The Oklahoma Sooners are preparing for their most pivotal game of the season, perhaps of the Brent Venables era, when they host the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round of the College Football Playoff next Friday. After a 10-2 season, including a 6-2 mark in SEC play, six Sooners were named to the AP All-SEC team.
Prior to that, the 10 Sooners earned 11 All-SEC honors as voted on by coaches, with kicker Tate Sandell being named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.
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Named to the first team were Sandel, punter Grayson Miller and wide receiver Isaiah Satgna.
Sandel has the league’s best field goal percentage and has made seven field goal attempts of 50 yards or more.
Miller ranks fourth nationally and first in the SEC in punts inside the 20-yard line. Like Sandel, he has been a special teams weapon for Brent Venables, helping Oklahoma win the field position battle in multiple wins this season.
Sategna is tied for second in SEC receptions with 65, tied for fourth with 948 yards and fourth in the league in touchdowns. He has been a huge threat for the Sooners, especially in recent weeks. Saturnia finished the season with two consecutive 100-yard days, giving him four 100-yard gains on the season. He has nine catches of 60 yards or more in the last 10 games.
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Earning second-team honors for the Sooners were linebacker Owen Heinecke, defensive end R. Mason Thomas and defensive tackle Grayson Holden.
Despite missing the final three games of the regular season, three and a half quarters against Tennessee (due to injury) and half of the quarter against Auburn (due to suspension), Thomas still led the team with 6.5 sacks. He has excelled the past two seasons, earning SEC All-SEC second-team honors in 2024 and being a first-team selection by the league’s coaches vote this season.
Holden, like Thomas, is a member of Brent Venables’ first recruiting class in the 2022 cycle. He was outstanding again this year, totaling 31 sacks, seven tackles for loss and 31 sacks. He was a force down the middle, making things difficult in the running game and providing an interior pass rush for the Sooners.
Heineke was one of Oklahoma State’s many breakout stars as part of a great linebacker rotation. Heineke ranks second on the team in total tackles and tackles for loss behind Kip Lewis and also has two sacks. He was instrumental in key moments for Oklahoma State, including a sack and forced fumble against Tennessee that led to Mason Thomas’ long touchdown return that changed the momentum of the game and even the entire season.
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The Oklahoma Sooners have a talented roster including Peyton Bowen, Kip Lewis, Eli Bowen, Courtland Guillory, Jaren Kanak, Febechi Nwaiwu, Taylor Wein and David Stone, who are worthy of All-SEC selections. Team players. Even so, six players and plenty worth mentioning is a good thing for the Sooners as they take on an Alabama Crimson Tide team that was named to the Associated Press All-SEC team just three times.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Six Oklahoma Sooners named to AP All-SEC team
