Redshirt junior transfer shatters records with 23 straight field goals, perfect from 50+ yards, and becomes OU’s first individual SEC award winner while carrying the Sooners into the playoff
NORMAN — In a historic moment for the Oklahoma Sooners’ inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference, redshirt junior kicker Tate Sandell was named the 2025 SEC Special Teams Player of the Year, the league office announced on Wednesday.
The award, voted on by the conference’s 16 head coaches—who were prohibited from selecting their own players—marks the first individual SEC honor in OU football history.
Sandell’s selection also ends a seven-year drought for Oklahoma in conference special teams player of the year awards; the last Sooner to claim such an honor was Austin Seibert, who won the Big 12 version in 2018.
Already recognized as a First-Team All-SEC performer and one of three finalists for the prestigious Lou Groza Award (given annually to the nation’s top placekicker), Sandell has delivered one of the most remarkable kicking seasons in recent College Football memory.
The Port Neches, Texas native enters the postseason a stunning 23-of-24 on field goal attempts, having connected on each of his last 23 tries—an ongoing streak that has shattered both the Oklahoma single-season record and the SEC single-season record for consecutive makes.
His dominance from long distance has been particularly jaw-dropping. Sandell is a perfect 7-for-7 on kicks of 50 yards or longer, a figure that dwarfs the rest of the country (only one other kicker has even made five).
He is 10-for-10 from 45 yards and beyond, and his four successful field goals of 55-plus yards not only set a new career school record but also lead the entire FBS this season—no other kicker has more than two.
That 96% overall field goal percentage tops the SEC and ranks second nationally, while he has been perfect on all 32 extra-point attempts.
For his efforts, Sandell earned SEC Special Teams Player of the Week honors three times during the regular season.
Digging deeper into the record books reveals just how rare Sandell’s campaign has been. He is one of only two kickers since at least 1995 to convert seven or more 50-yard field goals without a miss in a single season.
His four makes from 55-plus yards (all four in career at OU) tie him with an elite group; only one other FBS kicker in the last 30 years has accomplished four such kicks in a single year, and Sandell is the only one to do it within a five-game span.
Perhaps most incredibly, Sandell leads the nation in average field goal make distance at 41.8 yards (minimum 15 makes) and has drilled an OU single-season record 15 field goals from 40 yards or longer—the previous program best was nine.
Individual games further underscore his clutch gene. Against Tennessee, he tied a school record by making four field goals (55, 51, 40, and another 55 yards) and matched Neyland Stadium’s all-time longest field goal record—twice in the same afternoon.
That performance made him the first FBS kicker since 2021 to hit three 50-yarders in one game (tying an FBS record) and the first since 2011 to boot two from 55-plus on the road.
After transferring from UTSA this offseason, Sandell has become the Sooners’ most reliable offensive weapon, accounting for 101 of Oklahoma’s 317 total points (31.9%)—an astonishing percentage for a kicker.
He has produced at least one field goal in each of the last 11 games and multiple three-field-goal games in four of the last six contests.
In November alone, Sandell scored 36 of OU’s 90 points during a perfect 4-0 month, including 26 of the team’s 56 points in road victories over Tennessee and Alabama.
Now, as the No. 8 seed Sooners (10-2, 6-2 SEC) prepare to host No. 9 seed Alabama (10-3, 7-1 SEC) in the First Round of the College Football Playoff on Friday, December 19 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, all eyes will once again be on Sandell’s right leg when the moment arrives.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally on ABC and ESPN.
In a season full of milestones for Oklahoma football, Tate Sandell has arguably delivered the brightest individual spotlight yet—one that has rightfully earned him the title of the SEC’s best special teams performer in 2025.