Watch list season is upon us as several different lists come out just about every day. One that came out Friday is the [autotag]Mackey Award[/autotag] watch list which goes to the nation’s best tight end.
[autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag], who returns to the Oklahoma Sooners after one year playing for the [autotag]South Carolina Gamecocks[/autotag], made the list. Stogner has had an up-and-down career, but is hoping to experience a similar breakout as Brayden Willis did a year ago.
In his first year getting a lot of action in 2020, he had more than 400 yards and three touchdowns. The future looked bright before an injury at the end of that season almost ended his football career.
In 2021, he never looked the same. He looked like he had lost some of that burst and separation ability. He then transferred and had a little more than 200 yards and only one touchdown.
Now he’s back and has to be the leader in a very young room. Stogner, now three seasons removed from his injury, hopes to show the flashes he had in 2020. This is an offense that uses the tight end a lot. We saw it just a year ago with [autotag]Willis[/autotag].
Prior to 2022, Willis hadn’t eclipsed 200 yards in a season. He had just six total touchdowns in four seasons. In his final season, he had more than 500 yards and seven touchdowns. He arguably was the most important player to the offense a year ago because of what he did in the passing game and as a run blocker.
Stogner has the ability to do what Willis did a year ago, and if he can return to his athletic form, could surpass the breakout year from Oklahoma former tight end.
Big Stog named to the 2023 Mackey Award watch list https://t.co/QGHHX7RpB1 | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/WklQM5uLyN
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) August 4, 2023
Oklahoma is a school that has done pretty well at tight end historically. [autotag]Mark Andrews[/autotag] is the only Sooner to take home the award. But there’s a strong argument to be made that [autotag]Jermaine Gresham[/autotag] should have won in 2008. It still baffles me he was first-team All-Big 12, and the guy that won the award was selected to the second.
But that’s a conversation for a different day. For Stogner, he just needs to be that safety blanket and go-to guy in the red zone. Something he is definitely capable of being and something [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] and the Sooners need.
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