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Oklahoma Players Continue to Reap Individual Rewards After Huge Team Win at Tennessee

Kicker Tate Sandell and wideout Isaiah Sategna have received additional recognition this week as the Sooners begin preparations to take on Alabama next week.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma wide receiver Isaiah Sategna
Oklahoma wide receiver Isaiah Sategna | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Oklahoma’s big victory at Tennessee last week was one of the Sooners’ most complete wins as a team.

It seems fitting, then, that several OU players are reaping individual rewards for that team effort this week.

On Wednesday, wide receiver Isaiah Sategna was added to the watch list for the Fred Biletnikoff Award.

Sategna’s addition was one of four new names on the watch list for the award that goes to the best pass catcher in college football. Historically, the award has always been given to the nation's best wide receiver. Former Sooner wideout Brenen Thompson, now at Mississippi State, also was added, as was Tennessee’s Braylon Staley and Florida State’s Duce Robinson.

The award is named for Fred Biletnikoff, a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Halls of Fame and a consensus first-team All-America receiver at Florida State University and an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders. He caught 589 passes for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 14-year Raiders career from 1965 through 1978 and was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XI.

On Tuesday, kicker Tate Sandell was recognized by the Lou Groza Award as one of three “Stars of the Week,” along with Army’s Dawson Jones and Texas Tech’s Stone Harrington. 

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“Tate Sandell put together one of the greatest kicking performances of all-time, going 4-for-4 with three long-distance field goals in Oklahoma’s 33-27 road win over Tennessee,” the Groza Award wrote. “The junior from Port Neches, TX, set a new FBS record for the longest average distance of field goals made in a game with at least four makes.

With a pair of 55 yarders joined by makes from 51 and 40 yards, he averaged 50.25 yards per field goal, topping the 49.5 yard average by East Carolina’s Jeff Heath per the NCAA FBS Records Book. His 55-yarders tied for the longest field goal in the history of UT's Neyland Stadium.

After missing his first kick of the year, Sandell has made 18 straight attempts, trying Oklahoma’s program record for consecutive field goals without a miss.

The Award is named for Pro Football Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954. Although an All-Pro offensive lineman as well, Groza ushered in the notion that there should be a place on an NFL roster for a kicker.

Also on Monday, OU linebacker Owen Heinecke was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week after he had a career-high 13 tackles in his first career start.

The Sooners are ranked No. 12 in this week's initial College Football Playoff rankings. OU has an idle Saturday this week and returns to action next week when the Sooners head to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 4-ranked Alabama.

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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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