Brent Venables calls multiple student reporters weird for awaiting John Mateer's arrival at airport after surgery

John Mateer arrived back in Norman on Thursday following successful surgery on his throwing hand. He saw Dr. Shin in Los Angeles for the procedure.

Some local media decided to wait out at the airport to watch Mateer’s plane land, something Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables called “weird” later in the afternoon. “You know who you are,” the Sooners headman said.

The local media, who turned out to be student journalists for OU’s independent student news organization, responded to Venables. They revealed that local law enforcement blocked visibility of Mateer leaving the plane. Venables hinted that Mateer and company may have been avoiding the local media. Either way, it appears that the Sooners QB is back with the team.

The Sooners will hope to have Mateer back sooner rather than later. He was regarded as an early candidate to be a Heisman Finalist after putting up over 1,400 yards of offense through the air and on the ground across four games for Oklahoma. Until then, Venables has confidence that backup QB Michael Hawkins Jr., as well as the rest of the team, will keep the momentum rolling through the Sooners’ bye week.

“He’s done a great job just keeping his head down, proving his understanding of the offense and all the fundamentals of being a quarterback. Leadership as well, and just has put together a really good body of work over the last several months,” Venables said, via George Stoia of Sooner Scoop. “He’s always had a great work ethic, and he’s always been really coachable. He’s hungry, he’s humble and ultra talented.”

Hawkins played in seven games for the Sooners during his freshman year last season. He threw for nearly 800 yards and gained over 200 more on the ground, finishing the season with four total touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.

He’ll be tasked with leading the Sooners out of their bye week, which, against Kent State, they should be favored heavily despite the quarterback change. After that, six of Oklahoma’s final seven games will be against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. That includes Texas, a game which Mateer’s status remains to be seen.