SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 16, 2025

John Mateer

Oklahoma Sooners

Press Conference

Q. I know how you fit into the offense, but Jaydn Ott, when you look at his stats and ability, how will he complement you?

JOHN MATEER: He's pretty good. He's super dynamic, catch the ball, run the ball, blocking and everything that comes with playing running back, he's pretty good at it. Him and all the running backs are super good and real promising so far.

Q. What do you feel he brings to the table just from a tangibles and intangibles perspective as a quarterback? Your teammates have had a lot of comments that you have a quirky personality. What do you think plays into that?

JOHN MATEER: Like what do you mean? What did they say?

Q. That you say a lot of funny things and you always know the right thing to say?

JOHN MATEER: I would say I can bring a little bit to the table. I fit the offense really well. I'm just trying to get better. I've got a lot of people around me that's going to help me a lot.

The O line's going to protect. And I'll make sure of it, and we'll get them right, make sure they're pointed to the right place. And the receivers are going to make me look good when I miss a little bit. It's going to be good.

Q. When your teammates say you're funny, what comes to mind? They said you were cracking them up on the plane coming in? What's funny about you?

JOHN MATEER: We were interviewing Coach Venables, actually. It will probably come out on the OU football Instagram here soon. And I don't know, I've been known to cross some borders, that is, gets a little edgy here and there, like, maybe you shouldn't say that but I'll say it anyway -- not right now, obviously.

Q. How did you take a leadership role when you came in? Everybody has said right away it's like you've been there for years. What tangibly did you do to assert yourself in the room?

JOHN MATEER: I would say I was fortunate because I didn't have to learn a whole new offense. I was able to take time to learn the players that I was going to play with and build relationships with them in the locker room, hang out and help them learn the offense, because building relationships is the most important thing to leading. You can't lead people you don't know. They're not going to trust you if they don't know you. That was super important to me.

They embraced me. It wasn't all me; they embraced me they put me in the front of the lines, the players put me in front of the line first day of workouts. I just wanted to do it by my work. I didn't want to say a whole lot and be, oh, I'm the leader, this and that. I didn't try to do that. I just wanted to work as hard as I could and prove to them that I was capable of leading.

Q. Oklahoma fans didn't get to see the best of Deion Burks last year because he was so banged up. What have you seen of Deion and what can he be in this offense?

JOHN MATEER: I'm super proud of Deion. He had a rough year last year, on and off the field. But he's super promising. He cares a lot about football and he cares a lot about the Sooners.

I'm super happy for him and proud of him, just where he's came with his body and his mind. He knows the game of football a lot better this year than he did last year. Super proud of him. I'm real excited to play with him.

Q. I know Oklahoma's not in the SEC special but I was wondering if you're excited to see it when it comes in August?

JOHN MATEER: August 5th, right? I am, but it's fall camp. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to watch but I'm excited that it's coming out.

Q. What kind of legacy would you like to leave at Oklahoma?

JOHN MATEER: I don't think about the word "legacy" a whole lot. I would like to say I'd like to win a lot of games and do it by playing as hard as I can. And I'll let the legacy happen however it should. You win, good things happen. I just want to win a lot of games.

Q. What do you think a quarterback in the modern era, on the field, outside of leadership, is supposed to be? And how do you align with that?

JOHN MATEER: What do you mean?

Q. Just the modern era of quarterbacking in terms of mobility and things of that nature.

JOHN MATEER: I think it's shifted to a more athletic style of play. They say there's two plays in each play. The first play, if the first play don't work, you gotta be able to make the second play and react.

It's super important, and it adds a whole other layer to the defense and makes it a lot of fun for me and the rest of the offense.

It's super frustrating for Coach Venables in practice, too. No, I'm just kidding. But it's fun. I'm blessed to have that ability.

Q. Speaking of defenses and Brent Venables, how has it been going up against one of the best defenses in the SEC in practice over the past few months?

A. It's been challenging, but it's made me a lot better. It's not easy to go against that good of a defense every day because you've got to come with it every day. And I try to and this offense does, but it doesn't make it easy.

They're good and schematically they're good and confusing and then they've got good players. You add that together, it's not real easy, especially for an offense that's trying to learn. We don't even know -- it was a lot of fun.

Q. You've got a lot of new faces at wide receiver. How is that looking? Jer'Michael Carter came over through the transfer portal. What's your impression of him so far?

JOHN MATEER: I really like J-Mike. J-Mike loves being a Sooner and loves being in the building.

With all of them it's been promising. We spent a lot of time together on and off the field, spending a lot of time throwing the ball to each other and just learning how I think and how they think and what they like to run, what they don't like to run and how it should be ran.

We've still got room to go, of course, but we'll get there.

Q. A lot of people have compared you to Baker Mayfield. You've brought up Baker on your own at times. Do you accept that? It's a bit of a high status in Oklahoma, being compared to Baker Mayfield. Do you accept that challenge or enjoy that status that people think of you as a worthy successor to Baker?

JOHN MATEER: It's an honor to be compared to him. When you talk Oklahoma, everybody loves Baker Mayfield, which is great. And deservingly so -- he's done a lot for this university.

It's an honor to be compared to him. I wouldn't say I'm exactly like him. But it's definitely cool to be that high status. I don't see it as pressure. I see it as opportunity.

Q. In the spring, we talked to you about you wanted to kind of improve some of your decision making stuff. Have you found teaching the offense to the guys has kind of helped further that understanding and speed up the whole process for you?

JOHN MATEER: No doubt, because teaching is scientifically proven to be the best way to learn something. So being able to do that is huge.

Because pre-snap, you can think, you can think what you should do where you should go but once the play starts it has to be instincts. To be able to know those instincts have them wired into my brain is huge, getting to the next progression. That's been a huge thing I've been wanting to work on.

Q. Along the lines of what you were just asked about the comparisons to Baker, but seems like this offseason there's been a lot of hype about what the potential could be for the Oklahoma offense. You know it as well as anybody. What's it like dealing with some of that hype? What are your expectations about this offense?

JOHN MATEER: We don't really worry about it in the building. I think we're all excited in our own, not because of what anybody on the outside says but because of the work we've put in. Personally, my confidence comes from the work I put in, and I think we've done a good job. I think we're going to do some good things. We've got a lot of good players, and it's going to be a lot of fun to watch.

Q. What did you learn at the Manning Passing Academy? Was there anything that you learned there that helps in the Red River game?

JOHN MATEER: I actually learned a lot. It was a great opportunity. We got to sit in -- the best thing about the whole camp, other than having fun with the kids and building relationships, was about an hour to an hour 15 minutes we got to spend in the room with Peyton and Eli and Jon Gruden and the Rams GM just giving us goals as young quarterbacks.

There's nothing you can replace, put in place for that. I learned a lot. I also met a lot of guys. And I learned that Arch Manning is a cool guy, and it's going to be fun to play in that game.