'Selfless' QB John Mateer Built Trust With Oklahoma Teammates in South Carolina

Mateer’s ownership of everything that happens on Oklahoma’s offense is a quality his teammates respect, but he knows he has to balance his drive to respond and set things right with what is best for the team. 

“I just realized that I can trust these guys around me,” Mateer said on Monday. “It’s not that I didn’t, but they obviously showed it. They’ve showed it every game, but I have kind of a control problem. 

“It’s probably my personality, not because I don’t believe in anyone, but it’s me just trusting it and letting the game come to me is a big thing that I knew when I was younger but I kind of got away from. But letting the game come to me and we all played super hard so it worked out.”

Mateer said offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski play a key role in keeping him grounded. 

Their work as a trio was successful following the loss to the Longhorns, but things looked different against South Carolina. 

Mateer didn’t throw for a career high and light up the scoreboard, but he still ran the offense efficiently. 

He finished with 150 passing yards and one score, completing 18-of-26 passes in the process. 

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His longest completion was the 20-yard score to Isaiah Sategna, but Mateer consistently put the ball in the right spot for his receivers to make plays, and he was supported by OU’s best rushing performance in SEC play this year. 

The outing marked the fewest yards Mateer has thrown for as a Sooner, yet Oklahoma still notched a 26-7 road win in confernece play — a showing that Arbuckle hopes will affirm to Mateer that he doesn’t have to make every single play to put the team in a winning position. 

“He cares, and he has so much pride in this team and this offense and believes in himself so much that he does want to carry the weight of the world,” Arbuckle said. “But John is really, really good at taking a step back and understanding that if he just does his job, really good things happen. 

“And I thought he did that really well last week. I thought his eyes, his footwork, his decision-making was so good, and it was nothing more than doing his job.”

This week, Mateer will likely have to make a few more big plays with his arm to match the output of the No. 8 Ole Miss offense, but he’s up for the challenge. 

“The explosive plays come, but you can’t force them,” he said. “Ole Miss has a good defense too, and obviously a good offense. So, you just play the game, play the game that comes to you and stay efficient.”

His outing against South Carolina gives Arbuckle full faith that Mateer will be able to execute on Saturday, regardless of what he’s asked to do. 

“He is a selfless guy,” Arbuckle said. “Dude was, what did he throw for? Like 150 yards (against South Carolina)? We won the ball game, and he was fired up about it in the locker room after. He’s a terrible dancer, but he's kind of getting some dance moves in and stuff like that in the locker room after the game. 

“That's awesome football. That's awesome culture. It's an awesome locker room. And you know, John, he's always going to be that player that he's going to do his job, but whenever the moment calls for, he usually has a pretty good gauge on when, ‘OK, hey, I'm going to go do what it takes to win the game right here.’”