9/8/2020 football Edit

Where Are They Now: Oakes remembers his time with Hoosiers

Paul Gable • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Get a 60-Day FREE trial to TheHoosier.com with promo code IU60

Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script than Griffin Oakes did for his career at Indiana University.

“I’d be almost kidding myself if I really thought that as a walk-on I’d get the opportunities and results I had. It really was a perfectly, lucky storm,” Oakes told TheHoosier.com of his career that began as a walk-on and ended as one of the greatest kickers Indiana University ever had.

As a child growing up in Greenwood, Indiana, Oakes dreamed of playing college football while making a name for himself with the Greenwood High School football team. He kicked for coach Mike Campbell and was selected to the Indiana Football Coaches Association All-State Team as a junior, and he earned a spot as an honorable mention to the Associated Press Class 4A All-State team as a junior and senior. Oakes was also selected to the North-South All-Star Game. He also owns Greenwood records for most field goals in a season with 13 and career.

“I didn’t have any quality offers coming out of high school and Indiana was one of a few that offered me a spot as a preferred walk-on, and, to me, it like the obvious spot," Oakes said. "Best case scenario, I would earn a scholarship and get to play football at the university I grew up wanting to be at, and worst case, I give football a try, it doesn’t work out, and I’m still at the school I want to be at academically."

After walking on and redshirting his first season, the former Indiana kicker burst onto the scene in a big way, earned several accolades and rewrote the Indiana football program’s record books before graduating. As a sophomore, he made 13-of-18 field goals and set the record for the longest field goal in school history with a 58-yard boot against Maryland. After a shaky junior campaign, Oakes rebounded nicely his senior season, and was almost perfect the entire season, making 16-of-17 field goals and going 38-of-39 on point-after-attempts. Oakes kicked for the Hoosiers from 2013 until 2017 and earned the conference’s Bakken-Anderson Kicker-of-the-Year Award twice, as well as cementing himself in the Indiana record books. He is the program’s leader in field goals, and ranks second in extra points and total points. He finished his career 69-of-90 on field goals and 147-of-154 on extra points. He was also named to the Big Ten Network’s All-Decade Team.

“I’m not going to say I didn’t put in the work because I did, but I had a lot of luck fall my way. I got lucky to be around multiple staffs that didn’t have to believe in me but did and was around plenty of teammates that believed in me as well. Obviously, there are some things I wished I had done better, but I know I gave them pretty much everything I had when it came to performance,” Oakes said.

When he looks back on his career, it isn’t a play or game he thinks about, but much more he told TheHoosier.

“The things that I find myself often looking back and reminiscing about was not a specific moment or play or even a game. I just look back and think about the good times that I had with teammates in a setting that truly cannot be replicated. I look back at the good times, tough times and everything in between,” Oakes said.

There is one thing he does miss though.

“Gamedays with my teammates were truly some of my favorite moments because it really did like we were going out there with a chance to do something special and those opportunities in life are very few and far between," Oakes added. "I miss the locker room, having a place to talk with people and enjoy each other’s company."

The locker room atmosphere and experiences help keep him in tune to what is going on with the Hoosiers under head coach Tom Allen.

“I definitely still keep up with them. That place was my home for five years, and they have earned my support for life," Oakes said. "I always try to tune into their games when I can. I still have a few past teammates playing that I enjoy getting to watch from a different view. But that place gave a lot to me, and I hope I gave a lot to it in return."

Today, Oakes is preparing to apply to physical therapy school.

“I dealt with a few injuries in my time at Indiana, and the process to get back was a very humbling but rewarding one. I appreciated the work and attention those on the training staff gave me and, now, I would enjoy the opportunity to give that same help in that rewarding process to others, whether it be in athletics or general/serious recovery,” Oakes said.