Boyd Street Magazine October 2021

The joke about kickers is that they have one job. That one

job is easily defined: make your kicks and put points on the board for your team when called upon.

Oklahoma junior kicker Gabe Brkic has excelled at his “one job” with an added swagger and confidence that is rare for his position. His rocket leg, along with his handlebar mustache and mini mullet, has made him a fan favorite and his popularity is not slowing down.

As the Sooner football team roll through the 2021 season, expectations remain sky high. But without the heroics of Gabe Brkic, the Sooners may have started the season 0-1.

Against the Tulane, Brkic nailed four of his five field goals to help secure the Sooner win over the Green Wave and avoid a disastrous upset. He finished the day with makes from 26, 51, 55 and 56 yards out.

The 56-yard Brkic bomb set the record for the longest made field goal without a tee in OU history, as OU narrowly avoided a season imploding Week 1 loss and held on for a 40-35 win.

“He’s a great weapon,” sophomore wide receiver Marvin Mims said of Brkic. “We’ve known that… Basically, we just have to cross the 40-yard line and he can put it in there.”

Standout linebacker Nik Bonitto took it one step further, crediting the kicker for saving the Sooners.

“Brkic saved us today,” Bonitto said after the game. “This is stuff that we see in practice all the time. It was nothing new to him and no surprise when he made those.”

His success on the field only told part of the story for Brkic in the Sooner opener. His postgame press conference, which was only four minutes long, and his postgame radio interview caught the attention of everyone as his personality took over.

It started with Brkic crediting his good pregame meal for his in-game success.

“I had a good breakfast this morning,” Brkic said after the game. “I had chicken and pasta. I went out there, took my mind off football and booted it... It’s not too tough.”

He also gave credit to his mustache for his ability.

“That’s where my power comes from, the ‘stache,” Brkic said. “I’m going to let that thing grow out.”

He compared kicking to parallel parking.

“My dad’s best friend, when we were younger, he told me that kicking a football is like parallel parking,” Brkic said. “So, every kick I just think, ‘I’m going to parallel park this football through the goalpost.’ That’s it.

“I’m basically waiting for Coach Riley to shake his head in frustration and say we gotta kick it,” he said.

His laid-back demeanor and relaxed almost nonchalant approach was a hit with the fans and the media.

“His postgame press conference… Coach (Bob) Stoops sent it to me and said I had to watch it,” said head coach Lincoln Riley. “He’s a funny guy. He doesn’t take anything too serious. ... I think he’s made that an advantage in his game. I think the guys really like (and) respect him. He’s got a good balance and perspective on things. And he’s a lot of fun to have around when it’s fourth down and we’re on the 35-yard line, too.”

In addition to the power that comes from his mustache, Brkic does a lot of work that goes unnoticed. Beyond just weight training and workouts, Brkic works a lot on his focus and mindset as well.

“I do a lot of strength training, speed training and, honestly, a lot of it is just a lot of mind exercises,” Brkic said during OU’s fall camp. “Not specific mind exercises, but when we work out — am I focused on every workout? It will translate to a game, almost exactly.”

In fact, most of the work for special teamers goes unnoticed. In addition to an actual kick: the snap must be perfect…the blocking must be perfect… the hold must be perfect… and, of course, the kick must be perfect.

“A lot of our work goes unnoticed,” Sooner long snapper Kasey Kelleher said. “That is where the best work gets in. Every day we have our own little routines of warming up and practicing. We’ll have our special team periods throughout the practice and that’s our time to shine, a lot of unnoticed work goes into it.”

Kelleher has been the Sooner long snapper for every single Gabe Brkic field goal and extra point attempt and understands the personality of Brkic maybe better than anyone on the Sooner roster. He knows when the time is right to have fun and he knows when the time is right to buckle down and focus.

“Gabe is a really goofy guy… that’s always the word I use,” Kelleher joked. “We always keep it light, but you have to have that turn-on switch that gets you mentally focused on the game and mentally focused on the task at hand and he definitely has that.”

For Brkic, the support of his long snapper has gone a long way in developing him into the consistent performer he has become since stepping on campus in 2018. The Sooners found Brkic in Ohio and he immediately caught the eye of Sooner coaches.

“Recruiting kickers is different,” Brkic said. “Colleges will pick up a kicker every four years. They aren’t bringing two guys on scholarship at the same time. Thankfully Oklahoma was looking, and it was Jay Boulware at the time. He flew up to Ohio and Lincoln Riley later flew up. It was done after that. It was a no brainer.”

Brkic was redshirted during the 2018 season and the start to the 2019 season was not necessarily smooth. Prior to the start of his redshirt freshman season, Brkic lost out on the kicking job to Calum Sutherland but never lost his confidence.

When Sutherland was removed from the roster, Brkic pounced at the opportunity and has never looked back.

Brkic took over the starting kicking duties in 2019 and instantly showed his worth. After taking over the full-time job entering the 4th game of the season, Brkic proceeded to make every field goal he attempted and was named a first-team All-American by CBS Sports.

“I wasn’t the starter coming in but when I took it over it became my thing,” Brkic said. “When you’re doing well, you can ride off the momentum.”

