Shane Beamer addresses Austin Stogner's transfer back to Oklahoma
Austin Stogner transferred back to Oklahoma after a one-year experiment at South Carolina. He followed former Sooners QB Spencer Rattler to Columbia last offseason, and after failing to produce the numbers he was expected to — he’ll be looking to round out his career in Norman.
During SEC Media Days on Thursday, Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer had little to say about his former tight end’s move back to his former program.
“As far as Austin Stoger leaving, you’d have to ask him,” Beamer said. “Glad he decided to come to Carolina for a year and he made the decision to move on.”
He caught 20 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown in the 2022 season. Stogner played in all of his 12 games as a Gamecock and finished with the fifth most receiving yards on the team last year. During Stogner’s brief time with South Carolina, he recorded a catch in all but two games he participated in.
Earlier this offseason, Stogner addressed his move back to Norman. It had just as much to do with the university itself as it did with football. It also brings Stogner closer to his hometown of Plano, TX.
“I missed the whole, like, the culture of this place and how great this place is,” Stogner said. “And what people think of Oklahoma and what it stands for. And I just want to get back and represent this university.”
Stogner received his degree from OU after three years before his transfer from the program and will now finish up his graduate program in Norman.
“Once a Sooner, always a Sooner,” Stogner wrote at the time. Little did he know he was only a year away from becoming one again.
Stogner played in nine games for the Sooners in 2021, finishing with 14 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns. The tight end was hampered by injuries and a crowded tight end room that year, which prevented him from reaching his full potential.
Stogner was one of Rattler’s top targets the year before that, catching 26 passes for 422 yards and three scores. 2023 will be the first time in a long time Stogner won’t have Rattler as his quarterback.
Stogner will be back in a Sooners uniform for the 2023 season opener on Sept. 2 against Arkansas State, and if he can remain healthy, figures to be one of OU’s quarterback Dillon Gabriel‘s top tight ends this season.