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Former Oklahoma tight end picks SMU

Grant Calcaterra, who was initially committed to Auburn after coming out of medical retirement, elects to follow Tanner Mordecai in transferring to SMU
John E. Hoover|
Former Oklahoma tight end picks SMU
Former Oklahoma tight end picks SMU

Former Oklahoma tight end Grant Calcaterra’s winding journey has taken him to SMU.

Calcaterra announced via Twitter Wednesday that he would play this season for the Mustangs.

Calcaterra announced in December 2019 he was retiring due to concussions and would pursue a carer as a firefighter. Then in August 2020 he announced he would unretire and wanted to return to football. In November he announced he would transfer to Auburn. But after Gus Malzahn was fired, he decommitted from Auburn.

Calcaterra, from Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, caught 41 passes for 637 yards and nine touchdowns in his three-year OU career, but he hasn’t played since Week 3 of his junior season in 2019.

Calcaterra’s best season was 2018, when he caught 26 passes for 396 yards and six touchdowns, including a game-clinching one-handed TD against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game.

At SMU, he’ll be reunited with former Sooners quarterback Tanner Mordecai, who led OU last month.

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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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