Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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NORMAN — John Mateer was raring to go when Oklahoma football came back from its bye weekend and resumed practice Monday.
“From the very beginning, he’s out there stretching with the guys,” head coach Brent Venables recounted Monday night on his radio show. “From the very beginning, he’s right there for the walk. So he’s a guy that you gotta kinda pull back.”
As much as OU appreciates that resilience and show of leadership, Mateer did just have surgery on his injured thumb five days earlier, after hurting it in the No. 5 Sooners’ Sept. 20 win over Auburn.
Venables is urging OU’s Heisman Trophy contender to play the long game and not rush back to action, so that he can be fully healthy at the season’s climax.
“He’s going to push the limits on everything when it comes to his rehab and getting back,” Venables said. “(But) at the same time, I told him, ‘You’re not gonna defy the odds.’ In some ways, there’s a certain protocol, at least for the interim here in the beginning, that you need to let those things heal and that kind of thing.”
Thus, the Sooners will start Michael Hawkins Jr. on Saturday versus Kent State. Hawkins started four games last year with mixed results, but testified to reporters Monday night that he’s in a much different place now in his sophomore season. Venables agrees that Hawkins has grown.
“Mike has naturally been a quiet guy,” Venables said. “Well, to play quarterback, you gotta be loud sometimes, from communication, to explaining to your coaches, or to lead your teammates. And so he’s grown from a maturity standpoint, through confidence and playing, and just knowing ‘Hey man, I’m built for this, and I’ve got everything it takes to be an elite level quarterback.’
“Trust the guys around you. That’s the biggest thing. And I think he has more peace when it comes to all of those things.”
So, the Sooners feel confident in Hawkins holding it down until Mateer returns. Whether Mateer comes back improbably early versus Texas, or later on against South Carolina or Ole Miss? That remains to be seen.
“But he’ll be good,” Venables said of Mateer, “and as soon as somebody can come back, he’ll be one of those guys that he broke the record, if you will, for coming back.”
mason.young@tulsaworld.com
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Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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