Oklahoma star quarterback John Mateer had his 2025 season sabotaged by a broken thumb on his throwing hand but says he is at full strength entering the upcoming campaign.
Mateer had his throwing motion tweaked in the offseason and said he is stronger physically and mentally during his Monday session with reporters at Southeastern Conference Media Days at Tampa, Fla.
"It was not strong," Mateer said of the thumb. "And the range of motion, I had to change how I held the ball.
"In the offseason you put
in the work to be prepared, and I had a belief because of the work, and the work it didn't matter. I don't want to say it got taken away from me, but physically it wasn't the same."
He received early-season Heisman Trophy hype last season before an injury derailed his season and all but ended Oklahoma's national title aspirations. The Sooners (10-3) did make the College Football Playoff before losing 34-24 at home to Alabama in the first round.
Mateer broke the thumb in a Sept. 20 game against Auburn and finished the contest. He underwent surgery and was recovering while the Sooners had a bye and a following game against Kent State.
Mateer was intent on playing against Texas - returning ahead of doctor's forecasts just 17 days after surgery - and it didn't go well. He was intercepted three times in a 23-6 setback and his struggles continued into late November.
"I'm glad I did it because it showed me that you could fight through a lot, even though I was obviously not 100%," Mateer said. "It was a very difficult thing to do. I'm glad I did it -- even though I failed."
Mateer was a highly billed transfer after a huge 2024 season at Washington State in which he passed for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He also rushed for 826 yards and 15 scores.
But with the Sooners, he tossed just 14 scoring passes against 11 interceptions while throwing for 2,885 yards. He added 431 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.
Mateer said he also was living up the life as Big Man on Campus at a national powerhouse school.
He said he is scaling back that persona.
"There's a lot of personal opportunities here at Oklahoma playing quarterback, and I don't know if I was thinking too much about those, and then I got to the peak, and God was like, 'No, that's not why we're doing this,'" Mateer said. "So I've been trying to scale back on the personal stuff. If it happens, it happens, but the team is what matters. You taste the playoff. That's what I want. You get it, and they can't take it away from you. It means so much to so many people."
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables expects to see a much-improved version of Mateer this season.
"I just think we're going to be a lot better around him," Venables said. "And to his point, it's hard to throw a football consistently or down the field, push it or throw it with the velocity when he can barely squeeze it."
The Sooners open the regular season against visiting UTEP on Sept. 4.
--Field Level Media
