Brent Venables’ first year in the SEC didn’t go to plan. A 6-7 record (2-6 in the conference) is nothing to boast of. The Sooners didn’t manage to thrash Alabama, but that was one of the few highlights of an otherwise average season. You can’t have six losses in your conference! Going into the 2025 season, the head coach has roped in new faces. Oklahoma added a couple of splashy pieces on offense: bringing in Ben Arbuckle as their new OC and, more importantly, bringing in transfer quarterback John Mateer, who followed Arbuckle over from Washington State. Now, here’s the coolest part. John Mateer’s not a name you know yet. But after his breakout 2024 season at Washington State, he’s making waves around the country.

FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt just ranked Mateer the No. 3 quarterback in college football heading into 2025, ahead of some rather big names like Arch Manning and Drew Allar. If you like to make things interesting, the Sooners’ offense sets up to give John Mateer a whole lot of playmakers on the outside—because a quarterback’s only as happy as his receiving corps makes him.

“With Deion Burks, Isaiah Sategna, and Zion Kearney, that trio right there gives me optimism that Oklahoma’s pass game is going to be much improved from last year, and a lot of it, again, goes back to John Matteer,” says John Williams on this week’s Locked on Sooners.

Venables is pumped about what these guys are going to be able to do. After last year’s injury-plagued mess at receiver, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a healthy, dynamic group to look to. Deion Burks is the headliner here. He arrived last year with a lot of hype but never got to live up to his full potential because of nagging injuries and the offense’s inconsistency. This year, he’s going to be Mateer’s go-to deep ball guy, stretching the field and opening up everything underneath.

Then there’s Isaiah Sategna, perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch. Sategna arrived from Arkansas and added a new element to the receiving corps. He’s fast and flat-out fun to watch with the ball in his hands. Mateer will love having a security blanket like Sategna when things don’t go as planned. Last but not least, Zion Kearney is the youngster with as much upside as they come. He showed flashes of big-play potential last year as a freshman, and the coaches inserted him into the mix. Now, with a year under his belt and a full offseason to hone his skills, coaches are buzzing with his upside.

The chemistry among Mateer and his best wide receivers, Burks, Isaiah Sategna, and Zion Kearney, is promising as Oklahoma heads into the 2025 season. Williams adds, “You’ve got a confident quarterback that’s able to see the defense, that’s able to run an offense, you know, with precision, and that’s gonna make everything else run a lot more effectively.” You can see why Venables is so hyped; with Burks stretching the seams, Sategna working the underneath, and Kearney becoming a go-to receiver, John Mateer has a legitimate arsenal at his disposal.

“John Mateer is not gonna be afraid to rip it. Like he will, he will rip it, and sometimes to his detriment. And now, with more experience in the system and in, you know, building relationships with these receivers, you can, you’re gonna see that he’s gonna be more and more confident,” Williams says. It may just be there second year in the SEC, but the Sooners are ready to take over the conference.

Why should SEC giants fear the Sooners?

With John Mateer and his recipients creating actual chemistry, the noise surrounding Oklahoma is simply getting louder. And now, following that crazy schedule announcement and the most recent hot takes from national experts, there’s mounting optimism that Brent Venables’ Sooners could be the SEC party crashers of the fall. Last season was tough. Oklahoma’s initial SEC season was a gauntlet, and the offense was, quite frankly, painful to watch. Injuries, a lack of rhythm, and the inability to get anything going against the league’s heavyweights plagued them.

This year will be a different story altogether, and it’s not just Sooner fans who think so. Experts like Chris Marler report, “Oklahoma has nine opponents next season that have odds currently to win the national championship among the top 25 in the country.” Or, On3 analyst J.D. PicKell reports, “I do think that in October-November, with how brutal their schedule is, they’re going to ruin it for somebody.” Imagine the Sooners coming into November, bowl eligible, and then running into one of the top-5 teams with everything on the line. That’s the kind of chaos Venables’ team is built for this year.

First and foremost, the schedule is still brutal—Oklahoma has nine top-25 national championship odds foes on the docket, more than any other SEC squad. But this year, the Sooners are better prepared for the battle. John Mateer’s no plug-in player—he’s a huge upgrade, and his leadership is already reaping benefits in chemistry-building with dudes like Deion Burks, Isaiah Sategna, and Zion Kearney. Even Tom Luginbill referred to Oklahoma as the ‘most improved team in the SEC’ heading into this season.

That isn’t hyperbole—that’s a deserved vote of confidence from a guy who has watched a lot of football. Well, if you’re Alabama, Texas, LSU, or one of the other playoff contenders, you can’t sleep on Oklahoma anymore. The Sooners may not run the table, but they’re certainly capable of pulling off an upset or two or three that reshapes the entire playoff landscape.