John Mateer seems to have a confidence problem, and it is costing OU.
Four games into the 2026 season, Mateer has around the same quarterback rating and is on pace for nearly the same amount of season passing yards as his 2025 campaign. This comes in spite of the fact that Mateer focused on a mental resetthis offseason, along with a fully healed thumb and improvements to his throwing mechanics.
Head coach Brent Venables said Mateer’s confidence is damaged after committing three first-half turnovers against Georgia.
“Without asking John the question, ‘Hey, how’s your confidence doing,’ it’s like, man, it’s bruised," Venables said on Saturday. “It certainly isn’t sky high. Nobody’s more disappointed than John, I can promise you. It affects your rhythm; it affects your confidence. It affects your cohesion. Certainly, it is not playing complementary football.”
Mateer added after the game that his on-field play is not getting it done for the Sooners.
“I’m still playing fast; I think I'm not questioning what I do during (plays),” Mateer said. “I think the process is where it needs to be. I think it's just not working out.”
Mateer threw a game-changing interception midway through the fourth quarter against Michigan, setting the Wolverines up within the ten-yard line. Michigan punched in a one-yard rushing touchdown soon after to take the lead 17-10, a score that would eventually be final.
CBS Sports wrote after the game that “Oklahoma has a John Mateer problem.” Mateer spoke after a tight win over New Mexico about how he mentally handled the Michigan loss.
“I didn’t look at my phone, but if I did, it was going to put me in a bad place,” Mateer said. “I'm not gonna say I was in a good place after that game.”
The signal-caller has always been outspoken on how he handles adversity, mentioning it after last season’s loss to Mississippi.
“This year hasn’t been perfect. And that’s football. …” Mateer said. “But I’m still 21 years old. I’m learning myself as a man and a Christian. I’ve learned a lot, ... I think the noise of it, I've done a good job blocking it out, and that’s not what bothers me - it’s the product on the field.”
According to the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, athletes who make sports a large part of their identity can experience anxiety and stress when not performing well, in fear of losing social connection as a result of the game outcome. Many athletes go to sports psychologists, a resource the Sooners have with Dr. Dolores Christensen, the director of psychological resources for OU student-athletes.
Here are five other quarterbacks who have experienced confidence issues:
Jackson Arnold
Jackson Arnold was a consensus five-star and the 2022-23 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year in high school, but he struggled in a Sooner uniform.
In 2024, the then-freshman had his chance to start for the Sooners and crumbled, benched in the second quarter of a 25-15 loss to Tennessee. Starting nine games his sophomore year, he averaged 142.1 yards per game and led OU to a 6-7 season before transferring to Auburn. After transferring to Auburn, he spoke about how being benched reshaped him.
"It was tough, but it was a pivotal point in my life where you flip a switch and something wakes up inside you that makes you push and work a little harder," Arnold said. "It was a combination of a bunch of things. Everything that could go wrong went wrong last year. It's just part of the journey and something that had to happen to get me on this track now.”
Arnold didn’t fare much better in his time at Auburn, throwing for six touchdowns and two interceptions before transferring to University of Nevada, Las Vegas for the 2026 campaign. Through four games in head coach Dan Mullen’s offense, Arnold has thrown for 1063 yards and rushed for 270. The Rebels currently are 3-2 on the season with hopes of a Mountain West title.
Cam Newton
Cam Newton led Auburn to a national championship in the 2010-11 season and won the Heisman Trophy in 2010. However, he faced adversity in the later part of his NFL career.
Newton, the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft to the Carolina Panthers, earned three Pro Bowl selections, the NFL Offensive Player of the Year and NFL MVP award in 2015. But the Panthers parted ways with the 6-foot-5 quarterback in 2020, a year after undergoing shoulder surgery. He joined the New England Patriots after nine years with the Panthers, leading the team to a 7-8 season amid individual struggles.
Newton explained his struggles after a 33-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 2020.
“I’ve just been pressing. I don't think it’s anything with the mechanics,” Newton said. “It’s seeing the situation at hand, and I caught myself just pressing too much. The energy has definitely been off for me, and at times it’s not rewarding when you’re just going out there with this aura about yourself that’s not you.”
Newton returned to the Panthers after one season at New England. He led the Panthers to a 5-12 record in 2021, starting five games and throwing four touchdowns and five interceptions. He became a free agent after the 2021 season and has not signed with a team since.
Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow won a college national championship in 2009 and a Heisman Trophy in 2007 during his time at Florida before an up-and-down professional career.
Leading up to the NFL Draft, there were concerns around Tebow, mainly pertaining to his unorthodox throwing motion. He did not throw at the NFL Combine while he worked on his mechanics.
Tebow ended up being the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, joining the Denver Broncos. He served mostly as backup his rookie year before starting in 11 games his second season, leading the Broncos to an 8-8 record and a playoff berth. However, Tebow didn’t finish his rookie contract and joined the New York Jets in his third season.
Tebow’s time with the Jets was unremarkable, starting two games and throwing only eight times in 2012. The Jets released Tebow, and he then bounced around the league as a backup .Tebow later switched to baseball, playing for the New York Mets organization in 2016, where he would peak in 2019 with the Triple A’s Syracuse Mets.
He spoke in 2017 on how he handles failure as an athlete.
“There are certain things in life we love and we have the chance to pursue, but a lot of the time, fear of the unknown, fear of failure gets in the way," Tebow said. "If I fall flat on my face, then guess what, I'm going to get right back up again."
Zach Wilson
Zach Wilson was drafted second overall out of BYU, with high expectations.
In his second season in 2022, the gunslinger missed easy throws. He then returned to the team the following season with a confident mindset.
“I truly believe in myself, and I think that’s the first step to being in the NFL,” Wilson said. “You have to believe in yourself first, and the rest will take care of itself. … I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of pressure because the guys in the locker room do a good job showing that they’ve always got my back.”
Wilson, however, moved to the Denver Broncos in April 2024, where he was a backup. He has remained a backup since 2024, while on the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints.
Sam Darnold
Sam Darnold dealt with confidence issues during one of the worst games of his NFL career.
In 2019 he recorded 86 passing yards and threw four interceptions, completing only 11 of 32 passes in a 33-0 shutout loss to the New England Patriots during his second season with the New York Jets. It is the 19th worst quarterback rating with more than 25 pass attempts in NFL history.
“I’m seeing ghosts,” Darnold said on a hot mic after the game.
However, he ended up throwing for over 3,000 yards that year, a career high at the time. He also threw 19 touchdowns to 13 interceptions that season.
He later won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks in 2026.
Darnold credits his success to a sports psychologist.
“You are building a house your entire career, you're hammering nails and just building the house, …” the psychologist told Darnold. “At this point in your career, you've developed such a great base and a great foundation for your house (that) it's time to start painting the house and using a brush. You need to start telling yourself that you are really good and deserve to be here and pat yourself on the back a little bit more."
This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel. Kylie Caldwell, Larkin Bock and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
