Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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NORMAN — Roughly one hour before Oklahoma coach Brent Venables’ weekly press conference on Tuesday, ESPN reported that Sooners quarterback John Mateer is ramping up to try to play Saturday versus Texas.
Mateer injured his thumb Sept. 20 against Auburn, underwent surgery during OU’s bye week and didn’t play in the No. 5 Sooners’ game against Kent State last Saturday.
Venables had said after the Kent State game Saturday that he assumed Mateer wouldn’t be available against Texas. He said Monday night on his radio show that he doesn’t know when Mateer will be back.
The Tulsa World asked Venables on Tuesday if Mateer had ramped up in practice and whether or not he’d been able to throw the ball.
“He’s doing his normal protocol,” Venables said. “He’s done zero good-on-good work this week. … I don’t know anything about the injury. When they tell me he’s available, I’ll let you know. … I’m just leaning on the doctors. I’m not an expert.”
Venables reiterated after multiple questions about Mateer that the quarterback isn’t doing any good-on-good work in practice.
“It’s Michael (Hawkins) and Whitt (Newbauer) right now, so if something changes I’ll let you know,” Venables said. “But I think if you’re gonna play, you gotta do good-on-good, right?”
OU practiced inside the Everest Training Center on Monday, presumably shielding itself from any leakage of intel, but Venables gave another reason for why practice was moved inside.
“It’s almost 90 degrees yesterday,” Venables said. “So the strain of the season is real, and up until recently we were the only team in the (Southeastern Conference) that didn’t have an indoor with an (air conditioning system). So we got A/C finally a couple months ago, so just trying to be smart about, there’s only so much tread on the tire, and practicing in 71 degree weather is a little different than 90 degrees. So just trying to be mindful of that.”
Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who spoke to reporters before Venables on Tuesday morning, was slightly more forthcoming.
“John’s a very process guy,” Arbuckle said. “He’s going to follow the directions given by the doctor and if there’s any sort of grey area, he may lean toward maybe the darker shade of the grey when it comes to the recovery process, and that’s just because 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.”
With a thumb injury, what is it that Arbuckle needs to see to know that Mateer’s ready to return?
“I think with any injury to your dominant throwing hand I think there’s a bunch of different challenges that can come from it but I think they’re all mutually exclusive,” Arbuckle said. “Somebody can struggle with another thing 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 is going but I think it’s all just different from case to case.”
How do the OU coaches weigh the balance of Mateer’s apparent desire to play and making sure he’s 100% for the long run of the season?
“I think John knows his body,” Arbuckle said. “I think he understands ultimately what’s best for the team. He doesn’t want to put himself in a compromising position either so whenever he’s trending toward that darker shade of grey, he always has his body in mind also.
“Again, he’s a competitive kid, so 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, just personally.”
mason.young@tulsaworld.com
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Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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