The Southeastern Conference named Samuel Ogazi of Alabama, Brandon Green Jr. of Oklahoma and Calvin Wetzel of Tennessee as co-recipients of the Men's Indoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year award on February 24, 2026. This honor recognizes their academic and athletic achievements during the indoor season. Ogazi becomes the first male from Alabama to receive this distinction.
The Southeastern Conference announced the Men's Indoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, selecting Samuel Ogazi from the University of Alabama, Brandon Green Jr. from the University of Oklahoma and Calvin Wetzel from the University of Tennessee as co-winners. The award highlights excellence in both academics and performance in the sport.
Samuel Ogazi, a 2024 Paris Olympian, maintains a 3.304 grade-point average while majoring in criminology and criminal justice. He is a five-time All-American and the 2025 outdoor national champion and SEC champion in the men's 400 meters. During the indoor season, Ogazi won the 400-meter title at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic with a time of 44.85 seconds, ranking No. 2 on the season's world list, No. 13 all-time globally and No. 2 in Alabama program history. He also ran a 44.24-second anchor leg on Alabama's 4x400-meter relay at the Tiger Paw Invitational, contributing to a program-second-best time of 3:02.29. Ogazi earned SEC Men's Runner of the Week honors on February 10 and appeared on the Dean's List in Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. This marks the first such award for a male Alabama student-athlete and the third for the Crimson Tide in indoor track and field over the last four seasons, following women's winners Mercy Chelangat in 2023 and Doris Lemngole in 2025.
Brandon Green Jr., known as BJ Green, shares the honor after earning bronze at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships, sweeping Big 12 indoor and outdoor titles that year. He is a multiple-time All-American and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the triple jump.
No specific details were provided about Calvin Wetzel's achievements in the announcements.
The awards come ahead of the 2026 SEC Indoor Championships, set for February 26-28 in College Station, Texas.
