The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping for a total turnaround on the offensive side of the football in 2025. The 2024 season was a nightmare and OU fell to a 6-7 record primarily because of ineptitude on offense.
Head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] can’t survive another bad season in Norman, and he’s got to engineer a very impressive 2025 season to avoid a full free-fall into John Blake territory.
One of the primary reasons for optimism in Norman is transfer portal quarterback [autotag]John Mateer[/autotag], a gigantic portal win for Veanbles and his coaching staff. The former Washington State QB led the FBS in total touchdowns in 2024, his first year as a starter for the Cougars and in college football overall.
But there is no lack of great quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference, though the Sooners look to have a player who can get the job done in the conference again after lacking in that department last year. The [autotag]SEC[/autotag] is loaded with stars at that position, and The Oklahoman looked to rank the 16 projected starting quarterbacks next year, now that the 2024 season has concluded.
Staff writer Ryan Aber pegged Mateer as the No. 6 QB in the league for 2025, sandwiching him between Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia. LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier tops Aber’s list, followed by Florida’s D.J. Lagway, Texas’ Arch Manning, and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers.
Mateer was excellent for Washington State after two seasons behind Cam Ward. Aber said. The Little Elm, Texas, product threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns with just seven interceptions and ran for 826 yards and 21 touchdowns. Landing Mateer was one of the Sooners’ biggest wins of the offseason. – Aber, The Oklahoman
The Sooners will have to get a star effort from Mateer far more often than not in 2025 because there are still plenty of holes elsewhere on offense. Mateer also ranked six spots above his predecessor, Auburn’s [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], who landed at No. 12 on the list.
The Tigers’ offense was boom or bust this season, struggling with turnovers for much of the year. Enter Arnold, who had a rough first season as a starter with 1,421 yards and 12 touchdowns with just three interceptions though he struggled with ball-security issues. Arnold rushed for 444 yards and three touchdowns. Much of his struggles were tied into the lack of protection from OU’s offensive line and a lack of targets among wide receivers. Arnold still has the potential that made him one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the 2023 class. – Aber, The Oklahoman
What has Sooner Nation excited is that Mateer seems to be set up for success much more than Arnold was. Arnold had the trio of Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finely, and Kevin Johns as co-offensive coordinators throughout various portions of the 2024 season. Mateer has [autotag]Ben Arbuckle[/autotag] as the sole play-caller and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2025.
Mateer will also have [autotag]John Kuceyeski[/autotag] as his senior offensive assistant/assistant quarterbacks coach next season, another familiar face from his days at WSU. Arnold wasn’t working with a coordinator or an official position coach who had coached his position before until Littrell was fired and Johns held the role in the interim.
Venables has clearly made it a point of emphasis to handle the quarterback spot (and hopefully the entire offensive leadership as a whole) better than he did in 2024. Oklahoma should show a lot of improvement on offense in 2024.
Mateer is also a proven commodity under center, while Arnold, a former five-star prospect, is still hoping he can live up to his potential.
Overall, it’s an upgrade at a position that desperately needed one. Will it be enough to propel the Sooner offense back to the heights we’ve all seen it at before? And would that offensive improvement be enough to get the program back to its winning ways in a crucial season in 2025? We’ll have to wait until late August to begin to find out.
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