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John Mateer: Relationship with Oklahoma OC Ben Arbuckle ‘beyond football’
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John Mateer had a junior year to remember at Washington State. The star quarterback threw for 3,139 yards with 29 touchdown passes and just 7 interceptions while also averaging 14 yards per completion despite playing for a program that got left behind by a disbanded Pac-12.
Now, the Texas native is closer to home, and he’s officially hit the SEC big-time as a quarterback at Oklahoma. But with that big-time status comes big-time expectations and big-time pressure, because the Sooners’ offense was mostly a train wreck in 2024. That led to the firing of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and the eventual hiring of Ben Arbuckle to replace him.
And guess where Arbuckle came from? That’s right, Washington State.
Arbuckle was the Cougars’ offensive coordinator in 2023 and ’24, so that Cougars-Sooners pipeline is poised to be in full force in Norman as the Sooners try to improve in Year 4 under head coach Brent Venables.
“Our relationship is great. It’s beyond football,” said Mateer during an appearance Friday on SEC Network of his bond with Arbuckle. “We know each other really well, obviously we’ve been together for a long time. Just knowing what he’s thinking, to be on the same page, when we go fast, when we go slow, knowing what he wants to do and I want to do, it’s crucial.”
In 2025, Mateer and Arbuckle will be on center stage, far away from Pullman, WA, where they first developed their bond. This fall, there will be no hiding in the Pacific Northwest.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
