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Dec. 16—PULLMAN — John Mateer’s days as Washington State’s quarterback have come to an end.
WSU coach Jake Dickert confirmed as much Monday morning, sharing that Mateer will be entering the transfer portal and ending his three-year tenure with the Cougars’ program. Mateer started all 12 games this season, leading the country with 44 total touchdowns and guiding WSU to an eight-win season, the program’s first since 2018.
He will not play in the Cougs’ final game of the season, the Holiday Bowl, set for Dec. 27 in San Diego against Syracuse. Mateer’s departure is the 19th for WSU, which has now lost eight starters to the portal, including top receiver Kris Hutson and starting defensive lineman Ansel Din-Mbuh.
“John will be the most sought-after player in the portal. I think he’s gonna be the best player in the country next year,” said Dickert, who added that Mateer informed him of his decision on Sunday night. “Biggest thing for our program is it proves, once again, our process is working. Our process is working. We’re offering a bunch of kids that have no other Power Five offers. We’re developing them into something really, really special.”
At some point after WSU’s regular season ended Nov. 30 with a loss to Wyoming, WSU’s NIL team, the Cougar Collective, presented Mateer with an NIL “package” to try and keep him in Pullman, coach Jake Dickert said. The Cougs’ offer extended into the $1M range, Dickert said, but Mateer turned it down.
“It was strong,” Dickert said. “It was everything that I could have imagined and more. Really proud of that. I think our team of people were really invested in that. That was a big-time deal by our people and I thought that was really special.”
Where will Mateer end up? One possibility might be Oklahoma, where former WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle took the OC job earlier this…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/washington-state-qb-john-mateer-030200675.html
Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Publish date : 2024-12-17 03:02:00
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