Oliver Straw Earning Preseason Hype | WVU Football All 105

All 105 is a West Virginia Sports Now series profiling each member of the 2025 WVU Football Roster.

Oliver Straw hit the ground running during his first season in Morgantown, serving as the Mountaineers’ No. 1 punter in 11 of 13 games during his true freshman season. It’s a beginning that makes sense for a player who spent his childhood between three separate continents: growing up in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, Straw learned how to adjust to unfamiliar surroundings.

His first taste of football came in the Australian Rules variant, which produces a disproportionate number of punters because of an emphasis on the kicking game, but Straw also played a season on the American gridiron as an exchange student in New Jersey.

Now in his senior season with WVU Football, Straw enters the season with high expectations, earning a selection to the preseason Third Team All-Big 12 list. A versatile athlete who can punt with both legs — handy in case of emergency situations like a free rusher bearing down on him — and deliver punts both end-over-end and in spiral fashion, Straw brings experience and talent to the Mountaineers.

41 • Oliver Straw, senior punter

Last year: Straw pinned 18 punts inside the 20-yard line and finished sixth in the Big 12 in average yards per punt.

Stats: 49 punts for 2,084 yards in 2024, including a long of 63 yards.

Camp outlook: Straw enters fall camp as one of two punters on the Mountaineers’ roster; the other is redshirt freshman Aidan Stire.

Projected role: Straw will once again serve as the top punter for his fourth and final season in Morgantown.

Accolades, highlights: Preseason Third Team All-Big 12 selection in 2025 and three-time Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week; Straw pinned 54 of his 140 career punt attempts so far inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

Coverage Links:

Oliver Straw Represents WVU as Special Teams Player of the Week

WVU Punter Oliver Straw Dedicating His Season to Teen Fighting Cancer

WVU Punter Oliver Straw’s Long Journey to Football Beginning to Pay Off