There were a lot of questions regarding Oklahoma heading into the 2019 season. Offensively, everybody wanted to know what quarterback Jalen Hurts was bringing to the table. Defensively, what could Alex Grinch to for that unit as defensive coordinator?
However, there was another one. After four seasons of Austin Seibert handling all the kicking duties, it was time for a new day.
The Sooners knew they didn’t have another Seibert on the roster who could kick field goals, kickoffs and punts. That’s not what was needed with punter Reeves Mundschau checking off one of those boxes.
Nobody really knew what OU had at kicker between Calum Sutherland and Gabe Brkic. When the season began, it was Sutherland as place kicker and Brkic handling the kickoff duties.
Off the field issues started to mount for Sutherland thrusting Brkic into more of the spotlight. Turns out, that might be when Brkic shines the most.
“Both those guys did a good job and then we also had some desire to try to be able to spread those jobs out a little bit, but Gabe has just come on,” said head coach Lincoln Riley last week. “He's been a little bit of a gamer. He does well in practice, but then he gets in a game and has a good way about himself, good confidence.”
It has shown up time and time again. From his first field goal attempt against Texas Tech to his 4-of-4 outing at Kansas State, Brkic hasn’t blinked.
He is 10-of-10 for the season, including a 50-yard connection against the Wildcats. With 39 of his 69 kickoffs resulting in touchbacks, that’s 57 percent of his kicks that haven’t been returned. And he hasn’t missed an extra point yet.
“Just the unexpected nature of how it happened. Here he is doing two different ways for us,” Riley said. “He's handled it well. He's always kind of been one of those guys that even when we do some things in practice to simulate those pressure kicks, overtime period, all the ones like that we've had, he seems to always make them. I mean, he does.
“He might go out and hit 7 of 10 and 8 of 10 of a normal field goal period, and all of a sudden, you give him kind of a pressure, more of a real-life kick in that scenario, he's always done really well. He's always kind of had the stomach for it.”
Brkic was doing his job just fine, but what he showed in Manhattan was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise downer of an afternoon. Not only was he 4-of-4 on his attempts and making the 50-yarder, but he showed he could make the pressure kick.
The Sooners hadn’t faced much adversity at all in the initial seven games, so it was one lingering question mark that now OU fans can gladly cross off.
Nobody wanted to find the answer in a loss, but it could absolutely pay dividends for the Sooners further down the road.
“He may have been our best player on the whole field,” Riley said. “He did a tremendous job. Those were big kicks. They weren't easy kicks. Either some distance or in pressure moments and did a tremendous job. Had a lot of confidence there in the end to be able to kick that and try to make it a one-score game. He was fantastic.”
Nobody knew much about Brkic as a redshirt last season and what his story was, maybe even fewer knew he was actually on scholarship the entire time. But people know who he is now, and OU is certainly happy to have him in the fold.
“I think he's kicking with confidence now, and I think also, the confidence he has in our field-goal team, the protection and Kasey and Connor has a lot to do with it,” Riley said. “Having an experienced snapper and a really, really good holder makes a huge, huge difference. It's almost like a young golfer having an elite caddy almost in a way. Having those guys makes a big difference.”
And having Brkic is clearly making a difference for the Sooners.
