Houston Cougars Have the Swaggiest Kicker in the Big 12

One of the big reasons for Houston football’s successful first half of the season has been because of special teams. The Cougars now have stability at the kicker position and can reliably generate three points once they reach the 30-yard line.

Senior kicker Ethan Sanchez won his second Big 12 conference player of the week honor after his perfect performance at Oklahoma State, going 4/4 with makes from 48, 46, 30, and 29 yards out as well as three extra points.

A Confident Kicking Game

Sanchez is the only kicker in the nation with multiple games of making four or more field goals. That includes his five-makes night against Colorado.

The Old Dominion transfer has more makes through six games than the single-season record holder, Roman Anderson. Eight of Sanchez’s field goals have been from at least 40 yards out. So far, he is 14/16 on the year and 17/17 on extra points.

TNT’s play-by-play announcer, J.B. Long, referred to Sanchez this past Saturday as the swaggiest kicker in the Big 12. That has been quite clear with his confidence and demeanor. Earlier this season, after his fifth make against Colorado, Sanchez did the signature Cristiano Ronaldo “Siu” celebration in honor of his favorite player.

Sanchez is also not afraid to talk smack to opponents and was letting an Oklahoma State Cowboy know his thoughts after one of his field goal makes. The 5-foot-9, 192-lb placekicker drilled a 24-yard game-winning field goal in overtime against Oregon State in week 4 and then ran across the field in celebration.

In an interview with TNT before the Oklahoma State game, the Dallas, Ga. native did not even give a specific field goal range. He said, “wherever the team places the ball, I’m making it.” That is exactly what he did.

Another one 👏@e10_sanchez named @Big12Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season 🫡 pic.twitter.com/g09zemqxnN
— Houston Football (@UHCougarFB) October 13, 2025

A History of Strong Kickers

Houston head coach Willie Fritz was asked about Sanchez’s confidence in his weekly press conference on Monday. Fritz has actually had quite a few kickers who show a lot of confidence publicly.

Fritz recalled that Younghoe Koo was a very confident guy. Koo attended Georgia Southern University from 2013 to 2016, during which time Fritz served as the head coach from 2014 to 2015 before moving on to Tulane. In his last season, Koo was 19/20 on field goals and 28/29 on extra points and became the program’s first FBS All-American. Koo then eventually joined the Falcons in 2019 and made the Pro Bowl. Currently, he is the kicker for the New York Giants.

Fritz mentioned that Tyler Bass was also a very confident guy. While Bass may not have been the starting kicker during his first season at Georgia Southern as a redshirt in 2015 when Fritz was the head coach, he demonstrated his exceptional skills in his redshirt junior year two seasons later. Bass was 19/21 and 45/45 on extra points and got drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round in 2020 as an all-conference kicker out of the Sun Belt.

“Most of my great kickers have had a lot of confidence,” Fritz said. “You need to at that position.”

The Houston director of football operations, Shane Meyer, was a decorated kicker under Willie Fritz at Central Missouri. The former All-American was very confident during his days kicking the ball through the uprights and still is to this day.

Meyer has Central Missouri’s single-season record of 18 field goals in 1997 and is inducted in their hall of fame. Meyer was with Fritz at Tulane for eight seasons before following him to Houston.

Sanchez and the Cougars will look to continue their winning ways against Arizona for their homecoming game on Saturday.