Why Oklahoma QB John Mateer was 'Relaxed' During Sooners' Spring Game

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer won his first spring game ever on Saturday.

During his three years at Washington State, Mateer came out on the losing end twice. Last year, the Sooners held a “Crimson Combine” event in lieu of a traditional spring game.

Mateer commanded his “Red” team to a 31-3 win over “White” in the intrasquad scrimmage.

“I’m 1-for-3,” Mateer said. “It was a lot of fun. I was just relaxed and chill, smiling and playing ball and doing it in this atmosphere was awesome.”

Mateer is entering his second season as OU’s starting signal caller. 

As a redshirt junior in 2025, he threw for 2,885 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His performance in the back half of the season dwindled, as Mateer underwent hand surgery after the Sooners’ win against Auburn. Still, Mateer did enough down the stretch to help OU reach its first College Football Playoff since 2019.

Four months have passed since the Sooners lost to Alabama in the CFP First Round, so Mateer has gotten plenty of time to almost fully recover from his injury.

“I’d say it’s close (to 100 percent),” Mateer said. “It definitely feels good — it’s stronger. I think it’s stronger than it was before, just because of the emphasis I put back into it.”

In front of 31,000 fans at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Mateer completed 12 of his 19 pass attempts for 192 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown went for three yards to transfer wide receiver Mackenzie Alleyne. The quarterback split playing time on the Red team with Jett Niu, while Bowe Bentley and Whitt Newbauer played for White.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

Though Mateer wasn’t perfect, his outing was one that impressed OU coach Brent Venables.

“John makes things happen,” Venables said. “He has a chance to be a fantastic playmaker at that position. I think he’s a guy that threatens a defense and requires numbers in the right spots, whether that’s in coverage or in the run game. I expect him leading the way to be a more cohesive, more consistent, more explosive, better-balanced offense.”

For Oklahoma to return to the College Football Playoff in 2026, the offense must improve, as the Sooners placed 12th in the SEC in both scoring offense and total offense last year. 

Based on Saturday’s exhibition game, OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle is confident that Mateer’s development and the new weapons around him will allow the unit to be more productive.

“We know the type of offense, the type of unit we want to be, and John fully understands it, too,” Arbuckle said. “He goes out and he attacks it, and it's been awesome to watch, because you just see him developing and growing his football IQ even more and himself as a player even more.”

Saturday’s game was somewhat of a culmination of the Sooners’ spring, as they’ll practice just twice more before the summer.

There were highs and lows to Mateer’s first season at OU, and there were highs and lows on Saturday — but all in all, the quarterback feels well-prepared to be better in 2026.

“It was super productive; that's the word I'd use,” Mateer said. “There are a lot of things still to clean up, but that's what's so beautiful about this game. Every play, even on the good plays, there's something to do better and that's the biggest thing I've learned.”