JOHN MATEER

Ahh summertime: A lovely time in our college football schedule driven by hot-taking, list-making and sidewalk baking. Affectionally known as Talking Season, this is also when blowhards and engagement farmers tend to dictate the conversations, with not much else is going on in the sports world. And as most can attest, everyone loves a good quarterback debate.

Fresh off wrapping up my annual QB Impact Study, where I chart the top 40-50 returning passers against their most challenging opponents, this analyst is ready to join the fray and guide you towards a more fulfilling discussion. I ground through tape to find traits that translate and metrics that matter — far more illuminating than citing counting stats or scanning box scores. Plus, this exercise has a great track record for singling out the nation’s top signal callers.

This piece will focus on Oklahoma's new QB1 John Mateer -- one of college football's most entertaining players.

(FOR MOBILE: TILT DEVICE SIDEWAYS FOR BETTER TABLE VIEWABILITY)

IMPACT SLATE: Texas Tech, Washington, San Jose State, Boise State, Fresno State, and Wyoming. 

The Skinny

A big play-oriented swashbuckler. Dangerous with both his legs and arm. On the shortlist of QBs with 3K pass yds + 1K rush yds in the same year. Sidearm thrower; passes arrive with emphasis. Valuable as scrambler + designed rusher. Top-notch burst and change of direction skills.

The Fat

Despite the majority of the conference flaking away to greener pastures, Pac-12 After Dark remained a must-see, late-night viewing largely thanks to the heroics of John Mateer. Though a decent passer, his legs make him one of the most incendiary playmakers in the sport. If the opportunity presents itself, he has no issue tucking and running to available real estate. His acceleration, burst, and change of direction are all among the best the position can offer ahead of this fall. He constantly puts defenders in odd spots, often forcing them to try awkward arm tackles. 

In his Impact games, all of his rushing “stable metrics” – which include yards after contact average, Broken Tackle Rate, Adjusted Gumption Rate, and Explosive Run Rate – beat the national average on designed runs. And emphasizing just how pesky he can be, he averaged more yards per attempt (8.0 vs 7.1) and had a higher Success Rate (61% vs 53%) on scrambles in comparison. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE)

With a hand towel constantly flapping to match his kinetic operation, Mateer has a clear swashbuckling quality. He likes to throw with emphasis, rocking a solid underneath fastball. His floating, buttery deep attempts come out quick with minimal effort. He stood out on midrange targets against his hardest opponents. His 58.1% such Accuracy% cracked the crop’s top10. Plus, it’s good for the brand that he's overly a sidearm thrower. A lot of his power comes from his oblique torque, so he doesn’t always need a set base to fire a rocket. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE) 

That said, a lot of his inconsistencies as a passer are rooted in his poor mechanics. A side effect of his whippy motion is a low elbow, which can hurt lateral placement of passes. Moreover, he likes to launch from narrow bases and flip his hip when following through. With this zealous motion, he often can lose his kilter; especially when asked to move, evade, or extend. His catchability on deep throws and targets toward tight windows suffer the most. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE) 

Mateer barely averaged over 5 throws/game under duress in his sample but did provide some solace when he managed to get the ball out. With his titled release, Mateer is capable of firing throws from various angles in order to work throwing lanes around defenders; a necessity for a “shorter” QB. And while throwaways skewed his numbers, his Success%, First Down+TD%, Adjusted Net Passing Yards/Attempt, and Depth Adjusted Accuracy% all topped the group average. All the while, Mateer didn’t toss a single interceptable pass when pressured. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE) 

His noticeably active lower body might skew some technical aspects to his game, but it also undeniably raises his floor. Instead of choppy, typewriter feet, Mateer has a smoothness to his operation that helps him be ready to bail at a moment’s notice. His sample had a few good examples of climbing the pocket and keeping his eyes up downfield. And again, his speed routinely allows him to win the edge where he tends to be his most dangerous. A fifth of his sample throws were outside the pocket. And, Mateer was the only Impact QB with at least 18 such attempts to have both a +14.0 average depth of target and a sub-31% Uncatchable Pass Rate.

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE)

Abundant flimsy foundations, however, saw every single of his overall placement stats finish below the Impact average. Some bright spots emerged in other breakouts. But, they often come with similar warning signs. For instance, Mateer’s aggressive style yielded a worrisome Interceptable Pass Rate across the board. And despite some solid metrics, he was clearly more prone to mistakes on true dropbacks; particularly taking sacks. His Pressure:Sack Ratio was the worst in our study. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE)

There’s some timidness working the middle of the field as he seems more comfortable targeting outside the numbers. Though he generally has good eyes scanning the field, he can fall victim to locking onto his primary a beat too long. On buffers, he handled his own negating threats from the perimeter, but interior heat was a consistent source of negatives, which tracks due to Mateer’s below-average size. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE)

Considering he’s leveling up to the SEC, those are major red flags even acknowledging his game changing abilities. After all, it’s not like last year inspired much optimism in Oklahoma’s offensive line to prevent pressure. Mateer’s Impact slate was the 9th-easiest in our study. So, there will be some growing pains even if he will have the luxury of his former play caller following him to Norman. 

Still, Mateer owns a clear gamer quality and appears to play better when trailing. At least in the games against the meat of his schedule, that proved to be true. Outside of his Sack and Uncatchable Pass Rates, all of his overall stats were better than when Mateer dropped back with a lead. 

(STATS COLOR CODED BASED ON PERCENTILE AMONG 44 QBS IN 2025 IMPACT STUDY; TILT TABLE SIDEWAYS ON MOBILE)

Plus, backers have to feel great regarding his decision-making. Despite a potentially backbreaking Drop Rate, most of his results were in the green regardless of breakout. Furthermore, he presents a potent “pass floor”. On clean dropbacks inside the pocket without guises, he maintained a high ADOT, saw a significant uptick in his raw Accuracy%, and logged a top10 1D+TD Rate amongst his Impact peers. 

Bad Take Brooks Sees a

Russell Wilson type

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