WSU Football: "It's a Blessing" | QB John Mateer after Fall Camp | 8/19/24

well uh coach Dicker just informed us that you will be the starting quarterback uh just kind of your reaction when he told you and kind of what your thoughts are now kind of going forward yeah we had our meeting yesterday around noonish and you know we talked a little bit and then he told me to my face I was going to be a starter and I just told him thank you you know thank you for believing in me I'm putting a lot on my shoulders right now going forward and I think I'm ready for it I know I'm ready for it and we're just going to keep putting in work out here and we we will all be ready for it so you know obviously uh you have confidence that you're going to get the job you have belief in yourself was there any kind of sense of relief when when coach Dicker told you just kind of knowing that your hard work had paid off and you were going to be the starter I mean I guess I thought there was going to be more relief than there was but then you know it's like the starter but now the job begins you know like this team counts on me every day right and which I already wanted to prepare myself like they already did right but now it's real we get we got a game next Saturday which is a blessing I'm so excited right but no it not a full relief cuz now the job Begins the job truly begins we got to win some games no you're okay you're okay don't worry about it tell us about just like the setting of the meeting and like uh the leadup to it and just kind of the emotion of kind of finding out the news yeah I mean BV I mean I knew it was going to be yesterday BV texted me yesterday morning I woke up looked at my phone Brent Vernon can you meet with Coach Dicker at 12:30 I was like yes walked in normal meeting we sat on the couch talked for a little bit Nam me the starter I was like yeah let's do it that's really it was a chill vibe cool coach scker really cool about it yeah at any point during Camp did you feel like you were uh you know kind of getting a leg up or like just kind of tell me about like the uh kind of mindset throughout Camp yeah I think it was a good battle throughout Camp I I do want to say that he pushed me uh really well every day I I it's not because I was doing better than him um but individually I just felt like I was getting really good and I was improving every day and it wasn't like oh I was going and comparing everything he did to I did now a little bit because I'm not a perfect human and I want to win want to win the job but the main priority was me improving not me like being better than him and every little thing um but I mean yeah I guess so it turned out to be that way but I mean all respect to him I thought he had a good camp too you know who's the first person you told after you heard the news called my mom I actually called my dad he didn't answer I he was busy it wasn't nothing he was actually driving uh to go on a camping trip to Colorado so that's probably why uh I called my mom right after she said first thing she said was thank God and which is a great reflection of who she is and um who I try to be you know and well I I guess the first person I think was God right first person I talked to um but first real first not real my mother my mother was the first person I told and my sister my dad a couple coaches told everybody keep it on the low you know couldn't have y'all find out before yesterday yeah but yeah other guys have shared that your leadership style you know you're not afraid to call the guys out and you know it's like tough love some Trey said um what's yeah what's kind of your approach to that and how do you feel like your role is to like make people better um I truly think you know I've I've been told I'm a natural leader right um and I but I've also been told that I'm not the most vocal leader which is the truth like normally I'm not out here yelling at everybody doing stuff but then like if somebody makes a mistake one time cool all right whatever not whatever but we're going to fix it we're going to get it but if it happens again and again it's like all right let's go cuz we got to be there and Trey I'm I'm hard on Trey like he says that and I'm glad he said it with the with the kind heart because I'll be getting on Trey sometimes I feel bad man cuz like I've only known him since January like if I get on Josh Meredith it's a little different we've had a longer relationship now I have a good relationship with Trey great friend but sometimes like damn like I don't want to come off as like like being too like damn man who who the is this guy you know sorry for cursing but but I'm getting better at it you know and and people know like cuz I try not to make the same mistake twice so if I don't make the same mistake twice you can't either cuz we got to go like we got to go right and and I I'm glad they respond to me well I I try to put in the most work I can so they believe in me so it's not hypocritical that's really my big thing I imagine in your life you've had a lot of moments connected to football that were very special to you where does that moment with Coach Dicker when he tells you you're the starter rank it's pretty cool it's pretty up it's pretty far up there now I did start in high school I start as a freshman so that call it was a different feeling I'm really confident now when