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The 2025 season was an up-and-down one for returning Oklahoma Sooners starting quarterback John Mateer, and he told reporters on Wednesday that he'd been working hard to improve a number of facets of his game this offseason. On Saturday, one of the coaches that works most closely with him elaborated on the work that was put in this winter.
Speaking to the media for the first time in his two years as a Sooner, quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski had plenty to say about Mateer's first year at OU, and the development he's already seen since the season ended. Kuceyeski came to Oklahoma along with offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle, after the pair spent the 2022 season together at Western Kentucky and the 2023 and 2024 seasons together at Washington State, where they coached Mateer. Kuceyeski earned a promotion this offseason from senior offensive analyst to quarterbacks coach.
Together, Arbuckle and Kuceyeski lead the way in coaching up the Oklahoma quarterbacks, as head coach Brent Venables has made sure not to repeat his mistakes of the 2024 season. That year, he installed Seth Littrell, who had never been a QBs coach, into the role to replace Jeff Lebby, and filled out the offensive coaching staff with analysts to help Littrell coach up the signal-callers. Quarterback play suffered as a result, and after Littrell was fired, one of those analysts, former Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns, became the QBs coach, but the damage had already been done. As OU has revamped the offense, going in a totally different direction for 2025 and 2026, Venables has made sure that his quarterbacks are being coached up by proven QB developers in Arbuckle and Kuceyeski.
One way that Kuceyeski has been trying to help Mateer grow is by making video clips that included some of Mateer’s mistakes from a season ago.
"That’s really hard for anybody to learn from," Kuceyeski said. "Then we kind of made our big rocks of, ‘Hey, where can we get progress in the spring first?’ Spring, then summer, then fall. The biggest thing is his foundation, his platform, throwing from a great platform, having consistency in his drops and his pocket movements. He dedicated himself to that and got a lot better with that. Now we start to move, as we go against another defense, with some of the eye discipline, some of the coverage reads pre- and post-snap process and elevating that."
According to Kuceyeski, the top priority has been working with Mateer on his base and his footwork, helping him improve from the ground up. Since Mateer is such a gifted athlete, he's able to do things that other QBs can't, and doesn't have to be a statuesque signal-caller. However, he's getting great development and teaching from Arbuckle and Kuceyeski on how to be more polished in the pocket. That starts from the ground up.
"(Winter) is the one time of year you can really work the kinesthetic, the bottom half, and just really drill it," Kuceyeski said. "We did a good job with that in January, February ... The easiest thing is in drills, how clean can we be when we’re not going against teams, and then, boom, ‘Look at your arm here on this clip when the defense is rushing; now you see what’s happening?'"
Much has been made of Mateer's work to improve his throwing mechanics since last year ended. He discussed them on Wednesday, and Kuceyeski spoke at length about them on Saturday. Some of what made Mateer inconsistent last season had to do with the thumb injury he suffered in late-September, but he has refused to make that an excuse.
"He had to get creative a little bit because of the grip," Kuceyeski said. "He’ll never make an excuse, and we won’t make an excuse for him. Just some of the feelings of that and the way he could grip the ball, he lost a little bit of that strength with his thumb. So, yeah, he had to because naturally when you go with that angle and with that thumb, that ball’s going to go, and it’s going to go in bad places if you’re not really possessing that ball ... I think he’s definitely feeling a lot better. He made a throw in the last practice on a movement throw that I haven’t seen him make in a long time, and you could just see the confidence in his eyes. Obviously, he’s continuing to feel through some of the scar tissue and stuff. He’ll never tell me it hurts, never tell me it’s bothering him — and I don’t know if it is or not, because he’s a tough kid, but I think it’s definitely getting back to what I’m used to saying, for sure."
Kuceyeski continued, saying that it takes time to change throwing mechanics, especially at this level.
