John Mateer Nearly Tops Arch Manning in Joel Klatt's Quarterback Rankings

"Now he goes down to Oklahoma and he goes to the SEC," he said. "And yes, that's a jump, there's no doubt. But he brings his offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle with him, so he's not going to have to learn a new system. And in a lot of ways, that should pay dividends for Mateer. He's got a big arm, he can run it. He's a dual threat guy. He was the only quarterback last year to average at least 250 yards through the year throwing the football, and 50 on the ground in every game. When you strip out sack yardage ... he ran for over a 1,000 yards."

Klatt said Mateer will likely do better than ever this season.

"There's no doubt last year he was one of the 10 best quarterbacks in college football," he said. "Now he's coming back, he's gonna have better players around him... He's gonna be one of the 10 best, and I actually think he's going to be one of the five best."

Klatt added that Mateer will shine after leaving Washington State, just like Cam Ward did. And while Oklahoma has a "terrible" schedule this year, he can't wait to see how Mateer handles week two game against Michigan's defense.

Klatt isn't the only one expecting big things from Mateer.

Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples of On3 both ranked Mateer near the top of their lists of Top 10 Quarterbacks in College Football. Wasserman placed him at number 4, right behind the Longhorns' Arch Manning. Staples placed him at number 6.

Wasserman predicted: "There is a legitimate chance that this is the guy holding up the Heisman at the end of the year. And I don't say that lightly. There is a legitimate chance that Oklahoma is a playoff team because of this guy next year."