Why QB John Mateer is Impressed by Oklahoma's ‘Deep’ Wide Receiver Room

Overall, the 2024 season was disastrous for Oklahoma’s wide receiver corps. But the future could be a bright one, says the new quarterback.

The Sooners saw several of their top wideouts — Nic Anderson, Jalil Farooq, Deion Burks, Andrel Anthony and Jayden Gibson — miss extended time with injuries. This played a major role in OU’s overall offensive inconsistency, as the Sooners finished 121st out of 134 FBS teams in passing offense (175.8 yards per game).

That position group is almost entirely different entering 2025. Between several transfers signing with OU and a couple of high school prospects choosing the Sooners, it will be a fresh start for the offense.

“Our room is so deep and I trust all those guys,” quarterback John Mateer said at SEC Media Days in Atlanta last week. “One-on-one matchups are going to be huge and we’re going to continue to find out who can win consistently. We’ve got a lot of guys that can do it.”

Mateer, Washington State's starter in 2024, and running back Jaydn Ott, from Cal, were OU’s big splashes in the 2025 transfer portal cycle, but the Sooners also went on a shopping spree for wideouts.

Oklahoma landed Isaiah Sategna (Arkansas), Javonnie Gibson (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), Josiah Martin (Cal), Keontez Lewis (Southern Illinois) and Jer’Michael Carter (McNeese State) from the portal. The Sooners also grabbed three transfer tight ends: Carson Kent (Kennesaw State), John Locke Jr. (Louisiana Tech) and Will Huggins (Pittsburg State).

“We’ve added a lot of good players,” Mateer said. “You add more players to an offense like this and it should be a lot of fun.”

As far as the Sooners’ minimal 2024 receiving production, most of it is gone.

Tight end Bauer Sharp led OU with 324 receiving yards, and he’s now at LSU, along with Anderson. Anthony transferred to Duke, and Farooq went to Maryland.

Of Oklahoma’s returning wideouts, Burks had the most yards (245) in 2024. The Sooners also return Jacob Jordan, Zion Kearney, Zion Ragins and Ivan Carreon.

READ MORE OKLAHOMA SOONERS

• Oklahoma CB Courtland Guillory 'Learns Fast', Giving Him a Shot to Make an Impact in 2025
• Brent Venables, Oklahoma Defense Receive Praise from Opposing SEC Players
• Senior Year: Assessing Brent Venables’ First Recruiting Class

Though Mateer hasn’t yet played a game for the Sooners, the quarterback said his connection with both returners and transfers is strong.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Mateer said. “They’re great dudes, and we’re so like-minded. They love football, and so do I. Just going on the field, then talking after we’re off the field and what we thought. It’s been great.”

Another new element of Oklahoma’s offense is coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who also came to Norman from Washington State.

Arbuckle spent two years in Pullman, installing his high-flying, pass-first system. In 2024, he led a WSU offense that finished 12th nationally in scoring offense (36.8 points per game) with Mateer at quarterback. And before that, in 2023, Arbuckle coached Cam Ward, who later transferred to Miami and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

While Arbuckle and Mateer thrived together at Washington State, doing so in the SEC will be a new challenge.

Because of that, they have tweaked their schemes to prepare for games against high-caliber SEC opponents. The more comfortable Mateer feels, the more Oklahoma’s receivers will be able to produce.

“We’ve added some more schemes and made (new) plays off the plays we added last year,” Mateer said. “And there’s always a progression year-by-year to an offense. You can never stay stagnant or you’ll get beat. So he’s making the right steps and adding a lot of good plays. We’ve got a lot of good coaches that also have thoughts on what to add so we’ve been doing that.”