Oklahoma OC Ben Arbuckle Says QB John Mateer is Doing a 'Good Job' but Also 'Knows His Body'

Ben Arbuckle is just 30 years old and hasn’t been a big-time coach for very long, but he clearly knows his way around a press conference.

Faced Tuesday with a solid barrage of questions about his starting quarterback for this week’s game against Texas, Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator deftly stepped around revealing too much about the status of quarterback John Mateer going into this week’s rivalry showdown against Texas.

Mateer suffered a broken thumb against Auburn on Sept. 20 but didn’t come out of the game and rallied the Sooners to a dramatic victory. He had surgery four days later to repair the injury, and after a bye week, Mateer was in full uniform wearing a black brace on his right wrist and thumb — but didn’t play in Saturday’s 44-0 victory over Kent State.

Instead, Michael Hawkins got his second straight start, and was relieved by Whitt Newbauer and Jett Niu.

Head coach Brent Venables said on his coach’s show Monday night, “I don’t know when John Mateer will be back. Really not even anything to talk about. He’s on a progression through however it long takes those injuries to heal.”

On Monday, a report from ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel said Mateer is “pushing” to play against the Longhorns and that “there’s a believe that his return is possible, as he’s reacted well to surgery.”

"He's doing his normal protocol. He's done zero good on good work," Venables said at his weekly news conference following Arbuckle. " ... It's Michael and Whitt right now. If something changes, I'll let you know. I think if you can play, you gotta do good on good, right?"

When pressed for details about challenges Mateer faces, his plan for preparing two quarterbacks and how close Mateer might be, Arbuckle was deftly unrevealing.

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“Like I said, kind of, last week, John's very process-(oriented) guy,” Arbuckle said. “He's going to follow the directions given by the doctor. And if there's any sort of gray area, he may lean towards more of the darker shade of the gray whenever it comes to recovery process. And that's just because he's he's a competitor, and that's just kind of how he's wired.

“So, you know, there's steps in the recovery process that he's having to follow right now and doing a really good job with it.”

Whether it’s gripping the football or generating velocity or simply managing pain, what are the challenges this particular injury presents to quarterbacks?

“I think with any injury to your dominant throwing hand, I think there's a bunch of different challenges that could come from it,” Arbuckle said, “but I don't think they're all, you know, mutually exclusive. Somebody could struggle with another thing from from the same injury. So it all just goes about how he feels, how the recovery is going, how the doctors and training staff say everything's going. But you know, I think it's all just different from case to case.”

How does Arbuckle balance Mateer’s competitive desire to be able to play against wanting him to be healthy for the rest of the season?

“That's a good question,” Arbuckle said. “I think John knows his body. I think he understands, you know, ultimately, what's best for the team. But he doesn't want to put himself in a compromising position, either. So whenever he's, you know, trending towards that darker shade of gray, he always has his his body in mind also. And so again, he's a competitive kid. … Of course, he's going to try to get as ready as quick as he can. But ultimately, I don't think anybody wants to put him in a compromising position.”