Brkic provided several memorable moments for the Sooners during his freshman year. He came up huge for Oklahoma in the incredible come-from-behind win against Baylor in Waco. That night, Oklahoma found themselves in a 25-point hole in the first half before rallying for the largest comeback in Oklahoma Sooner football history to beat the Bears.

With 1:45 left in the game, the Sooners had rallied to tie Baylor at 31 apiece when the freshman was called upon to try and give the Sooners the win. Brkic strutted onto the field in a hostile environment and drilled the go-ahead 31-yard field goal that gave the Sooners the lead.

Oklahoma won the game 34-31 and without the clutch kick from Brkic the comeback might have stalled.

“Baylor… that was a fun game,” Brkic recalled. “Our biggest comeback in the history of OU as a football team. That was cool to see Jalen (Hurts) take control and pull us through after halftime.

“When I went out there to kick, I didn’t really care. It was like every other kick. It didn’t go to my head at all. It was definitely fun after the game. I wish it was a last-play walk off.”

The walk-off was provided by Sooner linebacker Nik Bonitto who intercepted a Charlie Brewer pass but the legacy of Brkic was cemented.

His holder at the time was 2017 Holder of the Year (commonly called the HOTY) Connor McGinnis. Neither McGinnis nor Kelleher were surprised to see Brkic project confidence, certainty and calm in his most critical, challenging and biggest moment so far as a Sooner.

“That’s just kind of his personality, whether it’s a practice kick on a Tuesday or if it’s a go-ahead kick against Baylor,” McGinnis said. “He’s a guy who isn’t fazed by the moment and it’s really cool to see a young guy stepping into a role like that and being able to produce and perform.”

In 2019, at Kansas State in late October, Brkic came on for a 50-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.

“This is for the Super Bowl,” Brkic said to McGinnis as he set up the kick.

“A specialist’s game is so mental that you think about everything,” Kelleher said. “You think of every little step to the

ball, every little finger that I put on the ball when I’m snapping. He’s thinking about it. So, you really want to lighten the mood because the less he’s thinking about it, the less that can go wrong.”

After an All-American freshman season where Brkic never missed a kick, he backed it up with a solid sophomore campaign. Brkic finished as a Lou Groza Award semifinalist and was voted a first-team All-Big 12 performer by both head coaches and media. Brkic finished his sophomore season with 20 made field goals and finished with the second most multifield goal games in school history with eight.

Kelleher has seen the confidence of Brkic continue to grow.

“Every specialist has their own tick and reset button,” Kelleher said. “That’s what you need to have. You go in there and you have one shot. You have 10 reps as a specialist in practice but, in the game, it’s very mental. He has a ton of confidence, and it continues to grow.”

For Brkic, the comradery between the specialists is a key in building confidence, especially away from the field. Time spent away from football has been huge for building trust and, more importantly, having fun.

“We get along really well, we hang out a lot,” Brkic said. “We play a lot of golf with each other, a lot Sundays playing golf. We’ve got a good group and we’ve got a good connection between all of us.”

But are there lessons from the links that can carry over to the gridiron and improve his ability on game day?

“You can translate some things from golf into kicking field goals and punting,” Brkic said. “Your leg swing and your golf swing can be similar. This past summer, I improved my golf game a lot and I think that improved my kicking game too.

“In golf, I’ll pick a target line and make sure my club swing goes through my target line, same with field goals. I’ll pick a target in the stands and as long as my leg swings straight through that I’ll hit a good ball.”

Heading into his third season, Brkic was named to the watch list for the Lou Groza Award again. The award is annually given to the country’s best placekicker.

In that season-opening win against Tulane, Brkic captured the early lead for the award when he tied a national record by connecting on three field goals of 50 yards or longer. An Oklahoma Sooner kicker had never connected on more than one from such distance.

He also tied a program record by putting four through the uprights. It’s happened 11 times and he’s now done it three times.

“I’ve learned through the years that you can’t be thinking about the kick at that moment,” Brkic said. “It’s all muscle memory at that point… But I take my mind completely off football.”

In the relatively short history of the Lou Groza award, the first winner was in 1992. A Sooner has never taken home the trophy, but now this fan favorite is a legit candidate to make even more Sooner history. Brkic is not at all shy about the excitement he feels knowing the fans are behind him.

“I like meeting the fans and seeing the support of the fans. It’s great to see that support,” Brkic said. “I love that we’re playing for a big organization and a major brand like the University of Oklahoma.”

Brkic has also learned to grow from times when he is not at his best. During the 2020 season, while maintaining a perfect mark, he did miss six field goal attempts including a potential game winner that would have beaten Texas in the third overtime.

“After that, I kind of learned not to get complacent and make sure I’m locked in and engaged with every situation,” Brkic said. “I just stay focused. I can’t have a lack of focus at any time.”

Brkic understands his role. He knows in most instances he is the last person anyone wants to see on the field, outside of the punter or when he is kicking an extra point. But his strong leg, accurate kicks and his casual personality are exactly what Oklahoma needs in a kicker who could end up being the most important player on the roster.

If the mustache stays and the mullet keeps growing, will the superpowers always be there for the standout Sooner kicker?– BSM