Former Washington State quarterback John Mateer is officially an Oklahoma Sooner as many had expected. Easily the Sooners' top portal addition, Mateer rejoins his Wazzou offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Ben Arbuckle, who was hired just two weeks ago by Brent Venables
The Sooners weren't the only ones reportedy interested in procuring Mateer's services. Miami was rumored to be doing everything it could to get him to come to South Florida, just like Mateer's predecessor at WSU, Cam Ward, did at this time last year.
Mateer has two years of eligibility remaining and was one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country this season, passing for 3,139 yards, running for another 826 yards and accounting for 44 total touchdowns (29 passing, 15 rushing). Every major recruiting service ranked the former Washington State signal caller as the best quarterback available in this year's transfer cycle.
I should not have to remind any Sooner fan of the success that the Oklahoma football program has had bringing in transfer quarterbacks who have gone on to grand achievement playing for the Crimson and Cream: Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts and, more recently, Dillon Gabriel.
Myerberg ranked the 10 best quarterbacks available this offseason, and Mateer topped the list, which included Darian Mensah, formerly of Tulane (committed to Duke), Connor Weigman of Texas A&M (committed to Houston), Miller Moss of USC and Jackson Arnold (now committed to Auburn).
This got us pondering how Mateer would rank among the best of the best among SEC quarterbacks for the 2025 season.
The SEC has long been known for outstanding offensive and defensive line play. You don't have to look any farther than NFL rosters every season to see how that has worked out. More and more, however, the SEC is becoming a quarterback league. In fact, three of the last six Heisman Trophy winners have come from the SEC (LSU's Joe Burrow in 2019, Bryce Young of Alabama in 2021 and LSU's Jayden Daniels in 2023).
The SEC will probably lose several outstanding quarterbacks ahead of next season, but another outstanding crop of talented QBs will be back and coming into the league for the 2025 campaign.
Although they still have a year of eligibility remaining, it is widely believed that Quinn Ewers of Texas and Jalen Milroe at Alabama will opt out and declare for the NFL. Carson Beck, who has been the starter at Georgia the last two years, also will likely leave for the NFL.
Given that assumption, arguably the five best returning quarterbacks in the SEC are Garrett Nussmeier of LSU, LaNorris Settles of South Carolina, Nico Iamaleava of Tennessee, DJ Lagway of Florida and Arch Manning of Texas or Marcel Reed of Texas A&M. Aside from Nussmeier, who will be out of eligibility after 2025, all will be in their second active season.
The question is, could Mateer also fit within this elite group of quarterbacks in college football's premier football conference? I believe he indeed would, and here is where: