Fall camp is almost here for Oklahoma, and with Year 5 under Brent Venables set to begin, the quarterback room enters 2026 with a very different feel. For only the second time in Venables’ tenure, the Sooners are bringing back their starter from the previous season, and that alone gives this group a clearer shape heading into preseason work.
The returning names behind John Mateer are Whitt Newbauer, a redshirt sophomore, and Jett Niu, a redshirt freshman. Oklahoma also added Bowe Bentley, a four-star freshman, giving the room another new face as the Sooners open camp next week.
Mateer’s return is the centerpiece here. The last time Oklahoma had a quarterback back in the same role the following season was 2023, when Dillon Gabriel came back for a second year and helped lead the Sooners to 10 wins. Oklahoma is hoping for a similar jump from Mateer in Year 2 after a 10-3 season that ended with a College Football Playoff berth, even though the offense never fully settled in.
His first season in Norman was interrupted by the broken bone in the thumb of his throwing hand that he suffered in the SEC opener against Auburn. The injury needed surgery during the bye week and kept him out for one game before he made a fast return against Texas just 17 days later. That comeback came with complications, though, because he had to change his grip and throwing motion, and the results were uneven for a quarterback who had led the nation in total touchdowns the year before.
Mateer did start to look more like himself over the final two games, but he still came away feeling like the season fell short of his standard. Even with his role in getting Oklahoma into the playoff, he decided the obvious move was to come back for Year 2, and now the Sooners are counting on that choice to pay off with a cleaner, stronger season under center.
In Other News...
Sooners Fans May Hate This New Look But OU Needs It
The sight of a corporate logo on a football jersey may not sit well with a lot of Oklahoma fans, but the market is moving fast enough that resistance may not matter much. Ohio State and Notre Dame have already struck major sponsorship deals that put company marks on their uniforms, and those agreements are expected to help their football programs most of all while also supporting the rest of the athletic department.
For the Sooners, the bigger issue is not aesthetics but keeping pace. A similar deal would give Oklahoma a new revenue stream that could help fund the roster-building arms race, and the numbers being discussed suggest the Sooners would not be entering the market just to participate. If OU is going to embrace the patch era, it will be because the financial upside is too significant to ignore, even if the look takes some getting used to. [Read more 🡒]
One Simple Fix Could Change Oklahoma's Entire Offensive Ceiling
Oklahoma heads toward the 2026 season with a defense that looks ready to carry its share of the load, but the offense still has a clear area to clean up if it wants to match that standard. The rushing game was a problem a year ago, and the Sooners have spent the offseason trying to give themselves more answers in the backfield with Tory Blaylock, John Mateer and Xavier Robinson back in the mix, along with new faces who could deepen the rotation.
Roman Harper floated a simple schematic fix that would fit the personnel and help the ground game function with more consistency. His idea centers on leaning more into pistol looks and wider-zone, downhill concepts, the kind of change that can make an offense harder to defend without requiring a total overhaul. For Oklahoma, the appeal is obvious: if the run game takes even a modest step forward, the entire ceiling of the offense starts to look different. [Read more 🡒]