College football fans rejoice. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer, who has been out since Week 4 with a hand injury, has had his injury status upgraded to “probable” ahead of one of the sports greatest clashes, The Red River Rivalry against the University of Texas.
At the time that the injury was sustained, Mateer was the nation’s favorite to win the Heisman trophy. With 11 total touchdowns and nearly 1,500 total yards, Mateer lead the Oklahoma Sooners to two ranked wins in just four weeks.
His injury was sustained on September 20th, two days later he underwent surgery on his throwing hand. Now, just 17 days after that surgery, Mateer and the Sooners plan to let the junior from Little Elm, Texas play in the biggest game of his life.
Injury Designation Does Not Guarantee John Mateer Will Play
It is unclear at this time whether or not this injury status is just another chess move in the pre game shenanigans, or a true reflection of how far the quarterback has come in his injury recovery.
“The ambiguity over Mateer’s ability to play is expected to extend until kickoff, as sources told ESPN that Mateer’s pain level and ability to grip the ball will be watched closely,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel writes. “A return to the field against Texas would be in line with the most aggressive timelines of a potential comeback.”
This designation is a direct contradiction of what head coach Brett Venables told reporters on Monday.
“He’s doing his normal protocol,” Venables said. “He’s done zero good-on-good work.”
Good-on-good refers to reps in which the starters from both offense and defense are competing against each other. They are valuable, full speed reps. So the statement that he is not ready for competitive practice reps implies that he is far from ready from competitive game reps.
“I’m just leaning on the doctors,” Venables continued. “I’m not an expert. That’s the extent of it. … John is doing no good-on-good work. So it’s Michael (Hawkins Jr.) and Whitt (Newbauer) right now. Something changes, I’ll let you know.”
I personally do not expect to see Mateer Saturday, but I sure would be happy to see number 10 take the field for the Red River Rivalry.
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