Why Oklahoma QB John Mateer Believes OC Ben Arbuckle is 'More Motivated' Than Ever

The Sooners' new quarterback said his offensive coordinator is working harder than ever since arriving in Norman.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

NORMAN — With all eyeballs on new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer, the duo feels right at home. 

Brent Venables hired Arbuckle after two seasons at Washington State to revive OU’s offense. 

The Sooners quickly moved to add Mateer, who worked with Arbuckle in each of his seasons in Pullman, WA, to serve as an extension of Arbuckle on the field. 

Expectations around Oklahoma’s new duo are high, but Mateer said his offensive coordinator is unfazed by the pressure that comes with calling plays for the Sooners. 

“I mean you hear it,” Mateer said. “You can't totally be naive to it. But we've done a good job not focusing on it. You can't focus on it. That's not why we play the game.”

Arbuckle learned a lot during spring practice. 

Not only did he start to form the offense around his new weapons in Norman, but he coached against one of the SEC’s best defenses each day in practice. 

Still, the biggest changes for him had little to do with the level of play rising in the SEC.

“(The) biggest surprise is on a day-to-day basis,” Arbuckle said. “Whenever you go somewhere new, everyone has a different way of doing things, a different way of running a practice or scheduling meetings or all the other things that kind of go with it. That's probably been the biggest adjustment for me because I'm still in year one. 

“This is going to be my first fall camp... Going through these staff meetings about practice, for me, that's the most important thing because once I get that information, then I can get on the same page.”

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle works with quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. at the Sooners' second practice of fall camp. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

Mateer said that Arbuckle has thrown himself further into his work in Norman as the Sooners conduct their first practices of fall camp. 

“He always worked hard but he works even harder now because he really wants it and he's more motivated than I've ever seen,” Mateer said. “And so am I. And it's not because of any noise or this and that. We know what we have and the opportunity that we have and we're really excited for it.”

Nobody expects everything will be perfect when the Sooners kick off the 2025 season on Aug. 30 against Illinois State. 

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Mateer said he deals with the bigger spotlight by limiting his time on social media.

Venables is confident his staff will be able to get in the film room and work out any early-season growing pains. 

“You gotta go through it as a young coach and figure all those things out,” Venables said. “But his pedigree has been really good. He’s had great success… I feel like he has a great understanding and knowledge of it. A great humility to make the changes and to adapt and pivot where he needs to along the way.”