Come early November, the Tennessee football team will be hosting Oklahoma in what will easily be one of the best games of the weekend. Right now, though, all eyes are on Oklahoma QB John Mateer, who is suddenly making headlines for all of the wrong reasons.
In case you missed it, he went viral on Monday night after Venmo transactions of his flooded social media, including multiple ones where he referenced sports gambling. Since then, plenty of people have been calling for him to be suspended. Could he be out for Tennessee vs. Oklahoma? We highly doubt that will be the case.
However, according to insider Pete Thamel, while Mateer has strongly denied he ever bet on games, this is something Oklahoma is taking quite seriously. So much in fact, they're going to be taking a close look at things and look into exactly what went down:
OU officials are looking into the situation after finding out about it late last night and plan to be proactive and exhaust every avenue.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 12, 2025
Oklahoma officials are 'looking into' the John Mateer venmo scandal
It's not a surprise that Mateer has denied things. However, this indeed is a serious matter and Oklahoma is going to do everything it can to make sure Mateer's name is cleared. Was this a case of a young man just being silly with his friends? That's what officials are going to dig deep into to find out.
The Venmo transactions came from when Mateer was a freshman at Washington State. Last year for the Cougs, he took over for Cam Ward as the team's starting quarterback and he put together a memorable campaign, which opened the door for him to enter the portal and sign with the Sooners.
As for Tennessee, the Vols are figuring out who their new quarterback will be now that Nico Iamaleava has left for UCLA, but thankfully Josh Heupel and Co. don't have this kind of off-the-field drama to worry about. Instead, Heupel is focused on the three-man battle for the QB1 job.
Soon enough, a resolution will arrive from the Mateer drama, but it's a rough look regardless for the signal-caller. It should also be a reminder to everyone in Knoxville that student-athletes are always going to be under a microscope and that they've got to make smart decisions with things they say and post.