John Mateer can’t let the moment take hold of him.
Many college football fans are doubting the quarterback after OU’s 17-10 loss to Michigan in which he threw for 189 yards with a 51.5% completion rate. Fans expected Mateer to start the season better after an offseason working on mechanics and mental processing, but the training did not translate to on-field success in Ann Arbor. He needs to find a way to improve, with top-two teams, Georgia and Texas, on the horizon in the next few weeks.
“Not forgetting but learning from it, …” former OU quarterback Paul Thompson said. “You got to own it. There's no way around it. We always say, the eye in the sky don't lie, right? And so, what you put on film is your resume, but what you do is you take that information and you build on it.”
Mateer regularly overthrew receivers and with the game tied and eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, he underthrew a pass, landing in the hands of a Michigan defender in a game-altering interception. The turnover led to the Wolverines scoring the final touchdown of the game.
After Mateer’s throwing mechanics were discussed last season and through the offseason, his form has not looked much different. According to Thompson, though, mechanics are not what defines a quarterback, as he has seen many throwing forms work well. It comes down to how comfortable he feels under pressure.
“You can practice certain things and can tweak things and things can get better, but when you get into a game atmosphere, it's a fight-or-flight type of mentality where you go back to what you're comfortable with,” Thompson said. “ There's a million different types of throwing mechanics that work. So I think a lot of (it) was not being comfortable in the pocket, … and so he wasn't giving himself time to step into his throws and throw it accurately.”
The offensive line could also receive blame for not providing enough protection to make him feel comfortable, but it starts with the quarterback, who is in his second year in the Southeastern Conference.
Mateer took accountability for his need to improve too.
“I’ll make it happen,” Mateer said after the loss. "I don't have a choice. This team needs me. This university needs me. I have to do it. I believe I will.”
No player is immune to struggles, though, and Thompson had performances he needed to bounce back from for the 2006 Sooners to be their best. He remembers how he and those around him helped him stay focused after a performance against Texas where he had a 56% completion rate in a 28-10 loss, among other off-games.
“As a quarterback, that's what I did was just say, ‘Hey, that is over with,’” Thompson said. “My quarterback coach, Josh Heupel, as well as the previous year, who I had Chuck Long for most of my years there. He would always say, ‘You got to have amnesia.’ You got to be able to forget and move on. … You got to be able to block out the noise and go to practice and focus on what you need to focus on and not worry about what everyone on the outside's saying because if you do, you'll let that seep in and become reality.”
Mateer is used to keeping out the noise, according to those close to him. Matt Harbin, Mateer’s high school baseball coach, said the quarterback does not go on social media much during the season.
“He understands that it comes with the territory, … and he understands how things go and how the media and how people are, …” Harbin said. “He gets all that, and so I think he's been through it enough that he understands that that's not the focus. The focus is on himself and the things he can control with him and his team.”
Harbin said he has always seen Mateer maintain sharp focus, even in high school.
“The one thing that stood out with him is you never saw him dwell or feel sorry about himself, …” Harbin said. “He never went down that rabbit hole of failure, and he knew back then how to balance and how to look forward and always looking forward. It's the same old saying. ‘It's why your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror.’ He'll check on what he needed to improve on, but he's always looking forward and looking at how he can progress and get better.”
According to Harbin, Mateer is very strategic with figuring out ways to improve.
“He has the confidence that whatever goes wrong, he knows he can fix it,” Harbin said. “He knows he's smart enough. … I don't know if he's ever come across a physical or mental thing that has gone wrong that he sits there and says, ‘I don't have a plan for that.’ Like, he will seek it.”
Harbin saw Mateer, both on the field and on the diamond in high school, seek improvement and practice until he was confident.
“What separates him is that, immediately, he would go out and work on it, …” Harbin said. “It wouldn't be, ‘I'm going to go home and work on it tomorrow.’ … If he had a problem with his swing or he felt he had a problem with his swing, we would talk about it. … He'd go right back to the cages for however long it took to where he felt comfortable.”
Mateer’s urgency for comfortability is important as he prepares for the Sooners’ brutal schedule ahead because, if he is as uncomfortable in the pocket as he was against Michigan, he will be in serious trouble.
But he’s not letting that stick with him.
“Now, for him, that's in the rearview mirror, and that's where it needs to stay,” Harbin said. “And he's going to focus now on what he's got to do to improve, what the team's got to do, what his role is and how he can help the other guys.”
This story was edited by Charlie DiVincenzo. Kylie Caldwell and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
