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John Mateer injury: Oklahoma fan delivers gift to Sooners QB's doctor ahead of hand surgery

by: Alex Byington09/25/25_AlexByington

Oklahoma fans far and wide are obviously concerned about their superstar quarterback after Sooners junior quarterback John Mateer underwent surgery Wednesday in Los Angeles. He did so to address an injury to his throwing hand suffered early in last weekend’s win over Auburn.

So much so, it appears, that one ambitious OU fan went the extra mile by hand-delivering a gift to the world-renowned surgeon tasked with fixing Mateer’s hand. Sooners fan Carson Grane posted a video Wednesday morning depicting his trip to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA to drop off an Oklahoma pennant as a present to Dr. Steven Shin.

In the video, Grane calls himself a “field reporter” as he stands outside Cedars-Sinai describing the beautiful California weather before making his way into the hospital. Once there, Grane films himself speaking with Dr. Shin’s receptionist off-screen before handing her the pennant with a yellow sticky note that included Mateer’s name and “Boomer Sooner” on it.

Mateer was the leading Heisman Trophy favorite prior to his injury announcement earlier this week. He is expected to miss up to a month following the “straightforward” surgery, according to ESPN insider Pete Thamel.

No. 7 Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0 SEC) is off this weekend and then hosts Kent State in a non-conference game Oct. 4 before returning to SEC play with the Red River Showdown against No. 10 Texas the following week. If Mateer misses a full month, that would put him on track to return for the Sooners’ Oct. 25 game against No. 13 Ole Miss in the first of five straight ranked games to close out the regular season.

Mateer has been one of the most productive quarterbacks in the country through the first month of the regular season, establishing himself as an elite dual-threat playmaker after transferring in from Washington State this past offseason.

The veteran gunslinger leads the SEC with 1,215 yards and six touchdowns to three interceptions, while adding a team-high 190 rushing yards and five scores on the ground through four games.

Mateer’s absence could be quite detrimental to the Sooners’ offense, especially its ground game, which has largely relied on Mateer’s rushing to keep defenses on their heels this season.

Oklahoma will start sophomore backup Michael Hawkins in place of Mateer. Hawkins threw for 783 yards and three touchdowns, against two interceptions, while starting several games as a freshman in 2024.

— On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this report.