got to make a decision that he thinks is best for his family. And yeah, that's that's what he did. So best of luck to him.”

Stogner, of course, almost immediately followed Riley’s example.

“I tried to make the best decision for me,” he said, “and I thought that was going to a coach that I played for before in Beamer. I played with him for two years (at OU). I trusted him and I went there and had a good experience there.”

Stogner split time and shared snaps with Jaheim Bell — who also left South Carolina and has transferred to Florida State — in a lot of “big” formations.

“Stogner was involved in more two-tight end sets than I presume he ever was during his first time he was in Norman under Lincoln Riley,” Gamecocks Digest writer Andrew Lyon told AllSooners. “He usually lined up as a wing tight end and was asked to do a ton of kick-out blocks … and in spite of his size moved quite efficiently when asked to do this. He was also asked at times to perform in-line blocking, which usually was done in combination with an offensive lineman, and his size helped him in this regard.”

Austin Stogner at South Carolina / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

“You know, it was more like an NFL system there,” Stogner said. “So learning like, the football side of it, like getting in the huddle and doing that stuff and playing more with my hand on the ground and becoming a better blocker and stuff.

“And then, you know, I just learned a lot about myself, like, that I love playing the game and I want to play it for as long as I can — and you know, I just missed this place.”

Stogner never complained, but some observers said his body language and facial expressions conveyed his feelings about how he was used in Marcus Satterfield’s offense.

“He was used on a bunch of fades, slants, and mainly horizontal route concepts in Satterfield's offense which, from what I see in Stogner, is nowhere near the best way to utilize his skillset,” Lyon said. “At the end of the day, I think Stogner missed Oklahoma and wanted to be closer to home, and his use in the offense played a (smaller) role than some would assume.”

Still, Stogner always kept one eye on his old teammates as they mostly thrived in their new offense. Brayden Willis, who had been a utility player under Riley, moving back and forth from fullback to tight end to H-back to wideout, became a featured piece in Lebby’s scheme.

Willis caught 36 passes for 484 yards and six touchdowns in his first four seasons under Riley.

He caught 39 passes for 514 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns and became a team captain in one season under Lebby.

Did Stogner notice Willis’ sudden emergence?

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I called Brayden before — I just kept tabs on (them), just watching the Sooners throughout the year and kept tabs on the guys.

“Yeah, he's worked his butt off ever since I've known him. He’s one of the hardest workers. It was just a matter of time. He’s the man.”

Now maybe it’s Stogner’s turn to be the man for Lebby and quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

“It’s a good offense for a tight end,” Stogner said. “I think I can contribute and do some things well in this offense.”

Until now, Stogner has been studying the playbook, working out for Jerry Schmidt, going through the coaching station drills and just running routes on air. But practice opens Tuesday, and things will start to feel more real.

“It's been good,” Stogner said. “Third offense learning, so you got kind of some tips and trick to help learn it. And Dillon’s cool. He’s done a great job, great high-energy guy, you know, makes his workouts a lot easier and brings a lot energy.”

Stogner is older now and has evolved into a more natural leader. That was noticed in Columbia, and it’s noticed by his new teammates.

“Stogner is a great leader,” Lyon said, “and I think if anything, he might be one of the biggest gets for Venables this offseason in terms of having leadership in the locker room.”

“He’s really taken me under his wing,” said Texas A&M transfer Blake Smith. “He’s been here and he’s an older guy, so he has experienced a lot of playing time. So to be able to learn from him and be able to bond with him is a blessing.”

Even in the age of the transfer portal, a player leaving one school and returning a year later can be considered rare. But at South Carolina, Stogner is but one of two players who followed the boomerang path. Wide receiver Corey Rucker transferred there from Arkansas State, and in January, he returned to Jonesboro.

“When I left,” Stogner said, “it was like, kind of so crazy, you know? Everything just kind of like, hit the fan or whatever, and I just tried to make the best decision for me — and I thought that was me leaving.

“And then coming back, I wanted to play another year. Like, in 40 years, you look back like, ‘Wish I had played another season of football’ — and in a place that I love, and that's coming back here. So that's what made me come back.

“I love this place and I want to play here one more season. … I’m grateful that Coach Venables let me come back. So I'm really excited to be here.”

Published Mar 20, 2023

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.