Oklahoma Sooners news: John Mateer injury update, massive recruiting haul and more

John Mateer injury update

There still hasn't been an updated timeline for Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer's return from his hand injury, but he confirmed via X on Thursday that the surgery was a success and also gave praise to new Sooners fan-favorite Dr. Steve Shin, who performed Mateer's surgery on his throwing hand on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

OU announced on Tuesday that Mateer, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner, injured his right hand in the first quarter against Auburn and, according to multiple reports, will miss multiple weeks, with his status for the Red River Rivalry on Oct. 11 still unknown.

Meanwhile, in the midst of injury news, Dr. Shin developed a cult-like following from Sooner Nation on social media.

Massive recruiting haul for Sooners

The Sooners picked up not one, but two, massive additions to their 2027 recruiting class within minutes of each other bright and early Thursday morning.

First, Cooper Hackett, a five-star offensive tackle and top recruit in the state from Fort Gibson, flipped his recent commitment from Texas Tech to OU. Hackett even admitted to Rivals' Steve Wiltfong that he took less money to be a Sooner.

“If I’m in the NFL, which is what I want to do overall, that money is not going to matter and I’m going to bet on myself a good amount of the time and that’s what I’m doing," Hackett told Rivals.

Just moments after Hackett's decision, four-star interior offensive lineman Kaeden Penny also committed to the Sooners. From Bixby, Penny is the No. 2 prospect in Oklahoma, giving OU the best 2027 prospects from the Sooner State already.

With four early pledges, three of which are offensive linemen thanks to Bill Bedenbaugh, the Sooners have the No. 3 2027 recruiting class in the country.

Lane Kiffin on OU as new SEC rival

The Sooners this week officially learned their three annual conference opponents in the SEC's effort to maintain and ignite new rivalries. OU got Texas, Missouri, and to the surprise of even their head coach, the Ole Miss Rebels.

"The Oklahoma (pairing) is really disappointing," Lane Kiffin said during this week's SEC teleconference. "We don't have anything in common with them or our fans, so that doesn't make any sense at all. And so that's unfortunate with so many great teams that we played for a long time here, especially from our SEC West years. That's unfortunate. It is what it is.

"Obviously the Egg Bowl (vs. Mississippi State) is staying, so they really had two choices. The LSU makes sense, and that's great. The other one makes no sense."

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