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The Oklahoma Sooners were well-represented at SEC Media Days 2026 on Monday, as the first day of the event saw OU take to the podium in Tampa, Florida. For the second straight season, starting quarterback John Mateer was on hand for media days to represent the Sooners, as the redshirt senior returned for one more year of college football, his fifth overall and second at OU.
Mateer's arrival in Norman from Washington State came after head coach Brent Venables hired Ben Arbuckle to be the new offensive coordinator of the Sooners in December of 2024. Arbuckle, along with quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski, came over from Wazzu and landed Mateer out of the transfer portal to be their starting QB. The relationship that had been built in Pullman was obviously a major reason why Mateer, a major upgrade from OU's starting QBs in 2024, ended up at Oklahoma.
Now, Mateer and Arbuckle are entering Year 4 together, and Year 3 of Mateer being Arbuckle's starter. Mateer was asked about his relationship with his play-caller at SEC Media Days, and assured that a strong partnership was only getting stronger.
"I think the relationship, you hear the relationship between the offensive coordinator and the quarterback is the biggest relationship in all of sports, and I believe that," Mateer said. "Our relationship is only tighter now than it's ever been, and that's probably because of the struggle. Struggle brings you closer, and so I love that guy, and we both learned so much together, and it's going to be real good."
Both Arbuckle and Mateer haven't been in the spotlight long. Arbuckle rose from an Uber Eats-driving unpaid volunteer at FCS Houston Baptist to a job at Western Kentucky, where he eventually became the OC. From there it was on to WSU, where his success with the Cougars caught Venables' eye, leading him to Norman.
Mateer was an unheralded recruit who probably would have ended up at the FCS level had Eric Morris not drawn him to The Palouse. After a couple of years waiting his turn and Arbuckle replacing Morris as the offensive coordinator for the Cougs, Mateer's exceptional play in 2024 in Pullman and Arbuckle's hiring at OU brought him to Norman to be part of college football's greatest QB lineage.
However, the OU offense sputtered at times last season, as Arbuckle and Mateer didn't put up the same kind of flashy numbers they did in '24. Of course, Mateer's broken thumb certainly didn't help matters. In that struggle, along with the shared experience of working their way up from the bottom, it sounds like the duo has only gotten stronger together, something Mateer believes will be a good thing for the Sooners.
Both Arbuckle and Mateer have been candid about what they learned in their first season in the SEC. That OC-QB relationship that is so often talked about is extremely tight in Norman. That combination could spell more success for the Oklahoma offense this year, which in turn could take the Sooners to even higher heights overall as a team in 2026.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: John Mateer says 'struggle' has made he and Ben Arbuckle even closer
