John Mateer didn’t sugarcoat anything when he talked about the hand injury that changed his season.
The Oklahoma quarterback revisited the broken bone in his right thumb that he suffered in the first quarter against Auburn in a 24-17 Sooners win in Norman last September, and he made it clear he remembers exactly how rough it was. Still, Mateer said he came away from it with something valuable.
"I have no regrets in the challenge I put myself through. Obviously, it didn’t work out.
Like, it sucked. We all watched it.
I’m not saying that. But it’s just the result.
I learned a lot, and you learn that you can adapt, and then in the offseason, go back," Mateer said.
The numbers tell the story of two different stretches for Mateer. Before the injury, he completed 67.4% of his passes, threw 11 total touchdowns and had three interceptions.
Afterward, his completion rate dropped to 59.4%, and he threw eight touchdowns against eight interceptions. Early-season opponents helped boost those first-half numbers, but the bigger point was obvious: once the thumb issue hit, Mateer wasn’t close to the same quarterback.
Even so, the vibe around him now sounds different. After what he looked like at the Manning Passing Academy, it’s fair to think he’s moved past the injury and could be in line for a huge fall.
Elsewhere in the SEC conversation, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt made a pretty direct call about who could be standing at the top of the league again. He picked Georgia and Alabama as the teams most likely to be back in the SEC Championship mix, and he pointed to the conference’s recent history to back it up.
“You got to think about the last 12 SEC championship games. Either Georgia or Alabama have been in every single one of them, and either Georgia or Alabama has won 11 of the last 12. The only SEC team to win an SEC title not named Georgia or Alabama is LSU with Joe Burrow," Klatt said.
That Week 6 matchup between the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide is already shaping up as one of the games of the season. Alabama has won the last two regular-season meetings, but Georgia delivered a 28-7 beatdown in the SEC title game in December. Both teams later fell in the second round of the CFP.
Georgia heads into 2026 with something to prove after losing to Ole Miss in the postseason, while Alabama enters with the kind of pressure that can turn a season into a crisis fast. Their meeting in Week 6 figures to say plenty about where the SEC is headed.
In Other News...
Auburn Recruiting Just Sent A Bigger Message Than Fans Expected
Auburns 2027 recruiting push has quietly turned into one of the more encouraging early signs of momentum around the program. The Tigers now sit at No. 6 in ESPNs rankings with 24 commits, a class built around nine four-star prospects and a deep group of three-star additions that has broadened over the weekend with several new pledges from Alabama and Georgia.
What makes the rise worth watching is the way Auburn keeps adding traction in key places even as the class continues to evolve. The Tigers now have five commitments from Alabama, a notable in-state footprint for a cycle that started much lighter there, and they are still in position to make another splash with a highly regarded edge rusher set to decide soon. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn May Have Found A Long Term Answer In Its Cornerback Battle
Auburns cornerback room got a little more interesting this offseason with the arrival of Gavin Jenkins, a 6-foot-2 defensive back from Lake Butler, Florida, who transferred in from South Florida and reunited with cornerbacks coach DeMarcus Van Dyke. Jenkins was mostly a depth piece as a true freshman at USF, but he showed enough growth over the course of the season to make him one of the more intriguing additions in a group Auburn built with length in mind.
The Tigers signed five transfer cornerbacks, and Jenkins fits the kind of profile the staff clearly wanted as it sorted through a crowded battle for snaps this fall. Behind veterans like Andre Jordan Jr. and Rayshawn Pleasant, there is still room for someone to carve out a role, and Jenkins arrives with the kind of frame and trajectory that could make him more than just another body in the rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Stayed Alive For A Guard Recruit Fans Wanted Badly
Auburns long chase for Kevin Savage is still in the game after the four-star point guard trimmed his recruitment to a top six that includes the Tigers. Savage, a 2027 prospect from Wheeler in Georgia, remains one of the more coveted guards in the class, and Auburns presence on that list keeps alive a recruitment the staff has been working on for a while.
The timing matters for a program that can see the backcourt picture change in the near future, which is why landing a young guard like Savage would carry real value. He is set to make his college decision on July 5, and Auburn will spend the next stretch trying to stay in the center of a race that also features Purdue, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Florida State and UCLA. [Read more 🡒]