Tate Sandell's History of Hard Work has Made His Journey at Oklahoma Even 'Sweeter'

NORMAN — The value of hard work was instilled in Tate Sandell long before he arrived at Oklahoma.

Before the Lou Groza award winner was booming big kicks to help bring the Sooners back to the College Football Playoff, he was putting in extra hours at Port Neches-Grove High School in Texas.

“My dad works at the school, so I would just take his keys and go out to the field. And I guess people started — a couple of my buddies, my buddy's dad is in the police department. He said he drove by, 'I don't know who that is.' Then he figured out it was me and he would kind of mess with me every now and then.

“But I always sound so cliché but I just wanted to get a little bit better, a little bit better every day. And if I could do that, I know not everybody else is doing that. And it wasn't for like attention. Nobody knew I was doing it. That was purely for me and I'm just one of those guys that knew, like I knew the 10,000 rep rule just to get better and that's just the way I had to do it.”

That work ethic helped Sandell earn a spot kicking at UTSA, and in turn, it gave him the confidence to enter the transfer portal and land at a place like Oklahoma.

From there, he quickly earned the respect of his coaches and teammates alike, a process that was helped along by Brent Venables and special teams coordinator Doug Deakin’s coaching philosophy.

“(Deakin) understands that it's a player's game and the scheme that he equips us with, it works every time,” Sandell said. “And he kind of takes the mentality of you don't put a saddle on a mustang. Just lets us work. And it's just, when you don't put a limit on your players, our full potential shows out.”

And Sandell didn’t have to wait very long to show just how good he could be.

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“Whenever I got here when we were in fall camp, I had like a 61-yarder,” Sandell said. “Normally, people would punt there, but (Venables) threw me out there and said I'm not gonna put a limit on you. We're going to see what you can do. And I just kind of fed off of that. And just... I knew what I could do and I knew he knew what I could do and that helped me a lot.”

Sandell never looked back, and he’s never given his team a reason to doubt him.

The redshirt junior is 23-of-24 on field goals this year, and his 23-straight made field goals set a school and single-season SEC record.

He’s a perfect 7-for-7 from 50 yards or more, and Sandell is 10-for-10 on kicks of 45 yards or more.

The goal for every offense is to score a touchdown on every drive, but the Sooners know they have a fantastic Plan B with Sandell if they stall out in enemy territory.

“I’ll have guys come up to me (while we’re driving) and kind of just look at me and give me a little head nod. And they know what the deal is,” Sandell said. “I tell them, it's not a thing until you make it a thing. So there's nothing going on in my head except just if I get an opportunity, great. I know what I can do with my opportunity.”

Becoming Oklahoma’s first Groza Award winner was a dream come true, but now Sandell’s focused on continuing his streak of hitting big kicks during OU’s CFP run.

“It's truly just a culmination of everything. Where I started, how far I've come,” Sandell said. “I walked on at UTSA. If you were to tell me I'd be here three years (later) I'd laugh at you.

“Like, there was a point where me and my dad had that conversation, like man, money running out. We're going to have to think about some things. And I'm not gonna put my family at a financial burden, so I was almost done. And just take it back to that and what I was able to do this year, there's nothing sweeter.”