John Mateer is putting in work to solve his biggest weakness, and the Oklahoma Sooners offense will reap the rewards
The Oklahoma Sooners had a feeling they were going to strike gold when they pulled quarterback John Mateer out of the transfer portal in the winter. While they knew his talent level, I'm not sure they anticipated just how important Mateer would become for the team's identity. The big resurgence in belief in the Sooners […]
The Oklahoma Sooners had a feeling they were going to strike gold when they pulled quarterback John Mateer out of the transfer portal in the winter. While they knew his talent level, I'm not sure they anticipated just how important Mateer would become for the team's identity.
The big resurgence in belief in the Sooners is directly tied to Mateer and the belief in his abilities. However, Mateer knows he isn't perfect and has plenty of areas to grow in.
His most important area of improvement will have to be in his decision-making, and so far, it seems like he's taking that to heart. At SEC Media Days, Mateer spoke about how him teaching the offense to the team has helped him grow his understanding and progression this offseason.
“No doubt, because teaching is scientifically proven to be the best way to learn something. So being able to do that is huge. Because pre-snap, you can think, you can think what you should do where you should go but once the play starts it has to be instincts. To be able to know those instincts have them wired into my brain is huge, getting to the next progression. That’s been a huge thing I’ve been wanting to work on.”
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If Mateer can step up his game here, it would be a boon for both the Sooners and his own NFL Draft stock.
Cory Kinnan, the owner of the Daft on Draft Substack, wrote about Mateer and how his decision-making is the only thing holding him back right now as a prospect.
“He has the electric, elastic arm and is a plus athlete to make plays with his legs as well. And not just extend plays, but create legitimate explosives with his legs. However, there are quite a few negatives on his tape that are quite concerning for a fourth year player. The biggest issue is that I do not trust his eyes. I did an Inside the Film Room on Mateer and broke down the high highs and also the low lows in their loss to Boise State last season. There are some really basic concepts like Y-Cross that Mateer either completely neglects to see or is late to throw to.”
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If Mateer can take that step forward in his second year in the offense under Arbuckle, Oklahoma's offense is going to explode moving forward this year. We've seen countless quarterbacks take that all-important leap up in their second year, and Mateer doing that could radically transform Oklahoma's future.
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