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John Mateer has already made a more impressive pass on the first day of fall camp than there was all of last season

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Justin Churchill | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 11:57 PM ET

When the Oklahoma Sooners were in fall camp this time last year, we pretty much just heard about the defense. The offense didn’t really do anything. Now, with John Mateer, things are really moving. Brent Venables and the Sooners are almost ready.

Last season, the Sooners started fall camp with Jackson Arnold as the guy at the starting quarterback position. And, there was definitely hype there. Based on the little bit we saw from Arnold the season before, and the fact that he was a five star recruit, Gatorade National Player of the Year, and so many other things he accomplished, we all thought he was going to be good.

The exact opposite happened.

When the season kicked off, the Sooners won their first four non-conference games, but there were clues in every single game that foreshadowed what was going to happen in SEC play. Oklahoma ended up having one of the worst offenses in the entire country last season.

Now, it’s John Mateer time

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John Mateer shows out at fall camp

The Oklahoma Sooners kicked off their first practice of fall camp on Thursday, July 31, and the media and fans only really got two highlight clips from the practice.

The first one was Kip Lewis getting what looked to be an interception, or maybe a fumble — it was hard to tell.

The second clip was John Mateer throwing a crazy pass, squeezing the ball into a tight window over some defenders, and just threading the needle to wide receiver Deion Burks, who skied high for the ball. And, when you really slow down the clip and look very close, it almost looks like Mateer side-armed the ball to get it to fit in that window.

We can’t really see the entirety of the full play, but we can easily see that it’s a better play and pass than anything that happened during the actual season last year.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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