"It’s not the easiest, and everybody wants you to go from here (sidearm) to here (more traditional release), and it’s not going to happen, right? Everything is gradual, so if we can just start to get the arm angle to here (more traditional release) more consistently, that’s going to be great. But it’s not going to be something where you’re just going to change it overnight. It’s been drilled for him for 21 years of his life, and so it’s just changing that and having awareness to that. Obviously, there’s going to be times where it’s going to demand a sidearm throw based on some movement and RPO throws; that’s not going to vanish, and he’s going to default to that at times when things speed up.”
Kuceyeski has actually been an offensive coordinator before, serving as the OC/tight ends coach for Eastern Illinois from 2019 to 2021, directly before linking up with Arbuckle at WKU and Wazzu. Together, they've tutored Austin Reed, Cam Ward, and for the past few seasons, Mateer. The relationships have already been built, and now Sooner Nation hopes it's something that will pay big dividends this fall.
Oklahoma will benefit in a big way from its entire QB coaching brain trust returning in 2026, and the expectation isn't just that Mateer will look as good as he did at WSU, or during the first month of last season, it's that he'll be the best version of himself this fall.
"We have high expectations in the quarterback room," Kuceyeski said. "Higher than any of y’all or Twitter-verse can have and we’re good with that. I think he’s a very tough and humble human and he’s always going to point the thumb and he’s always going to think he can do more, and I love him for that. It’s going to be tough at times and we really don’t care about what everyone else thinks as long as he’s doing things the right way."
Kuceyeski has confidence that Mateer will improve during his last season in college, and that he'll be able to help lead another step forward for the Sooner offense. Mateer is fortunate to have not one, but two experienced and proven voices in his ear, and together, the trio is working on making him the best he can be for Oklahoma in 2026.
"That’s been the greatest thing with him is he just continues to get better at the things we ask him to get better at," Kuceyeski said. "Really excited to see him in his fourth year. His first year was way different. Way more basic, like reading base things and now he’s in level four of this offense and really taken ownership in the scheme and everything. That’s what I love the most about him, man, is just from start to finish, he’s grown up a lot and he’s grown up a lot, obviously, as a human, as well ... He’s very process-driven and that’s always going to be a process and that’s what’s going to give him success."
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: John Kuceyeski elaborates on John Mateer's footwork, mechanics
Continue reading...
Speaking to the media for the first time in his two years as a Sooner, quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski had plenty to say about Mateer's first year at OU, and the development he's already seen since the season ended. Kuceyeski came to Oklahoma along with offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle, after the pair spent the 2022 season together at Western Kentucky and the 2023 and 2024 seasons together at Washington State, where they coached Mateer. Kuceyeski earned a promotion this offseason from senior offensive analyst to quarterbacks coach.
Together, Arbuckle and Kuceyeski lead the way in coaching up the Oklahoma quarterbacks, as head coach Brent Venables has made sure not to repeat his mistakes of the 2024 season. That year, he installed Seth Littrell, who had never been a QBs coach, into the role to replace Jeff Lebby, and filled out the offensive coaching staff with analysts to help Littrell coach up the signal-callers. Quarterback play suffered as a result, and after Littrell was fired, one of those analysts, former Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns, became the QBs coach, but the damage had already been done. As OU has revamped the offense, going in a totally different direction for 2025 and 2026, Venables has made sure that his quarterbacks are being coached up by proven QB developers in Arbuckle and Kuceyeski.
One way that Kuceyeski has been trying to help Mateer grow is by making video clips that included some of Mateer’s mistakes from a season ago.
"That’s really hard for anybody to learn from," Kuceyeski said. "Then we kind of made our big rocks of, ‘Hey, where can we get progress in the spring first?’ Spring, then summer, then fall. The biggest thing is his foundation, his platform, throwing from a great platform, having consistency in his drops and his pocket movements. He dedicated himself to that and got a lot better with that. Now we start to move, as we go against another defense, with some of the eye discipline, some of the coverage reads pre- and post-snap process and elevating that."
