Oklahoma's Isaiah Sategna III Named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Isaiah Sategna III just put the entire conference on notice.

The University of Oklahoma wide receiver was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week after a monster performance in the Sooners’ 51-0 season-opening win over UTEP on Friday. The conference office made it official on Monday, and the numbers explain exactly why.

Sategna finished with a career-high 215 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. He scored on an 88-yard punt return and a 34-yard reception, while also adding 76 yards on four catches and 24 yards on the opening kickoff return. On two punt returns alone, he piled up 115 yards, averaging 57.5 yards per return.

The 88-yard punt return was the highlight of the night. It was OU’s second score of the game, the seventh-longest punt return in school history, and the program’s first punt return touchdown in three years. It was also the Sooners’ longest punt return since 2013 and their second-longest in a season opener. The yardage total ranked as the 12th-most in OU history and the most in 15 years.

His receiving touchdown later in the third quarter pushed the lead to 34-0 and showed he’s more than just a return specialist. Sategna’s other catches went for 6, 25, and 11 yards, and that early kickoff return helped set up a 12-play, 76-yard touchdown drive.

For the week, Sategna led the entire SEC in all-purpose yards, punt return yards, and all-purpose yards per play at 30.7. Not bad for a fifth-year senior from Austin, Texas, picking up his first career SEC weekly award.

This is the kind of performance that can change the way opposing coaches game-plan. When a player can flip the field or take it to the house on special teams while also contributing in the passing game, it forces defenses to account for him on every snap. Oklahoma already looked sharp in the opener. Having a dynamic piece like Sategna only makes the offense and special teams more dangerous.

Big plays like the ones he delivered Friday are exactly what the Sooners need if they want to live up to the expectations surrounding the program this season. Explosive plays change momentum, wear down opponents, and create the kind of highlight-reel moments that stick with a team.

Sategna has been around the program long enough to understand the standard. On Friday night he met it in a big way, and the conference took notice. One game into the season, he’s already set a high bar for himself and given Oklahoma another weapon that defenses will have to respect.

The award is nice. The production is better.

And if this is the version of Isaiah Sategna the Sooners get every week, opposing special teams coordinators are going to have a long season ahead of them.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos