'Funny' Oklahoma Kicker Gabe Brkic Named Lou Groza Award Star of the Week
The awards keep rolling in for Oklahoma kicker Gabe Brkic after his stunning season-opening performance against Tulane on Saturday.
Brkic tied a school record with four field goals, and tied an NCAA record with three field goals of at least 50 yards. He buried kicks of 51, 55 and 56 yards and also hit a 26-yarder, and on Tuesday was one of four FBS kickers honored by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission as a Lou Groza Award "Star of the Week."
On Monday he was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week.
The 56-yard bomb by the two-time Lou Groza Award semifinalist is the school’s longest field goal since 1977. He also converted four PATs in the Sooners' 40-35 win over the Green Wave.
Notre Dame’s Jonathan Doerer, UNLV’s Daniel Gutierrez and Alabama’s Will Reichard were the others honored along with Brkic.
And yet, Brkic's postgame performance might have been even better as he showcased his quirky, unique personality with an entertaining postgame press conference.
Both the kicking and the camera time impressed OU coach Lincoln Riley.
"Yeah, he's funny," Riley said. "Coach (Bob) Stoops called me last night, we were talking, and he and Carol had watched Brkic's interview. I hadn't seen that. So he texted it to me, I watched it last night and I was in tears.
"Oh, my favorite thing is how he knows that we're gonna kick a field goal because he looks at me and I'm pissed, and he knows. It cracked me up. But he is, he's a funny guy. He's what you saw in the interview: doesn't take anything too serious, which, I think he's learned to make that an advantage in his game.
"And he's a lot of fun to have around when it's fourth down on around the 35-yard line."
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