According to Kuceyeski, the top priority has been working with Mateer on his base and his footwork, helping him improve from the ground up. Since Mateer is such a gifted athlete, he's able to do things that other QBs can't, and doesn't have to be a statuesque signal-caller. However, he's getting great development and teaching from Arbuckle and Kuceyeski on how to be more polished in the pocket. That starts from the ground up.
"(Winter) is the one time of year you can really work the kinesthetic, the bottom half, and just really drill it," Kuceyeski said. "We did a good job with that in January, February ... The easiest thing is in drills, how clean can we be when we’re not going against teams, and then, boom, ‘Look at your arm here on this clip when the defense is rushing; now you see what’s happening?'"
Much has been made of Mateer's work to improve his throwing mechanics since last year ended. He discussed them on Wednesday, and Kuceyeski spoke at length about them on Saturday. Some of what made Mateer inconsistent last season had to do with the thumb injury he suffered in late-September, but he has refused to make that an excuse.
"He had to get creative a little bit because of the grip," Kuceyeski said. "He’ll never make an excuse, and we won’t make an excuse for him. Just some of the feelings of that and the way he could grip the ball, he lost a little bit of that strength with his thumb. So, yeah, he had to because naturally when you go with that angle and with that thumb, that ball’s going to go, and it’s going to go in bad places if you’re not really possessing that ball ... I think he’s definitely feeling a lot better. He made a throw in the last practice on a movement throw that I haven’t seen him make in a long time, and you could just see the confidence in his eyes. Obviously, he’s continuing to feel through some of the scar tissue and stuff. He’ll never tell me it hurts, never tell me it’s bothering him — and I don’t know if it is or not, because he’s a tough kid, but I think it’s definitely getting back to what I’m used to saying, for sure."
Kuceyeski continued, saying that it takes time to change throwing mechanics, especially at this level.
"It’s not the easiest, and everybody wants you to go from here (sidearm) to here (more traditional release), and it’s not going to happen, right? Everything is gradual, so if we can just start to get the arm angle to here (more traditional release) more consistently, that’s going to be great. But it’s not going to be something where you’re just going to change it overnight. It’s been drilled for him for 21 years of his life, and so it’s just changing that and having awareness to that. Obviously, there’s going to be times where it’s going to demand a sidearm throw based on some movement and RPO throws; that’s not going to vanish, and he’s going to default to that at times when things speed up.”
Kuceyeski has actually been an offensive coordinator before, serving as the OC/tight ends coach for Eastern Illinois from 2019 to 2021, directly before linking up with Arbuckle at WKU and Wazzu. Together, they've tutored Austin Reed, Cam Ward, and for the past few seasons, Mateer. The relationships have already been built, and now Sooner Nation hopes it's something that will pay big dividends this fall.
Oklahoma will benefit in a big way from its entire QB coaching brain trust returning in 2026, and the expectation isn't just that Mateer will look as good as he did at WSU, or during the first month of last season, it's that he'll be the best version of himself this fall.
"We have high expectations in the quarterback room," Kuceyeski said. "Higher than any of y’all or Twitter-verse can have and we’re good with that. I think he’s a very tough and humble human and he’s always going to point the thumb and he’s always going to think he can do more, and I love him for that. It’s going to be tough at times and we really don’t care about what everyone else thinks as long as he’s doing things the right way."
Kuceyeski has confidence that Mateer will improve during his last season in college, and that he'll be able to help lead another step forward for the Sooner offense. Mateer is fortunate to have not one, but two experienced and proven voices in his ear, and together, the trio is working on making him the best he can be for Oklahoma in 2026.
"That’s been the greatest thing with him is he just continues to get better at the things we ask him to get better at," Kuceyeski said. "Really excited to see him in his fourth year. His first year was way different. Way more basic, like reading base things and now he’s in level four of this offense and really taken ownership in the scheme and everything. That’s what I love the most about him, man, is just from start to finish, he’s grown up a lot and he’s grown up a lot, obviously, as a human, as well ... He’s very process-driven and that’s always going to be a process and that’s what’s going to give him success."
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: John Kuceyeski elaborates on John Mateer's footwork, mechanics
Continue reading...
