Oklahoma Sooners’ legendary quarterback Sam Bradford has a hilarious quote regarding his time spent with John Mateer
The Oklahoma Sooners have an illustrious history of quarterbacks, and John Mateer could be the next best.
The Oklahoma Sooners have some of the best histories in college football. That rings even truer when you’re talking about the history of quarterbacks. No one has a better lineage of QBs than the Sooners.
There are so many to name. But, what’s most important is right now, and they believe they have a QB capable of being good enough to lead them to a National Championship. Recently, John Mateer spent some time with Sooners legend Sam Bradford. The two watched tape, hung out, and did who knows what else involving football. And in the process, Bradford had a hilarious quote from On3, where he thinks he may have had more fun than Mateer.
Sam Bradford talks his time with John Mateer
“I probably had more fun than he did. Just being back in the film room, watching tape, being able to talk about the ball. I mean, I loved it,” Bradford told SoonerScoop. “I’m a huge fan and love supporting the Sooners. And so I watched him play all year, met him a couple of times at practice, and then after the season, I really don’t know how it came up. But I think we might have run into each other in Norman at some point. And then I came down one day, and we watched a little bit of tape, and it just kind of went from there.”
If there’s anyone to be learning from, it’s probably good that it’s Bradford. He is one of the greatest OU QBs ever. And, Mateer needs to improve his game if OU is going to be better in 2026 than they were last year.
Against the Auburn Tigers, Mateer injured his hand in the first quarter. He broke his thumb when throwing a ball led to his hand hitting the helmet of now NFL rookie Keldrick Faulk. He had surgery and came back against the Texas Longhorns. And, throwing the football was never the same for him.
Mateer finished with 2,800 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in 2025. He completed just 62% of his passes and ran for 431 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Those numbers need to be better, especially in the passing game.
Maybe Mateer coming back early ultimately hurt the Sooners. Maybe. Or, maybe it was always going to be that bad on offense, simply because OU had no run game and no big separation down the field from their receivers.
No big plays were being made as much as they needed to be made. And, when Michael Hawkins was in the game, the same issues pertained. So, Mateer just played anyway, and that’s the kind of competitor he is. He still has to be better in 2026. No excuses.