Brent Venables addresses John Mateer sports gambling Venmo scandal: 'There was nothing to be seen here'

The Venmo history of Oklahoma QB John Mateer quickly became a big story this week in college football. However, Brent Venables was the latest to reiterate that those transactions were nothing.

Venables addressed Mateer’s situation from the past few days while with the media after practice on Friday. He cleared some things up about his quarterback, who understands the seriousness of what could’ve been here based on the moves he and those involved made to make sense of the whole thing.

“I think, you know – and I don’t want to speak for him. But, in his mind, there was nothing to be seen here,” Venables said. “So, you know, thankful for the powers that be that got us to a really good place quickly.

“He’s a light-hearted guy. He’s focused and serious when he needs to. I think he recognizes – He’d be the first one to tell you the enormity of, maybe, of what, you know, the implications could have been had he, you know, not followed the NCAA rules years ago, whatever. But, you know.”

That led to a question to Venables about continuing to emphasize the rules, including those about gambling, and the emphasis on care to be taken when it comes to social media. He said the team already has had those discussions, but, coming off this week, they’ll continue to be had.

“You know, we already did that several weeks ago. But, they’re kids, you know, in many ways and you’ve got to continue to educate non-stop, you know, as far as the rules and expectations, for sure,” Venables said.

On Monday, Mateer went viral as screenshots of his account on Venmo, which showed posted payments for “Sports gambling” back in 2022 when he was a true freshman at Washington State, were shared all over social media. There was buzz in the following days about a possible investigation into this, but to this point, nothing is expected to come from it by the NCAA. That’s after both Mateer himself as well as the Sooners shared statements on the issue on Tuesday.

“The allegations that I once participated in sports gambling are false,” Mateer posted on social media. “My previous Venmo descriptions did not accurately portray the transactions in question but were instead inside jokes between me and my friends. I have never bet on sports. I understand the seriousness of the matter. But recognize that, taken out of context, those Venmo descriptions suggest otherwise. I can assure my teammates, coaches, and officials at the NCAA that I have not engaged in any sports gambling.”

“OU Athletics provides ongoing education to its student-athletes, coaches, and staff on matters related to sports gambling. The department utilizes ProhiBet, which is an industry-standard service offering comprehensive monitoring of sports gambling activities,” they wrote from Norman. “OU takes any allegations of gambling seriously and works closely with the NCAA in any situations of concern. OU Athletics is unaware of any NCAA investigation and has no reason to believe there is one pending.”

This became as big a story as it did because it involved Mateer, the No. 3 overall transfer this offseason, per On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, from Wazzu. Coming off a season where he posted 3,986 yards, at 332.2 total yards per game, and 44 total touchdowns with the Cougars, Mateer entered the portal and committed to Oklahoma, where he’s expected to have a great season with the Sooners to the extent of even being an early candidate considered for The Heisman Trophy.

At this point, this story looks as though it’ll amount to nothing in the end as far as Mateer. Because of that, he and his new team have addressed it and moved on with their season ahead, as kickoff is two weeks away at OU.

“Again, he’s moved on quickly, quickly,” Venables said.