The Oklahoma Sooners will not be looking for a brand new quarterback for 2026, because the program introduced Thursday night that John Mateer is returning for one more season.
The Washington State switch led Oklahoma to a 10-3 report in 2025. Mateer accomplished 62.2% of his passes for two,885 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 12 video games performed this previous season, and added 431 yards and eight extra touchdowns on the bottom. The Sooners made the Faculty Soccer Playoff because the No. 8 seed, however had been defeated by Alabama, 34-24. Mateer threw for 307 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and rushed for a landing within the playoff loss. It marked his fifteenth sport with a passing landing and a speeding landing. No different FBS participant has greater than 12 such video games over the past two years.
Mateer’s first season in Norman began off promising, because the Sooners registered victories in opposition to Illinois State, No. 15 Michigan and Temple. Nonetheless, within the 24-17 victory over No. 22 Auburn, Mateer suffered an harm to his throwing hand that required surgical procedure. He missed the next sport in opposition to Kent State, however returned for the Crimson River Rivalry lower than three weeks later. It ended up being Oklahoma’s first lack of the season, as Mateer threw for 202 yards and three interceptions in a 23-6 defeat to Texas.
Oklahoma completed out the common season 5-1 following the loss to Texas, however Mateer didn’t appear to be the identical dynamic offensive menace. He crossed 200 yards passing simply twice within the Sooners’ last six video games of the common season, and threw six touchdowns in comparison with 4 interceptions. Nonetheless, Mateer did register 300 yards passing within the last two video games of the season, together with the playoff loss to Alabama.
One has to surprise what Oklahoma would have seemed like had Mateer not sustained that hand harm. Now, he will get one other shot to steer the Sooners to glory. Mateer was 247Sports’ No. 1 switch portal prospect final yr. In his last season at Washington State, Mateer accomplished 64.6% of his passes for 3,139 yards, 29 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. As a runner, Mateer put collectively a historic marketing campaign, speeding 178 instances for 826 yards and 15 extra scores. His 44 complete touchdowns had been tied for probably the most within the FBS with No. 1 general decide Cam Ward, and he was considered one of simply two FBS quarterbacks to throw for 20 touchdowns and rush for 10 touchdowns.
