Oklahoma’s John Mateer Is Embracing Work Under Center

NORMAN — The air raid offense doesn’t take too kindly to archaic forms of offensive football.

It’s all about innovation, speed, out maneuvring an opponent you have lulled into exhaustion. Timing and precision are paramount.

Going under center? That’s reserved for goal line situations. It’s a thing of the past and not needed in the fast-paced world that is Oklahoma’s offensive identity.

But when you bring in three tight ends from the portal in one offseason, emphasize improving the Sooners’ porous running game from the previous two seasons, and your quarterback hints at work under center, it may be fair to speculate that OU could go old school to an extent.

John Mateer was asked about the difficulty of working with a new center in the wake of Jake Maikkula’s injury — hopefully described by Brent Venables as “short-term” on Friday. His answer may have signaled a new direction could be going.

“Really, it’s under center that’s the only thing (that’s difficult with a new starter),” Mateer said on Friday. “But that’s football in general, you just gotta get used to under center. Everybody does it a little differently. Catching it out of the gun is kind of the same, it ends up at your chest most of the time. It’s really the same.”

So, what does this mean? Is Ben Arbuckle going to pull an early-1970s Chuck Fairbanks-led Oklahoma and change the offense completely?

The easiest — and likely truest — answer is no. But there may be something to be said for Arbuckle and Venables wanting to add a more physical identity to an offense that complements their elite defense.

Going under center can lend itself to a more physical, downhill rushing attack while slowing the pace. And if the run game is working, it can create effective play-action opportunities.

Mateer said the approach “creates a lot of space” and leaves defenders “moving around not really knowing where to go,” giving him room to work from the pocket or take off as a runner.

If OU employs an under center attack in non-short yardage spots, Mateer will be relatively new to the experience once the season begins. Mateer failed to recall many situations even going back to his days at Little Elm High School where he was asked to go under center.

He has since worked on it during the offseason — adding fuel to the fire of speculation that this will be a part of OU’s offensive attack — and revealed that he’s watched NFL quarterbacks under center to follow footwork traits.

“I would just spend time on it with my eyes and my feet and getting them where they need to be and it’s been good,” Mateer said. “I learn from watching. So, like a lot of these NFL guys, just it’s a lot. There’s a lot, it’s not like one person, but it’s been a lot of fun.

“I love (going under center). I’m fascinated by the footwork and the eyes and what you can do out of there. Learn all the skills and stuff and find out where your eyes can go pre-snap, post-snap and I think it’s a lot of fun.”

We’ll see whether the Sooners go under center in a few weeks, let alone continue using it once the season begins.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.