Fresh Faces: Oklahoma Transfer Punter Jacob Ulrich Adjusting to Wind, New Program

Jacob Ulrich was a stranger to the Oklahoma wind when he arrived in Norman in January.

Ulrich, a punter, committed to Oklahoma after two seasons at Kennesaw State. 

When Ulrich visited OU, he asked about the weather — and according to him, the Sooners’ coaches downplayed it.

“They were like, ‘Oh yeah, it gets windy here, but as long as you have good contact, it’ll be fine,” Ulrich said. “I get here and I’m almost falling backwards. You have to lean into it a little bit. What is going on?”

But after a few months in Norman, it’s become a challenge that Ulrich is embracing.

“It’s kind of fun, seeing what it did to the drop and how you had to adjust,” Ulrich said. “You had some bad mis-hits, but it’s kind of fun to see how it works. It was definitely a learning experience. Hopefully it’s windy.”

Ulrich had a breakout season for Kennesaw State in 2024.

As a redshirt freshman for the Owls, Ulrich punted 45 times for an average of 45.4 yards. That average was the best in Conference USA and 12th nationally. 

Ulrich also pinned opponents inside of the 20-yard line 27 times and had 23 punts longer than 50 yards. The redshirt freshman broke Kennesaw State’s record for single-game punt average in Week 1 against UTSA in 2024, averaging 54.6 yards on five punts.

Ulrich earned First Team All-Conference USA honors in 2024.

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The Owls, though, struggled despite Ulrich’s excellence. They finished their first season at the NCAA Division I FBS level 2-10, beating Liberty and Florida International for their only two wins.

Because of KSU’s struggles, Ulrich didn’t face many short-punt situations. 

“I do feel like that’s one of the pieces of my game that I need to work on,” Ulrich said. “There wasn’t a lot of wind, so you could manipulate the ball more.”

Ulrich is also pursuing an uptick in overall consistency.

“I think I can go from having a few good balls to even my mis-hits still netting over 40 (yards),” Ulrich said. “In this wind, you’re going to have mis-hits. I want to work with the coaches to mitigate the mis-hits, and even when I mis-hit the ball, it’s not so much of a mis-hit that it’s a horrible punt.”

Oklahoma is without 2024 punter Luke Elzinga, who recently graduated. Elzinga — who played two years at OU after beginning his career at Central Michigan — averaged 44.8 yards on 60 punts as a senior.

Ulrich, a Georgia native, has long dreamed of playing in the SEC. And while he is now playing for a much higher-level program than Kennesaw State, he expects to transition well.

“I think punting is the one position that you can go anywhere and do,” Ulrich said. “Kicking in a bigger stadium, you have that much more pressure. Quarterback, you have different talent on the defense, stuff like that. 

“But, between us, it’s really… at higher levels, you’re going to have faster people coming off the edge, for sure. But you’re also going to have bigger bodies in the backfield being your shield. It’s really just feel and making sure you can fall back on your training. Do the best you can with what you’ve got.”