The Oklahoma Sooners boast some offensive firepower at the helm heading into 2025. And both are out of the transfer portal. John Mateer and Jaydn Ott were big-time additions for Brent Venables and Jim Nagy, and the two former West Coast stars provide a lot of the optimism for what should be a resurgent season in 2025.
Fall camp will kick off on Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 2025 season. With the Season just over a month away, watch lists will begin rolling out, and the Sooners’ backfield mates landed on the Maxwell Award watch list.
Advertisement
The Maxwell Award is given to the most outstanding player in college football.
Three former Sooners have won the award. Tommy McDonald won the Maxwell back in 1956. Jason White won the award during his Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2004. Baker Mayfield is the most recent recipient of the national honor, winning the award in 2017.
In 2018, when Kyler Murray won the Heisman, the Maxwell went to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Mateer is coming off a 2024 season in which he led the nation in total touchdowns with 44 and had nearly 4,000 yards of total offense for Washington State. Ott is coming off an injury-plagued 2024 season, but back in 2023, he ran for 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns for Cal. He’s hoping he can have a bounce-back year this year ahead of the 2026 NFL draft.
Advertisement
Mateer and Ott will need to have big years for the Sooners in 2025 to be in the running for the prestigious award. If they do, the Sooners could be on their way to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: John Mateer, Jaydn Ott named to Maxwell Award watch list
