1 week Ago
PULLMAN – Washington State’s football program will change in a big way after this weekend. Quarterback John Mateer will use the weekend to spend time with his family and decide whether to stay at WSU or enter the transfer portal, coach Jake Dickert said Friday, adding, “We’ll know very soon,” what Mateer decides. It’s a monumental decision for WSU and Mateer, who has been taking part in the team’s practices for the Dec.
27 Holiday Bowl, Dickert said. Mateer finished the regular season leading the nation with 44 total touchdowns – 29 passing and 15 rushing. In his first season as starter, Mateer led the Cougars to an eight-win season, including victories over Texas Tech and Washington and a comeback road win over San Diego State.
The Cougars had a three-game losing streak to end the season – a skid that included setbacks to New Mexico, Oregon State and Wyoming – but Mateer mostly did his part all season. His completion percentage hovered around the 70% mark for the final five games. Mateer would have plenty of suitors if he does enter the portal.
Last week, former WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle took the same job at Oklahoma, raising the possibility of Arbuckle recruiting Mateer to join him. Former WSU running backs and associate head coach Mark Atuaia accepted the same role at Utah on Thursday, so perhaps the Utes would be interested in Mateer’s services, although they landed former New Mexico QB Devon Dampier out of the portal this week. WSU has also reportedly lost QBs coach John Kuceyeski to Oklahoma, where he will work as senior offensive assistant/assistant QB coach.
In the absence of Arbuckle, Dickert had tabbed Kuceyeski to call plays in the Holiday Bowl, noting his strong rapport with Mateer and the Cougars’ quarterbacks. Dickert will have to look elsewhere for that role. Kuceyeski is the third Cougars coach to leave the program in the past two weeks.
He’s the fourth coach to exit since the end of the regular season, including former defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding, who was fired early last week. That means WSU will not have either of its coordinators for the Holiday Bowl. “There’s no timeline to the right person,” said Dickert, who will call the WSU defense in the bowl game, referencing filling the vacant positions.
“Obviously, I’ve been in a lot of conversations. My phone’s been blowing up from all the jobs that we have open and just the excitement for these positions. “So we’ll take our time to find the right people and really sit down this weekend and continue that process.
” As of Friday evening, the Cougars have lost 18 players to the transfer portal , including seven starters: running back Wayshawn Parker; safeties Adrian Wilson and Jackson Lataimua; defensive tackle Ansel Din-Mbuh; punter Nick Haberer; and cornerback Ethan O’Connor, who teased an Oklahoma visit on his Instagram story Friday. The Cougars are doing what they can to prevent Mateer from leaving. WSU’s NIL team, the Cougar Collective, has prepared what Dickert called a “package” last week for Mateer in an effort to convince him to stay.
Mateer reportedly has a $1 million offer from another school on the table, perhaps indicating his going rate. “It’s been amazing to see what the Coug fans and Coug nation has done and the university through the collective,” Dickert said. “It’s been a really amazing kind of pitch.
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