Tim Tebow compares John Mateer to Johnny Manziel ‘a tiny bit’
admin_news
John Mateer is one of the more athletic quarterbacks in all of college football. Coming off of his debut last week at Oklahoma, Tim Tebow was reminded of a former winner of the Heisman Trophy while watching the Sooners’ quarterback.
On ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’ on Friday, Tebow compared Mateer to Johnny Manziel. That’s with the extra twitch of athleticism that Mateer has at the quarterback spot now in Norman like Manziel used to in College Station.
“I think John Mateer is one of the twitchiest players in college football,” said Tebow. “He reminds me a little bit, just a little bit – this is early – a tiny bit of the way that Johnny Manziel was really twitchy in the pocket, could make people miss.”
In his debut for OU during a 35-3 win over Illinois State, Mateer was 30-37 (81.1%) for 392 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception, while also rushing for 24 more yards and another score. That was the latest dual-threat display he’s put out in college after what he did last fall at Washington State, with that production being the reason why he was one of the best players available this offseason in the NCAA Transfer Portal.
However, Mateer will need more than ‘twitch’ tomorrow in a top-twenty matchup against Michigan. Their offense as a whole will have to work, with him leading the way, in order to do enough against the Wolverines’ defense.
“I’m excited to see what he can do against a really good team,” said Tebow. “But I also believe he needs more help from his offensive line. I do think his receivers played a lot better than they did last year.”
“Look, Oklahoma and the offense, and John Mateer? I love watching him play. He kind of jumps out on tape. He’s so shifty, the things he does – but it’s got to be more than that,” Roman Harper added. “They have to be able to run the football to take some pressure off of him because this Michigan team is really good defensively. They’ve got guys from the inside, to the outside, up front that could beat anybody up front for Oklahoma. They have to be really, really smart. This is going to be a sneaky, very tough game for Oklahoma.”
