'I’ve got some fight in me': OU's Austin Stogner ready for breakout season after beating strep infection

NORMAN — Austin Stogner was begging for relief.

“You’ve got to knock me out,” Stogner told doctors at Oklahoma City’s McBride Orthopedic Hospital. “I’m going through it right now.”

Pain was nothing new for Stogner, OU’s bruising tight end that was having a breakout season before the helmet of Kansas safety Ricky Thomas collided with Stogner’s thigh last Nov. 7, knocking him out of the game.

But this?

This was different.

“It was excruciating,” Stogner said Thursday at OU’s Media Day, a day before the Sooners begin preseason camp. 

In the days that followed the series of events that led him to McBride in early November, the focus became not about whether Stogner’s football season would continue but whether he’d be able to recover from a strep infection that led him to lose about 35 pounds and struggle to do things that once seemed easy.

But nearly nine months later, Stogner says he’s back to being the player he was before Thomas’ helmet met his legs.

“I feel 100%,” Stogner said. “I feel the best I’ve felt since being injured — since I’ve been here.”

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Stogner missed the Sooners’ last two regular-season games and the Big 12 title game before returning to have a 12-yard reception in the Cotton Bowl win over Florida.

Even missing that time, Stogner finished as OU’s third-leading receiver with 26 catches for 422 yards and three touchdowns. He was one of quarterback Spencer Rattler’s top targets, especially in red-zone situations and other critical moments.

Heading into that game against Kansas, Stogner knew that something wasn’t right health-wise. His throat was sore and scratchy. He’d tested negative for COVID-19, though, so wanted to play.

“I knew I had strep,” Stogner said. “I just didn’t tell anybody because I wanted to play in the game. I thought I just got over it.”

The night of the game, Stogner’s thigh was in pain but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

He ate pizza with his dad and brother before going to sleep. He woke up the next morning and came to the Sooners’ facility for treatment.

That evening, Stogner felt worn out but didn’t think a lot of it.

Around 9 p.m., he woke up and called Chris Watson, one of the Sooners’ trainers. 

“Dude, I don’t feel good,” Stogner told Watson. 

Stogner spiked a fever of 103. He tested positive for strep.

“The knee was hurting bad, but not too bad,” Stogner said. “I mean, it was hurting awful but it wasn’t horrible.”

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He went back home, thinking he’d rest and feel better quickly. Less than two hours after calling Watson, Stogner knew something was very wrong.

“I couldn’t function,” Stogner said.

He called Watson back.

“You need to take me to the hospital right now,” Stogner told him.

So Watson rushed back to get Stogner and drive him to Oklahoma City, calling doctors on the drive up.

“During that time, that’s the worst pain I’d ever felt in that car,” Stogner said.

The strep bacteria had attacked the internal bleeding caused by the hit, leading to a serious infection. 

The next two or three days were filled with more “excruciating pain” and plenty of fear.

“It just all happened so fast,” Stogner said. “I just didn’t really know what was going on.”

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But after that, things settled back in.

Stogner’s focus turned to getting back on the field, though he had plenty of work to do. 

That started with plenty of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to try to regain the weight that had been sapped by the infection and his immediate recovery.

“I never want to see another PB&J again,” Stogner said. 

Stogner wanted to prove something to everyone around him by returning for the Cotton Bowl, even though he wasn’t sure how much help he could be to the Sooners’ cause.

He wound up proving plenty to himself in the process.

“It showed me regardless of what happens, I’ve got some fight in me,” Stogner said.