Thankfully, some defensive help is on the way for Texas football ahead of this weekend's monster showdown against Oklahoma. Last week, standout cornerback Malik Muhammad was unable to play due to an injury and his absence was felt through the four quarters of play.
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The Longhorns suffered a brutal loss to Florida and frustration has been building around the program. However, some solid news has come in on Wednesday night, as Muhammad is expected to play on Saturday against the Sooners. He's officially listed as probable on the injury report. That's the good news. The bad? Well, it's that John Mateer has been listed as questionable.
Here is the full availability report for OU-Texas, with John Mateer listed as questionable. #Sooners pic.twitter.com/6wQQUb7FS1
— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) October 9, 2025
John Mateer Injury Update: Oklahoma QB officially listed as questionable to face Texas
Getting Muhammad back is one thing, but the fact that Mateer has a great shot of playing on Saturday doesn't sit well with a lot of UT supporters. Mateer recently had surgery on a broken bone on his throwing hand, yet he's set to potentially start 17 days after that procedure? Goodness.
Texas was already going to have its hands full a bit in trying to slow down the Sooners, but if Mateer, a Washington State transfer, is back to full health, then it sure does complicate things for the Longhorns defense. It's not a lock that Mateer is going to play, but things seem to be heading in that direction.
Things won't get finalized there for at least a couple of days, but head man Steve Sarkisian has been preparing for Oklahoma under the assumption that the Heisman Trophy candidate is going to be good to go. This was obviously a smart move by the Texas coaching staff.
As for the UT offense, Arch Manning is going to want to post a bounce-back performance and he'll look for the Texas defense to post some big stops and get the ball back in his hands. Having Muhammad at his usual spot on the outside of the secondary is going to make a big difference there. Will he be making plays against Oklahoma with Mateer throwing the pigskin? It looks like that's going to be the case.