The Oklahoma football team hit the transfer portal hard this offseason in hopes of delivering an exciting year under head coach Brent Venables, following a disappointing campaign last year. One of the more notable additions was John Mateer, a quarterback from Washington State. His arrival sparked optimism, especially considering former Wazzu QB Cam Ward was recently selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft. However, on Monday, Mateer went viral — but for all the wrong reasons.
“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.
The original post has since been deleted, but there’s a possibility that an investigation could follow. The NCAA and other governing bodies continue to enforce strict rules around sports gambling, even for minor or ambiguous violations.
Still, not everyone is convinced the allegations hold water. CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah believes the supposed Venmo transactions were likely jokes.
“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,” Jeyarajah posted.
Regardless of whether the screenshots are real or satirical, On3’s JD PicKell jumped to Mateer’s aid, dismissing the controversy entirely.
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“Seeing a lot of John Mateer buzz on the timeline. I don’t care even a little bit. If you do, you’re a square,” PicKell posted.
PicKell clearly isn’t concerned about the allegations, and he doesn’t think anyone else should be either. That said, if the story gains traction or turns out to be true, this may become a take he can’t easily walk back.