Oklahoma WR Isaiah Sategna was ‘Ready’ to Return Punt for Touchdown

NORMAN — Isaiah Sategna didn’t skip a beat in Oklahoma’s first game of 2026.

Sategna helped get the No. 10 Sooners rolling early in their 51-0 win over UTEP on Friday. The speedy wide receiver returned a punt for 88 yards and a touchdown, allowing OU to get out to a 14-0 lead in the game’s opening minutes.

Sategna traced back five yards prior to fielding the first-quarter punt, UTEP’s first of the evening. Once he secured the ball, he knew he had a chance.

“If I back up, I always think it’s going to be a big play, big return,” Sategna said. “I already knew, ‘I’m backing up, I’m backing up.’ I was ready.”

Sure enough, things opened up quickly for Sategna. The former track and field star eluded the UTEP players in coverage and bounced to the right side.

Thanks to his sprinter speed and several good blocks from his teammates, Sategna sailed into the end zone untouched.

“They had some really good blocks,” Sategna said. “So I just had to weave and make a play.”

Sategna was OU’s most reliable offensive weapon in 2025, as he finished the season with team-high 965 yards and eight touchdowns on 67 receptions.

The speedy wideout also played special teams last year and returned 24 punts for 318 yards. But despite having a handful of lengthy returns, Sategna never took one to the house.

Now, he doesn’t have to worry about getting shut out again in 2026.

“I was expecting myself to make that play,” Sategna said. “Last year I had a lot of big opportunities that I feel like I missed, even with some 35, 40-yard returns that could have been to the crib. I was finally happy to get another one in the crib.”

Later in the game, Sategna had another chance for a special teams touchdown. Sategna made a handful of UTEP defenders miss on a third-quarter punt before eventually being tackled after a 27-yard return.

Would Sategna have loved to house that return? Of course.

But the wideout is content with his one special-teams score.

“I definitely feel like I could’ve cribbed that one, but I was just happy with the overall performance,” Sategna said. “I’m not going to be too hard on myself, but I definitely feel like I could’ve cribbed that one.”

In addition to his stellar day returning punts, Sategna logged numbers that were similarly impressive to his 2025 figures.

Sategna caught four passes for 76 yards and a touchdown. His score came on a 34-yard throw from quarterback John Mateer in which Sategna quickly spaced himself from the opposing defensive back and strolled in the end zone.

With 115 return yards, 76 receiving yards and two total touchdowns, Sategna couldn’t have scripted a much better start to his 2026 season.

“It felt really good to just reap the benefits of all the work that we put in this offseason,” Sategna said.

The games will only get tougher from here on out. Oklahoma will battle No. 16 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Sept. 12.

Sategna was sort of a lifeline for the Sooners late in 2025. And Mateer believes that the wideout will continue to become even more impactful as the 2026 season progresses.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google