‘This Logo Holds A Lot of Weight’: Drew Mestemaker Talks Expectations, Motivations and More in Barstool Interview

Bullet needs to be getting some preseason cardio in, according to Drew Mestemaker.

Oklahoma State’s quarterback was on Barstool’s Blut Talks Ball on Thursday evening with Liam Blutman, where he was asked a variety of questions, the most simple of which might’ve been if he was going to score a lot of points this season.

“We’re gonna score a lot,” Mestemaker said. “Bullet’s gonna be tired for sure.”

It was about a 30-minute interview that spanned everything from Mestemaker’s journey from high school safety to college quarterback to his favorite Oklahoma State uniform combination (it’s black (brand)-white-black, by the way).

Mestemaker was asked about athletes he looks up to at one point, and he mentioned those who are the psychopaths of their sport — Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Speaking of MJ, back when ‘The Last Dance’ documentary was new, there wasn’t a more popular meme from it than Jordan saying he took certain slights personally. Well, Mestemaker shared his own I took that personally moment with Blutman.

When Mestemaker, a high school safety, was looking at colleges to play quarterback at, one of the first opportunities he had was a junior college in California. But before that could become realized, Mestemaker got a walk-on opportunity at Sam Houston before Eric Morris and North Texas also offered a walk-on spot. That led to a tough conversation with the JUCO coach that he was no longer interested in that opportunity.

“I feel like every ‘no’ kind of adds that chip on your shoulder, but the junior college that I told I was coming to play quarterback for them out in California, I called them when I got the Sam Houston offer and told them that I was going to Sam Houston,” Mestemaker said. “He was kinda upset, and he was like, ‘Alright, just think about it for like an hour and then call me back.’ So, I was like, ‘Alright.’ I thought about it and didn’t change my mind and called him back and was like, ‘Hey, I’m still going to Sam Houston.’ And he was kinda saying, like, I wasn’t gonna be very good, and I was like, alright, what’s going on here? He was like, ‘Not everyone can be Baker Mayfield,’ is what he said.

“I don’t have any ill will towards him, but I was like, alright, dude, what’s up with you kind of crap talking me now that I don’t want to come to junior college? It was just a little weird, and that’s definitely something I remember and kind of carry with me to train that much harder.”

It’s sort of awesome that a quarterback who led the FBS in passing last season is still using the words of a junior college coach to motivate him. It’s a window into Mestemaker’s competitive nature that Morris often brings up saying the quarterback is a different animal inside the lines of a football field.

But the most glaring sign of that is probably the fact that Mestemaker believed he could play quarterback in college after not playing it in high school in the first place.

“I think I always felt that I was a good enough quarterback that as long as I got an opportunity, I could make the most of it,” Mestemaker said. “I had a D-III in San Antonio offer for me to be an athlete. I was like, I’m not a safety at the end of the day. I was solid. I was a solid punter, but I knew I was a good quarterback deep down, and I just needed an opportunity to show it and someone to take a chance on me.

“I was really just bought in on going anywhere as a quarterback because I believed I could make some noise and be a better quarterback than I would be a safety.”

After having to juggle junior college offers and walk-on spots coming out of high school, the portal process looked a little bit different for Mestemaker.

He ended up sticking with Morris and transferring to Oklahoma State, but he shared a few of the other schools who were eyeing him out of the transfer portal.

“I didn’t really talk to a whole bunch of schools in the portal,” Mestemaker said. “But my agent, we kinda came down to a pretty tight little grouping there at the end. Really, the schools that were interested were like Oregon, LSU was on there, Michigan was in our kind of radar. So, kinda like those three, I guess, maybe (Texas) Tech a little bit, but at the end of the day, I kinda chose my decision pretty quickly, honestly.”

Mestemaker also spent some time highlighting his teammates. When asked about his receivers, Mestemaker shouted out Wyatt Young, Miles Coleman, Justin Bowick, Chris Barnes and Terrence Lewis (who keeps getting name dropped this fall). He also talked up running backs Caleb Hawkins and Tre Page.

Now in his third year in Morris’ system, Mestemaker talked about stepping up in the leadership department. It didn’t sound like that was just for the team, but for the university he now represents.

“Outside of football, I feel like I’ve grown into a leader, for sure,” Mestemaker said. “I definitely had to take that step this year, honestly, transferring to Oklahoma State.

“This logo holds a lot of weight and has had a lot of legends come through here. So, to step into this facility and to step into this campus, it really holds a lot of weight to, honestly, be a good football team because they haven’t had that the past few years.”