How Michigan will attack QB John Mateer, RB Jaydn Ott and Oklahoma offensive line: 'We expect to see the best of those guys'

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Michigan Wolverines football defense will have its hands full Saturday night in Norman, dealing with Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer, his bevy of weapons at wide receiver and tight end and a new-look offense run by 29-year-old coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

The top-ranked quarterback in the NCAA transfer portal this offseason, the 6-foot-1, 224-pound Mateer came from Washington State, where he worked under Arbuckle before following the coordinator to Norman. The Little Elm, Texas, native completed 64.6 percent of his passes for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns with 7 interceptions last season, adding 178 rushes for 826 yards and 15 scores on the ground.

“He’s tough, man. He’s good. He’s really good,” Michigan defensive line coach Lou Esposito said. “The biggest thing is it’s got to be all hands on deck, all eyes on him. That’s the biggest thing. He’s got to be a focal point of what we do every single play. And I think when you do that and you have a group that understands that, good things happen.

“It’s a lot like when we went to go play Alabama with the quarterback that they had [Jalen Milroe]. It’s going to be a group effort. One guy can’t do it by himself, like you talk about different schemes and people doing different stuff to stop him, but you have to stop him within the framework. When you start inventing things, that’s when you get in trouble.

“So, we’re going to stop him within the framework of what we do. If everyone does their job, we’ll be successful, because there’s not a defense that we run that’s unsound, so it’ll be exciting for us.”

Michigan shut Milroe down in a 19-13 win over Alabama in the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl, holding him to a 50-percent completion rate, 6 yards per attempt, 1 touchdown and forcing 1 interception. The Wolverines had a big day against Milroe a year earlier in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl, too.

Michigan will have to not only corral Mateer when he looks to run, but also keep him inside the pocket so that he can’t extend plays with his legs and throw downfield.

“I think he throws it a little better than that guy,” Esposito said of the Milroe comparison.” I don’t know if he’s flat out as fast.

“He’s probably the shortstop of the high school, point guard of the high school, quarterback of the high school. He’s just an unbelievable player.

“You go back and watch him, even when they had [No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick in 2025] Cam Ward when he was at Washington State, he’s coming in to run the football.

“You watch him, and when he runs the ball, he’s like a running back. He’s not like a quarterback. Most quarterbacks when they run the ball run unique, and they don’t like to get hit. He enjoys some of that contact, so it’s our job to kind of help him with that.”

Michigan pass rush looking to get going

Michigan’s defensive linemen expressed frustration with the short amount of time they had to rush the passer against New Mexico in last week’s 34-17 victory at The Big House. The Lobos ran a whopping 14 screen passes and got rid of the ball in 2.08 seconds on average, according to PFF.

Oklahoma will likely play more traditionally, and Michigan may be able to get to the quarterback more, but that doesn’t mean it will be anything close to easy to get home.

“We’re super excited to go play Oklahoma. It’s the next game. It’s a big game because it’s the next one,” Esposito noted. “There’s all the pageantry that goes with it. It’s a blue-blood program.

“The excitement about going to play Oklahoma, I think a lot of teams … You watch us last year, I’ve never been a part of a defense that faced more screens than we did last year. And I think that’s what you see when you have good fronts, when you have teams that do the things we do on defense. That’s what you’re going to see, so I think we’ll see that all year.”

Preparing for Oklahoma’s offensive line and RB Jaydn Ott

Oklahoma played eight different offensive linemen in its 35-3 win over FCS Illinois State last weekend, and the Sooners may get more healthy men in the trenches back from injury this week. That provides for a challenge to prepare.

“As far as the O-line goes, they have great players,” the Michigan assistant coach said. “Their offensive line is deep. Every kid seems like a five-star recruit. So, for us in the breakdown phase, you listen, you watch, you see. They rolled in six, seven, eight guys, and they’re talking about playing two more. It’s a challenge for us.

“When there’s that unknown, you fall back on your training. You fall back on what you’ve done, and you play with good technique no matter who they put out there. And you play within the framework of the defense and you run to the ball and you play with our pillars — your effort, your angles, your block destruction, your communication, your ball disruption. You do that stuff, it’s going to put is in the best spot to win, and that’s what we’re going to go try to do.”

Oklahoma sat out players that were questionable and didn’t seem to show much of its play book on either side of the football. The Wolverines’ defense, meanwhile, threw a lot at New Mexico, and put things on film that Oklahoma will have to prepare for.

“We didn’t hold anything back,” Esposito revealed. “The more game reps you get at running your system, the better off you’re going to be, no matter who you’re playing. I’ve always said my whole entire career, 25 practice reps are like one game rep, so we’re going to run what we run.

“[Michigan defensive coordinator] Coach Wink [Martindale] is great at that. He was very, very clear at what our vision was, so we didn’t hold anything back. What you saw is what you’re going to get.

“Not everybody does that, I get it. And Oklahoma may not have done that, and they’re talking about different guys playing now and they held some guys out, but we’ll see. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”

One of those players who hardly saw action is running back Jaydn Ott, a California transfer who was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2023. The 5-foot-11, 208-pounder played just 4 snaps against Illinois State, rushing once for minus-3 yards. Oklahoma featured true freshman ball-carrier Tory Blaylock among the multiple backs who played, but he went down with a shoulder injury in the second half.

Oklahoma rushed 32 times for 103 yards, averaging just 3.2 yards per carry.

“All of them,” Esposito said of which running backs Michigan will prepare to face. “They run hard. They were physical at the point of attack.

“I don’t know if the run game was an emphasis for them the entire game last week. They have really, really good running backs.

“The Ott kid — you just put the tape on from the year before, he’s electric. That’s why he was the No. 1 running back in the transfer portal.

“So, you bring in the No. 1 quarterback in the transfer portal, you bring in the No. 1 running back in the transfer portal, those guys are going to be point of emphasis guys for them — and we expect to see the best of those guys come Saturday.”

If Michigan brings its best, too, it will make for an exciting matchup.