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The Oklahoma football program has a new quarterback in 2025, and John Mateer is dialed in.
A fourth-year transfer from Washington State, Mateer will have the heavy hopes and expectations of a proud Sooners program on his shoulders in his first season in Norman. But he seems to be preparing for it by trying to block out the noise as much as he possibly can.
“I deleted Twitter – or I, like, removed it,” Mateer said at the Manning Passing Academy, via On3's Nick Schultz. “I check it like once every four days. I was really, really bad with that stuff and looking at what people said about me. I do the best I can do discipline myself and not look at any of it. Because the good is cool, but the good is good until I suck and then the good is horrible and those same people, they hate me. Not actually, but on the field.”
Mateer said he used the screen time limit function on his phone, saying, “I was like being a zombie here and there, looking at my phone.” In particular, he said that he had not seen NFL draft analyst Todd McShay's breakdown of his film.
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“Even more recently, when that came out is right when I started screen time [limits]. So I didn’t look at it, people sent it to me, and I tried to not look at it because it don’t matter,” Mateer said.
In truth, all that matters is if Oklahoma wins. Last year, the Sooners' first in the SEC, they did not do enough winning to satisfy a fanbase spoiled by dominance in the Big 12. OU went 6-7 (2-6 in the SEC) in 2024, with its 34-3 blowout loss to archrival Texas a particularly painful moment.
In part, the struggles stemmed from a lack of consistency at quarterback. Oklahoma started the season with Jackson Arnold as its starter, having seen what Arnold could do in a backup role behind Dillon Gabriel before the latter's transfer to Oregon. However, Arnold, after committing three turnovers against Tennessee in the fourth game of the season, was benched for true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr., who started four games in 2024 for Oklahoma. Arnold started the other nine before transferring to Auburn.
OU hopes Mateer will bring a stabilizing force to the position. In his first and only year as a starter at Washington State, Mateer threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns, in addition to rushing for 826 yards and 15 touchdowns, leading the Cougars to an 8-4 record in the process.
