Joel Klatt envisions Cam Ward-esque rise for John Mateer in 2025 while surprisingly ranking Oklahoma QB in top 5

Oklahoma transfer QB John Mateer could be following a similar path to Cam Ward. One year after Ward left Washington State to go to Miami, Mateer is leaving the Cougars to join the Oklahoma Sooners.

On Tuesday, college football analyst Joel Klatt released a video speaking about his top three QBs heading into the 2025 season. In a surprising move, he had Mateer as his third-best QB in the nation, behind only Clemson's Cade Klubnik and Texas' Arch Manning. He spoke about how impressed he was by Mateer with the Cougars last year (Timestamp (0:10).

"John Mateer, the transfer from Washington State to Oklahoma, is gonna be my No. 3 QB," Klatt said. "I really like John Mateer. When I played for the Holiday Bowl and I got to watch every snap Washington State played on film, I came away so impressed with John Mateer. He is really talented as a thrower. He is athletic and quietly put up one of the best QB years in the country."

"Now he's gonna enter the spotlight. He goes to the SEC and yes, that's a jump, but he brings his offensive coordinator with him. So, he's not gonna need to learn a new system. He's got a big arm, he can run it, he's a dual-threat guy."

Klatt then went on to compare what he expects from Mateer next season to what Cam Ward did last season.

"When Cam Ward went from Washington State to Miami, I heard it in people's reactions early in the year last year when they started seeing him play in Miami," Klatt said. "They're like, "Oh man he's so good." I believe we're gonna have a similar effect with Mateer going from Washington State to Oklahoma."

Comparing John Mateer and Cam Ward's stats in their final Washington State seasons

Since John Mateer is transferring away from Washington State one year after Cam Ward did the same thing, it is natural to draw comparisons between the two. In Ward's final season with the Cougars, he completed 323 of 485 passing attempts for 3735 yards and 25 TDs. Conversely, Mateer completed 224 of 347 passing attempts for 3139 yards and 29 TDs this past season.

So, Ward threw for more yards and at a slightly better rate than Mateer in their final seasons at Washington State. However, last year was Mateer's first as a starter, whereas that was Ward's fourth.

Expecting Mateer to replicate Ward's 2024 season, which resulted in him becoming the first pick in the 2025 NFL draft, might be unreasonable. However, Joel Klatt believes they could have more similar seasons than most fans expect.