Welcome to OU camp week: Is Doug Deakin the special teams answer?

Give yourselves a hand, OU fans. You’ve made it. It is officially preseason camp week for the Sooners and Team 130.

It’s a grueling schedule for head coach Brent Venables , and OU in its initial season in the Southeastern Conference.

Questions abound across the board. Time to address some of them. SoonerScoop is going to ask one big question per position group, and then an overall question.

We conclude with special teams.

Special teams

Kicking

Tyler Keltner or Zach Schmit?

The easiest question to ask, now let’s see the answer. Venables surprised a lot of people last week at the coaches’ luncheon saying Keltner looks like the guy. Wow. Schmit is gunning to be a three-year starter, but OU knew it needed more competition. Keltner is that guy, clearly. You just need someone that you can trust with the game on the line.

Punting

Luke Elzinga the guy the whole way?

There isn’t really a question here. Luke Elzinga became the punter midway through the season and never looked back. That was good news, great news. The worst outcome here would be if OU has to go back to another punter. Unless there’s an injury, this should be Elzinga the whole way. He can kick it deep, keep in the 20-yard line. Someone will have to show they’re better.

Returning

What’s the philosophy?

This goes back to Doug Deakin , really. He has a lot of explosive guys he could be using in the return game. Like a lot of guys. So many that OU fans would feel very confident in seeing them back there. However, the explosive component to the return game must come back and not just for a single game. Do you save any guys for injury concerns? Or say we need this to be a difference-making part of the game again?

Special teams overall

Deakin’s role?

Not necessarily his role, but now that analysts can be coaching on the field, what does that mean for Deakin? This should help OU in a huge way, no question about that. Being able to work with the guys in practice is something that cannot be overlooked. The goal is improvement across the board, obviously. Deakin should be that guy. Where do we see it the most?

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