Three Oklahoma Players Land This Week's SEC Honors

Think Oklahoma is “SEC-ready” now?

Three Sooners took home player of the week awards from the Southeastern Conference on Monday following a dominating defensive performance in Saturday’s 17-6 victory over No. 23-ranked Missouri.

Defensive end Taylor Wein was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week, defensive tackle Gracen Halton was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week, and punter Grayson Miller was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week, the conference office announced.

It’s is the second week in a row three Sooners have landed SEC football weekly awards, and the second straight designation for Wein. Following last week’s win at Alabama, Wein was defensive lineman of the week, cornerback Eli Bowen was defensive player of the week, and kicker Tate Sandell was special teams player of the week.

Moreover, the Sooners — ranked No. 8 in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings — improved to 5-2 in SEC games ahead of this week’s home contest against unranked LSU. A win would completely flip OU’s finish from last year’s maiden voyage in SEC play, in which Oklahoma finished with a 2-6 conference record.

In his fourth season, head coach Brent Venables has rebuilt the Sooners in his image, a defense-firsts mindset that was on display Saturday against Mizzou.

The Tigers opened the game with a field goal, missed a field goal in the second quarter and closed the first half with another. Late in the fourth quarter, with the outcome decided, Missouri drove 67 yards but failed to convert on a fourth-down pass into the end zone.

Outside of those four possessions, Venables’ defense yielded just 93 yards on nine offensive drives, an average of 2.5 yards per play, and came away with two interceptions.

It was Oklahoma’s third consecutive and nation-leading fifth this season over an opponent ranked in the AP Top 25.

Wein and Halton helped lead an OU defensive unit that held the nation's sixth-ranked rushing team to a season-low 70 rushing yards (2.0 per carry), which was 172 yards below Missouri's season average of 242 entering the game.

The Tigers netted zero rushing yards in the second half. National rushing leader Ahmad Hardy, who came in averaging 134.6 rushing yards per game (6.8 per rush), finished with just 57 yards on 17 carries (3.4 per rush).

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Wein, a third-year sophomore from Brentwood, TN, recorded a career-high-tying four tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, a career-high 1.5 quarterback sacks and a QB hurry on Saturday. Three of his four tackles were for lost yardage and the other finished off a 1-yard gain.

This was Wein’s fourth game this season with four tackles, his fifth with at least one sack and his fourth with 2.0 TFLs. He has at least 0.5 TFL in nine of his 11 games this season, including 6.0 sacks, which ranks fourth in the SEC, with his team-leading 14.0 tackles for loss this season and has a team-high six QB hurries.

Halton, a fifth-year senior from San Diego, registered a career-high tying seven tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, half a QB sack and a hurry in the victory over Mizzou.

His seven tackles were the most by an OU defensive tackle this season and more than doubled his tackles output for any game this year (his previous season high was three). Halton now has 3.5 sacks, 6.0 tackles for loss and four QB hurries in 2025.

Oklahoma Sooners Grayson Miller — Oklahoma punter Grayson Miller | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

Miller averaged 44.9 yards on his nine punts, with five of 50-plus yards (50, 51, 53, 57 and 51 yards) and four downed inside the 20-yard line. His five punts of 50-plus yards tied as the second most in a game in school history, one shy of the record.

Of Miller's 47 punts this season, 21 (45 percent) went 50-plus yards and 22 were downed inside the 20-yard line. The fourth-year junior from Edmond, OK, ranks ninth nationally with an average of 46.6 yards per punt.

This is Halton’s second career SEC weekly award, and the second of the season for Miller and Wein. Halton was named Defensive Lineman of the Week last season following OU’s win over Houston. Miller was also named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 22 following OU’s triumph over No. 22 Auburn. Wein was named the Defensive Lineman of the Week after last week’s victory at No. 4 Alabama.

OU players have now claimed 14 SEC weekly awards this season.

Redshirt junior kicker Tate Sandell was named Special Teams Player of the Week on Oct. 6, Nov. 3 and Nov. 17, sophomore defensive back Eli Bowen was named Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 17, redshirt junior linebacker Owen Heinecke was named Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 3, freshman running back Tory Blaylock was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Sept. 15 and Oct. 20, senior defensive lineman R Mason Thomas was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week on Sept. 22 and redshirt junior quarterback John Mateer was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 8.

OU Media Relations contributed to this report.