Why 'everything is on the table' for OU football QB John Mateer's starting status

NORMAN — After saying he wasn’t interested in talking about depth charts Monday night, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables refused to commit to starting quarterback John Mateer on Tuesday.

Venables was asked point blank if the plan is for Mateer to start this week against Florida.

“Everything is on the table,” Venables responded a day after firing offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

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The Sooners’ coach went on to add that all three quarterbacks — Mateer, Whitt Newbauer and Bowe Bentley — received reps during Monday’s practice. CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported Monday night that Mateer handled his normal amount of reps with the first-team offense during practice.

Mateer struggled mightily in the South Carolina loss this past weekend after putting together his best performance of the season against Mississippi State.

Venables said one of the reasons Arbuckle’s tenure didn’t work out was inconsistent quarterback play. Mateer spent four seasons with Arbuckle across their time at Washington State and OU.

“It was tough,” Venables said. “Tough. He was emotional. John’s a tough guy. Carries, again, a lot of weight. There’s a cause and an effect to everything. So I’m sure he feels like he played a part in that. I told him he doesn’t deserve that weight. That’s not your responsibility. Doesn’t have anything to do with you.

“When you make these types of decisions, there’s a lot of layers to it other than how’s the quarterback play. Tough for him.”

Venables was quick to change quarterbacks when things weren’t going smoothly in 2024. He’s been hesitant to change through eight games this season.

But his tone Tuesday seemed to indicate Mateer’s leash might be shorter moving forward.

“Everybody has a fresh start, a fresh slate with the change, so we’ll see where all of that goes,” Venables said. “But players do believe in John. We’ve got a couple of good young quarterbacks in Whitt and Bowe and we’ll see where all that goes from here.”

Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why ‘everything is on the table’ for OU football QB John Mateer’s starting status