Mestemaker Used a Group Chat to Recruit UNT Stars to OSU, Now It’s Time to See If He Can Further Level Up

STILLWATER— Oklahoma State receiver Wyatt Young can still remember the first time he saw Drew Mestemaker throw at North Texas.

“Oh gosh, this guy can rip it. … Like, I don’t think he had an incompletion that summer, and it was just crazy to watch,” Young said. “I’m like that type of guy throwing it around like that, there’s no way he never started in high school. But crazy story. And I mean, he deserves all the glory now.”

The quarterback also seemed to make quite the impression on former Oklahoma State pass-catchers in Thursday’s pro day. Receiver Terrill Davis described Mestemaker as “perfect.”

Although it felt like a few times, Mestemaker’s power and accuracy were so good that even those running routes alongside Davis weren’t quite prepared.

Young can relate since it sounds like he had a similar experience when the two worked together as freshmen at UNT two years ago. Even after all this time, Young can’t get his head fully around the circumstances that saw a consensus top 10 overall player in the transfer portal was unable to earn a start in high school.

“I mean, since the moment he walked on to North Texas, he’s always stuck out like a sore thumb,” Young said. “The way he throws, the way he leads, the way he can communicate with the whole entire team. It really is just amazing to see his growth, too. His growth, too, is ridiculous.”

Speaking of leadership, it sounds like Mestemaker didn’t wait until he moved to Stillwater to step up for the Cowboys.

“I think the day after the portal opened, I got a phone call from Drew, and he was like showing me around, and it’s like, Go Pokes,” Young said. “It was like boom. Hung up. Called (Eric) Morris, and I committed. That’s all I needed to know was Drew was coming.”

Young said Mestemaker set up a group chat for the two of them and running back Caleb Hawkins. The receiver didn’t clarify if other UNT players were involved, but it sounds like Mestemaker was trying to keep that trio together.

“Maybe a day after our last game, against San Diego State, that’s when it came together,” Young said. “We started talking to each other. We were all open and honest. We all kind of knew. Morris and (running backs coach Patrick) Cobbs and (quarterbacks coach Sean) Brophy, they’re our guys. We all love ‘em. There’s no other coaches we’d rather be with.”

Still, even after saying that about the coaches, Young later said there’s no other quarterback he wanted to play with, emphasizing how important Mestemaker’s recruitment was for the Cowboys.

For all his accolades, Mestemaker led the nation in passing yards last season, he is still only 15 games into his collegiate career and has attempted only 509 career passes. For perspective, 10 teams attempted more than 500 passes last season and only 15 teams, counting all three service academies, failed to attempt 300.

“Just a growth mindset,” said Morris when asked about the priority for Mestemaker this offseason. “Here’s a kid that, when you look at it, he didn’t play football at all in high school at the position he’s playing right now. … And although you had so much success last year, I think he’s still in such a growth phase of his life.

“And then obviously, the speed of the game is going to be a little bit faster playing P4 football. And being able to adjust to the speed of the game and realize how much faster he has to get some balls out, anticipate a little bit more, how much tighter some of the man coverage stuff is going to be. I think this is going to be a big spring for him to grow a ton.”

Mestemaker will have to wait a few months to prove he can slice up a power conference team. In his limited career, he completed 2-of-3 passes for 56 yards against Texas Tech while coming off the bench in 2024.

That’s the only time he’s been on the same field as a power conference opponent, but Young doesn’t seem to have any reservations, not after having front row seats to his journey so far.

“Drew is so confident in himself,” Young said. “He knows who he is, he knows what he has to do. There’s never been a doubt in his mind that he can do this.”