The Oklahoma Sooners added John Mateer to their roster this offseason via the transfer portal from Washington State, and the buzz surrounding him has been undeniable. Many within the program hoped he could lead the team to a strong 2025 campaign. However, that opportunity may now be in jeopardy following a wave of allegations involving Mateer’s Venmo activity.
“New OU quarterback John Mateer went viral within minutes after a post on X surfaced that accused Mateer of gambling on college sports using Venmo, which is against NCAA rules as a student-athlete. The post was from Bryan Aguada, whose bio claims he's an insider for Deadspin, and included screenshots that were supposedly of Mateer's Venmo transactions that were dated for Nov. 20, 2022, nearly three years ago when Mateer was a redshirting freshman at Washington State,” Stormin’ in Norman’s Dekota Gregory wrote.
One CBS Sports college football analyst believes the situation may have been blown out of proportion and was likely just a joke between friends.
“Those Venmo receipts definitely aren’t actually him sports gambling, but just in general, it is very funny that Venmo transactions are public. There’s really zero good reason for it. Let us have our bizarre collection of inside joke emojis in peace,” CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah posted.
Mateer has reportedly informed Oklahoma coaches that the allegations are false. However, what he did in response to the viral attention has only fueled further speculation.
“Then you started seeing the videos come out where they’re just scrolling his Venmo transactions and you see, oh no, they do show up there,” On3’s Andy Staples said. “Then John Mateer makes his Venmo account private later in the night. We have decided that is the universal acknowledgement that this might be real. It was so dumb that it looked fake and then he puts them private and you’re like, oh, maybe it wasn’t fake.”
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So far, nothing has been confirmed beyond the allegations — but the optics of Mateer making his account private after the backlash haven’t helped his case. If the accusations are proven true, it would mean Mateer essentially exposed himself, unintentionally giving weight to what many initially dismissed. The situation came out of nowhere, and for now, it remains under review. But if confirmed, this would be a massive blow to the Sooners.