John Mateer has already cemented his leadership role among his teammates for the upcoming season.

Mateer, Oklahoma’s new starting quarterback, is not afraid to call a teammate out or help guide a teammate through a question or challenge. That is a sign of a leader, says defensive lineman Taylor Wein.

Mateer is holding teammates accountable and becoming a prototypical leader at the quarterback position.

“John rings dudes up,” Wein said. “He does a good job of calling people up and motivating people to work harder, stay longer and get any extra work in. He’s someone that everyone could come to if they’re needing that kind of juice or that kind of level-headed and clear their minds. He’s someone that will pour into you.

“It’s a good feeling to have that in a quarterback.”

Mateer had the same reputation at Washington State last season, where he led the Cougars to an 8-5 record. Mateer finished the season with almost 4,000 total yards and a combined 44 touchdowns – which he led the nation in along with former teammate and Heisman winner Cam Ward.

He backs up his leadership with his play on the field and has impressed OU coach Brent Venables with his humility toward the game.

“John had great success. He led the country in touchdowns last year,” Venables said. “But the best things he can do is he just has tremendous capacity as a quarterback. I don’t see a guy that is bragadocious. I see a guy that has tremendous humility, respect for the game, and is hungry to gain knowledge. He’s performed at a really pretty good level against what he sees on the practice field every single day. When he doesn’t do something well, he usually corrects those issues.”

When Mateer transferred to Oklahoma, he came to Norman alongside his offensive coordinator at Wazzu, Ben Arbuckle.

Arbuckle, OU’s new offensive coordinator, brought the offense Mateer had so much success with.

For Mateer, that’s been another avenue to build trust and rapport with his new teammates, teaching and guiding teammates through Arbuckle’s system.

Arbuckle, though, knows the importance of Mateer being a leader for the Sooners in 2025 and challenged him to become a supreme leader for OU. So far, Mateer has excelled at doing just that.

“‘You need to go make this team your own,’” Arbuckle said. “‘You’re the quarterback, go make this team your own.’ How he has interacted with everybody in the building, the players and coaches. Built a trust with everybody in the building. By being accountable, relatable, by holding people accountable. Out there in the summer and someone does something not up to our standard, he lets them know about it. That was his biggest point of growth in making the team his own. And he’s done a great job of it.”