The Football Brainiacs

The Path to Norman

Brkic was a highly ranked punter and kicker coming into Norman. The Ohio product just barely missed out on being an Under Armour All-American, and chose OU over schools including Air Force, Bowling Green, New Mexico, UMass, and others.

I'm extremely excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at the University of Oklahoma! Thank you to all my family, friends, and coaches that have helped me through the process. @LincolnRiley 🏉BOOMER SOONER 🏉 pic.twitter.com/Fmd15SWwMO

— Gabe Brkic (@GabeBrkic) February 2, 2018

For more on his decision, check out this interview with Heartland College Sports: Interview with Gabe Bkric

Career So Far

Brkic took a redshirt season in 2018, but thanks to the new rule was able to get some experience as well. He played in the season opener against Florida Atlantic; out of four kickoffs, three were touchbacks. Additionally, he made his only extra-point attempt.

In 2019, Brkic was moved up after Austin Seibert’s departure from Norman. He was expected to handle kickoffs with Calum Sutherland handling field goals and extra points. However, early in the season, Sutherland was removed from the team. Brkic stepped up and handled all place-kicking duties and was a stellar kicker for OU. He was voted a first-team All-American by CBS, a freshman All-American by The Athletic and FWAA, and a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.

Brkic was once again the starting kicker in 2020, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors and once again named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.

Records

Brkic has already cracked the OU record books in a few spots:

– 15 points against TCU in 2020 are tied for the 5th-most

– Four field goals in a game are tied for the most by an OU kicker in a single game

– 54 yard field goal is the fourth-longest in school history

– 20 field goals in a season (2020) is the fourth-most in school history

– 37 career field goals is 10th most in OU history

– Only OU player to have a season (2019) with a 100% FG (min of a 10 attempts)

– His career mark of 100% PAT would make him the only OU kicker to do so

Current Profile

Position: Kicker

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 203

Year: Redshirt Junior

Stats

2018: 1 GP | 1/1 PAT

2019: 14 GP | 17/17 FG, long of 50 | 52/52 PAT

2020: 10 GP | 20/26 FG, long of 54 | 49/49 PAT

Highlights

Locked n loaded pic.twitter.com/1RgkLU3zX9

— Gabe Brkic (@GabeBrkic) April 15, 2020

Got leg from 72. That’s 3 points pic.twitter.com/GP5Cj2ygGr

— Gabe Brkic (@GabeBrkic) June 23, 2020

This Season

The Sooners are on a very long streak of kickers starting for three plus seasons; Brkic will be starting at kicker for the third season in a row, following Austin Seibert, Michael Hunnicut, and Jimmy Stevens as long-time starters. If he were to make over nine field goals this season (which seems highly likely), he will move into 3rd on the all-time OU career field goals list. All signs point toward Brkic being remembered as yet another excellent Oklahoma kicker.