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Oklahoma Finally Lands its First Newcomer via the Transfer Portal

The Sooners' roster rebuild begins with punter Jacob Ulrich, who hopes to replace departing senior Luke Elzinga.
John Hoover|
Kennesaw State punter Jacob Ulrich
Kennesaw State punter Jacob Ulrich | Kennesaw State Athletics

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma has finally landed its first arrival from the transfer portal.

After 23 Sooners departed Norman, OU received a commitment late Friday night from a punter.

Jacob Ulrich, a redshirt freshman at Kennesaw State, took to social media to announce his pledge to play at OU next year.

The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Ulrich averaged 45.4 yards per punt on 75 kicks this season. Kennesaw State is reclassifying to FBS this season and so doesn’t qualify for official NCAA statistics, but if he did, Ulrich’s average would rank tied for eighth in the nation — and just ahead of OU punter Luke Elzinga’s 45.2 yards per kick.

He also executed a fake punt for a 32-yard completion.

Ulrich played in two games in 2023, starting one game at punter and another at kicker — the latter of which included a 20-yard field goal.

Ulrich played high school football at Mill Creek High School in Dacula, GA, where he went 80-of-84 on PATs, 12-of-17 on field goals and drove 73 of his 110 kickoffs for touchbacks. As a high school senior, Ulrich averaged 42.8 yards per punt after averaging  40.4 during his junior season.

Elzinga, a former transfer from Central Michigan, graduates this season and leaves an opening on the OU roster.

This year's NCAA Transfer Portal opened officially opened on Monday. To be eligible to play right away in 2025, players must enter their name into the transfer portal before Dec. 28. The spring portal window runs from April 16-25, 2025.

OU's coaching staff is in full rebuild mode as roster deletions will likely continue while new additions begin to commit. The Sooners began hosting transfer hopefuls earlier this week, and had several visitors over the weekend with several more scheduled for next week.

Oklahoma (6-6) will close out the 2024 season on Dec. 27 with a game against Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN 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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