Handing Out Oklahoma's Regular Season Awards

Before Oklahoma kicks off its College Football Playoff campaign against Alabama, Sooners on SI stopped to hand out some regular season awards. The awards were voted on by a committee of one, so all hate mail can be addressed to Ryan Chapman.

Freshman of the Year

Let’s kick this off with the Sooners’ new faces.

Oklahoma’s 2025 recruiting class brought in a handful of players who made an immediate impact.

Offensive tackle Michael Fasusi has been a crucial piece on Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line, and Ryan Fodje came on late to make November starts at both right tackle and right guard.

Running back Tory Blaylock emerged early to lead OU’s backfield, and he finished the regular season as the team’s leading rusher with 444 yards and four scores on 109 carries.

But the Freshman of the Year award goes to Courtland Guillory, who stepped in and has been one of OU’s most reliable defenders since the season opener.

Oklahoma Sooners, Courtland Guillor — Oklahoma freshman defensive back Courtland Guillory | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

He plays with the poise of a veteran and the swagger of an NFL All-Pro.

Guillory’s performances bought time for Eli Bowen to get healthy at the start of the year and prevented Gentry Williams’ late-season injury from becoming a back-breaker.

And the best news yet for Sooners fans is that Guillory is only scratching the surface of what he can become at Oklahoma.

The Bookie

Sledgehammer SZN. pic.twitter.com/96V8wOAuy3
— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) September 29, 2018

The Bookie, or as it’s officially known, the Brendan Radley-Hiles Award, is given to the best gimmick on the team.

Bookie’s sledgehammer only accompanied the Sooners out of the tunnel a handful of times, but its impact has been felt for generations of OU players.

This year, there are a few good candidates.

Sammy Omosigho’s thumbs down celebration is strong, and it only looked better as the Sooners embraced the Gladiator films in November.

Tate Sandell’s short shorts were iconic as well, but he’s profiting off an excellent line of NIL t-shirts and is collecting awards all over the place, so he won’t have room for our award in his trophy cabinet.

A late-season addition stole this award.

Enter David Stone.

Oklahoma Sooners, David Stone — Oklahoma defensive lineman David Stone hunts down LSU quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. in his rec specs. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Oklahoma’s dominant sophomore defensive tackle debuted rec specs in the Sooners’ win over Missouri — a look that simply must stick for the rest of his OU career.

It’s hard enough that opposing offensive linemen have to deal with Stone; to stare down the rec specs adds another layer to the aura of the Dog Pound.

Most Improved Player

Oklahoma Sooners, Taylor Wei — Oklahoma defensive end Taylor Wein tackles South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers. | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

There’s no reason to beat around the bush.

Defensive end Taylor Wein is the runaway winner for Most Improved Player.

The redshirt sophomore is second on the team with six sacks, only trailing R Mason Thomas’ 6.5 sacks, and he was good enough to paper over the absence of Thomas for the last three and a half games.

Wein has played so well that he went from an unknown entering the season to someone who will be on the radar of NFL scouts.

The pass rusher earned All-SEC Second Team honors, and he’ll play a key role in any run the Sooners hope to make in the College Football Playoff.

Ontei Jones “That Dude” Award

Ontei Jones cleaning out the O-Line on an interception in the NC. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/a6uOttmD6t
— Buster Bread (@BusterBread) July 28, 2024

In the early 2000s, you didn’t want to mess with Ontei Jones.

His key interception helped officially start the party in the Sooners’ last national title triumph, but he is the namesake of this award because he was that dude nobody wanted to mess with — on either sideline.

The 2025 Sooners have a few notable candidates.

Sophomore safety Michael Boganowski is a bona fide thumper, and he’ll be a candidate for this award as long as he’s in Norman.

Linebacker Kip Lewis flips a switch the second he steps onto the football field, energizing the OU sideline and casting fear into any running back that meets him between the tackles.

But this year’s Ontei Jones Award was sealed at the coin toss before the Missouri game.

Tiger defensive end Zion Young decided he wanted to extend, what I assume were well wishes for everyone’s Thanksgiving dinner, before the game.

OU defensive tackle Gracen Halton wasn’t having it.

