Outside the east side of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium sits OU's iconic Heisman Park featuring life-size bronze statues of the Sooners' seven Heisman Trophy winners.
Oklahoma is hoping it might have another Heisman-worthy quarterback in John Mateer, who takes over the starting role for the crimson and cream in 2025 after transferring from Washington State this offseason.
BetMGM, one of multiple Las Vegas handicappers that lays odds on who will be the next Heisman winner, has Mateer in the top 10 of 2025 players with the best odds to cart home the prized trophy at the end of this college football season. BetMGM has the OU quarterback's Heisman odds at +2500. Arch Manning of Texas (+650), Garrett Nussmeier, the returning QB at LSU (+750), and Cade Klubnik (+850) of Clemson are the top-three favorites, according to BetMGM.
John Mateer given top-10 Heisman Trophy odds
Curiously, but perhaps not all that surprising, nine of the top 10 players in the BetMGM Heisman model are quarterbacks.
The Sooners certainly are no strangers to Heisman Trophy winners. Their seven previous winners, who stretch from the early 1950s to 2018, are tied with Ohio State and Notre Dame for the second most all-time. And four of the seven -- all quarterbacks -- have come since 2003 (Jason White (2003), Sam Bradford (2008), Baker Mayfield (2017) and Kyler Murray (2018)).
And they just missed out on a fifth quarterback winning the Heisman when Caleb Williams, an OU recruit who played one season at Oklahoma, followed head coach Lincoln Riley to USC after the 2021 season. Williams won college football's most coveted individual prize in 2023.
Oklahoma had three Heisman winners prior to 2000, all running backs: Billy Vessels (1952), Steve Owens (1969) and Billy Sims (1978).
In addition to seven Heisman winners, six other former Oklahoma players have finished as runner-up in the Heisman voting: QB Jalen Hurts (2019), RB Adrian Peterson (2004), QB Josh Heupel (2000), RB Billy Sims (1979), RB Greg Pruitt (1972) and OL Kurt Buriss (1954).
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