John Mateer Update: OU Contact Surgeon Who Fixed Drew Brees & Steph Curry, Per ESPN Insider

The award for biggest glow-up of the 2025 season has to be given to Brent Venables’ Oklahoma Sooners. The No.7 ranked Oklahoma Sooners are 4-0, already beating two ranked teams (Michigan Wolverines in Week 2, and Auburn in Week 4). Brent Venables’ Sooners’ dub against Auburn came at a price. John Mateer was hit with an injury during the first half against the Auburn Tigers. The former Wazzu QB suffered an injury to his throwing hand. It has elements of good and bad news. The bad news? He’s missing a couple of big-time games. And the good news? He’s getting worked on by the same surgeon as Steph Curry, Drew Brees, and MLB legend Mike Trout.

On September 24, Pete Thamel hopped onto the GameDay podcast along with Rece Davis and gave a major update about John Mateer’s throwing hand: “We are taping this on Wednesday morning. John Mateer is in Los Angeles, and he is headed to surgery this morning for a broken bone in his throwing hand. He broke it in the first quarter against Auburn and essentially went and played the entire game through the pain.” Despite the injury, Mateer balled out and threw for 271 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also added 1 rushing touchdown in the last 4 minutes on the clock. He even completed 11 passes in a row in the second half. No wonder he’s on everybody’s Heisman top 3.

Pete Thamel doubled down: “I was told by sources last night, the surgery is fairly straightforward, and he’s expected to miss about a month. Hard to set a timeline before they do the surgery. They (Oklahoma Sooners) went out and sought Dr. Steven Shin, who’s one of the country’s leading hand and wrist surgeons. He’s worked with Drew Brees, Steph Curry, and Mike Trout.” Before going in depth about Dr. Steven Shin, let’s address the bad news first.

The bad news is he’s going to miss the Red River Rivalry with the Texas Longhorns on October 11, and will probably miss their game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Word on the street is John Mateer is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. The exact return date depends on Dr. Steven Shin’s green light. Steven Shin is one of LA’s finest orthopedic surgeons specializing in hand and upper limb injuries.

Dr. Shin worked his magic with Drew Brees’ torn collateral ligament on his right hand back in 2019. He also worked on Golden State Warriors legend Steph Curry’s left hand in 2019, and MLB GOAT Mike Trout’s left thumb in 2017. Dr. Shin usually practices at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Cali. Pete Thamel gave props to the Sooners for taking the best option and casually called Dr. Shin the best doctor in the world: “They (Sooners) are taking this very seriously, sending him to the best person in the world.” With John Mateer sidelined for the next few weeks, it’s next man up in Norman.

Sooners depth-chart after John Mateer’s injury

That job falls to sophomore Michael Hawkins Jr., who already has some starting experience, though the results were up and down last year. Now, he’s back in the spotlight to lead Oklahoma’s offense. Brent Venables gave Hawkins some love for how far he’s come. “This is a developmental game, and Mike’s no different,” Venables said. “He’s worked hard at his craft, he’s got great self-awareness, and really since January he’s been locked in on the basics. He’s better in just about every category from where he was a year ago.”

Hawkins showed pretty good promise last season after OU benched Jackson Arnold mid-season. In that short window, he threw for 783 yards, rushed for 204 more, and totaled four touchdowns across seven games and four starts. He even got the nod in the Armed Forces Bowl. This year, he’s barely played — just 19 snaps, going 1-of-3 for five yards and adding six carries for 25 yards against Temple. That’s the best the Sooners can get right now, and luckily coaches believe his athleticism and big arm can keep the Sooners rolling.

Behind Hawkins, Oklahoma has decent options waiting on the bench. Whitt Newbauer transferred in from Mercer, where he tossed 12 touchdowns and nearly 1,400 yards last year, plus showed some wheels with long runs against SEC competition. Then there’s freshman Jett Niu, a late flip from Oklahoma State. Word around Norman, it’s Hawkins’ show until Big John recovers.

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