I got that call when I was 14 years old I was pretty nervous different feeling but it's up there now I'm planning to have a lot better moments this fall and upcoming right you know um but it's it's cool just cool to hear cool that it's actually happening cool that the work is paying off you know and it we'll see it'll it'll be fun it's up there fun moment after the scrimmage Trey likened the receiver room to uh 2019 Alabama I don't know if you saw it saw you're you're the guy that gets the Thro to those guys how does that feel it's it's a blessing they did our our front office did a great job bringing in a lot of talented guys bringing like K Dub came back Carlos even though he's hurt Josh we got a lot of guys now I believe in them with my whole heart they're going to have to make that happen like to make you know that's a big that's a big group and I love I love confidence I'm confident in them more like more than anybody you know U but that's a big claim it's like me saying I'm Tom Brady already but love the guy I I know I know exactly where he's coming from he believes in everybody in that room and so do I so I I don't blame him at all and speaking on the offense as a whole can you speak to the job that they've done throughout fall Camp not knowing who the guy was going to be and working with two different quarterbacks yeah I mean the players individually have done a great job because everybody's fighting for a job right now it's hard to get in a rhythm if it's two different guys calling the plays right and I think they've done a great job individually getting going with both guys and zie does a great job and we're really we're not I I don't really know I'm not back there when he's back there right but I don't think we're too much different I think Arbuckle and C keep keep us on the same page doing the same thing so it's not Terri terrible on them but every person is different every quarterback is different so but individually they've been doing great receivers been learning from both of us all line been listening to both of us it's been good it's been good coach Dicker kind of mentioned your your willingness to stick it through you didn't know what cam was going to do after this past season uh can you speak to that a little bit as well and and why your confidence never wavered in in potentially winning this job yeah no I knew like I wanted to beat cam out last year straight up I came in last winter and I was like I'm I'm going for it right didn't get it rightfully so cam is very very good quarterback learned from him one more year and I was like you know I thought he was going to leave I figured he would leave and I was like this is this is now they were telling me you know we're super confident in you and as long as you put in the work and do it the right way like you'll be our future and I apparently I did um so here we are and I just appreciate them a believing in me and appreciate the strength staff and Coach buck and Coach C's developing me into who I am because it's not just me like I didn't it's not me I'm not the reason I'm doing well and I'm not the reason I'm succeeding it's everybody is pouring into me my teammates the coaches you know and and I'm the one doing it yes but it's not just because of me so thanks to them thanks to everybody coach dickard spoke about like recruiting you when you were still in high school and how he thought you might be heading to the FCS level now being here as the starting quarterback of the cougs just as you reflect on your journey just kind of seeing this happen what does it mean to you it means a lot I mean the goal was always to go power five and then play Power five ball and like unfortunately at first I didn't know if that was going to happen my senior year I played really well if you want to go watch my highlights you can drop the link and whatever article y'all put my senior year I went kind of crazy nothing came up I didn't sign early I was like I was like what do I have to do you know and and thank God because that brought me closer to God cuz I was like what do I have to do for this to happen and I just had to wait and I just had to be patient two weeks before the second signing day call came coach Morris came up here and it just worked out perfectly and like it's it's a blessing cuz like I don't know if I've told you all this I look back my notes like sophomore year in high school Washington state was in like my top eight for no reason I'm from Texas like you know it was like so Random it was like Texas TCU Kansas like washingt state is random right and so it's just it's just crazy how it happened truly blessed to be in this position and it should be a lot of fun and then now that you've gone through fall Camp you know the season openers right around the corner how much do you think it helped you kind of you know push harder every day having zie behind you and bringing in that competition for you now I'm a pretty stubborn guy I don't want to say I'm immature but when it like I I was I didn't I don't think I had the right mindset going into it at first I was like man like what I can push myself you know like what this and that whatever but no like it's a good thing it happened I appreciate zevy I appreciate the way they did it um because I'm better because of it and the team is better because of it and it'll pay off so it's it's good