Oklahoma Sooners, Gracen Halto — Oklahoma defensive tackle Gracen Halton flexes after sacking the opposing quarterback. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Halton met Young’s trash talk with a volley of his own, then he won rep after rep during the game and let every Tiger he flattened know about it along the way (including Missouri’s holder).

All year, Halton proved to be a key anchor at the heart of the defensive line. His excellent play was met by an intensity and attitude that set the tone for the Sooners — a mindset that will serve him well in the NFL.

Not Top 10 Play of the Year

Look, nobody’s perfect.

Halton was incredible all year. He ended the regular season with 31 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble return for a touchdown.

But he didn’t have an interception.

Halton had a golden opportunity to catch his first career interception in the end zone against Temple.

The 6-foot-2, 292-pound defensive lineman saw a pass get batted up in the end zone, and he decided to take flight like a glorious and graceful eagle.

Unfortunately, the flight ended like an old Windex ad — with the bird hitting a freshly cleaned glass door — as he crashed to the turf and dropped the ball.

The game was well in hand, so the drop didn’t hurt. And it was only a small blip on an otherwise fantastic season for Halton.

But it was undoubtedly the funniest play of Oklahoma’s regular season.

Breakout Star

It’s about time that Ben Arbuckle’s offense got some love.

Most of the offseason attention was focused on the kind of bounce-back season Deion Burks could have armed with new quarterback John Mateer.

Perhaps nobody saw this season coming from Arkansas transfer Isaiah Sategna.

Oklahoma Sooners, Isaiah Sategn — Oklahoma receiver Isaiah Sategna put the Sooners back in front with a 58-yard touchdown against LSU. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sategna led the Sooners with 948 yards and seven touchdowns on 65 catches.

He led all SEC receivers in conference play, and Satega also enjoyed huge moments on special teams returning punts.

Sategna set up OU’s first score in its 23-21 win over Alabama with a 42-yard punt return, and he sealed the Sooners’ CFP spot with a 58-yard touchdown catch against LSU.

He’s been the engine for anything good for Oklahoma’s offense, and that won’t slow down in the CFP.

Billy Tubbs Distinguished Achievement

Oklahoma Sooners, Brent Venable — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables aggressively disagrees with an official. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Before handing out our biggest award of the year, let’s take a moment for an extra special Billy Tubbs Distinguished Achievement.

Though he didn’t have to step up and request that no objects be thrown on the field, OU coach Brent Venables did have to endure week after week of terrible performances from officiating crews across the Southeastern Conference.

It almost came to a head in OU’s win over LSU, where the officials at times struggled to properly discern what team they were throwing the flag on and when timeouts should be awarded.

Despite organizing Oklahoma’s elite defense, Venables still carved out time to plead his case all year and was only dinged with a handful of unrelated sideline warning penalties for his efforts.

A job well done.

Most Valuable Player

We’ve finally made it to the regular season Most Valuable Player.

All throughout award season, the Oklahoma defense has become a victim of its own success.

So many OU defenders have had outstanding performances, it’s hard to truly pick one standout guy to lead the way.

Mateer looked as if he’d be a strong candidate for this award until his hand injury, but his play took a significant dip as the calendar turned to October.

That leaves one man to take home the award.

Congratulations to Tate Sandell.

Oklahoma Sooners, Tate Sandel — Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell hits a field goal against Auburn. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Sandell’s only negative moment as a Sooner came in his first field goal attempt — a miss against Michigan.

It was his only miss.

Sandell was a perfect 7-for-7 from 50-plus yards during the regular season, and on Friday night, he became the first Lou Groza Award winner in program history.

Most high-level kickers are considered weapons, and Sandell is certainly that.

But he has been transformative for the 2025 Sooners.

Because of Sandell’s range, Oklahoma’s offense legitimately only ever has to approach the 35-yard line to put points on the board.

Pair that with an elite defense, a dynamic punt returner and a consistent punter that constantly has OU on the right side of the field position battle, and Arbuckle’s offense only ever has to string together a few first downs or one big play to approach field goal range.

Sandell’s leg was a difference-maker in Knoxville and Tuscaloosa, and he gives the Sooners a kicking advantage no matter who they square off against throughout the course of the CFP.