Morris, Mestemaker Combo Prolific at Attacking an Area of the Field OSU Has Lacked In
By Marshall Scott | Pistols Firing Blog
After seeing Drew Mestemaker highlights throughout the year, I dived into some stats with the hypothesis that Oklahoma State was going to get a big boost in the deep ball department with Mestemaker’s commitment to follow his coach up I-35 to Stillwater.
That hypothesis proved true, but I came away more intrigued by a different level of throw.
First of all, the deep balls.
According to PFF, Mestemaker was 19-for-50 on passes 20 or more yards downfield, which comes to 38%. All of OSU’s quarterbacks combined this past season (including Sam Jackson V) were 11-for-49 (22%) on such throws.
So, the deep balls will likely hit at a pretty significantly higher clip in Stillwater this fall.
But then I took a peek at the line below the long ball.
Mestemaker was 77-for-119 (65%) on passes between 10 and 19 yards in his redshirt freshman season. The OSU QBs combined to complete 29-for-56 (52%) of such passes. Not only did Mestemaker complete those at a higher clip, but he also completed more than OSU even attempted.
I had found a new rabbit hole.
I went back and looked at every OSU starting quarterback (the one most associated with the season) since PFF tracked passing depths (2014), and here are my findings, sorted by completions:
| Year | Quarterback | Completions | Percentage |
| 2017 | Mason Rudolph | 104 | 61% |
| 2018 | Taylor Cornelius | 68 | 55% |
| 2016 | Mason Rudolph | 68 | 61% |
| 2015 | Mason Rudolph | 67 | 59% |
| 2021 | Spencer Sanders | 65 | 63% |
| 2023 | Alan Bowman | 59 | 55% |
| 2024 | Alan Bowman | 45 | 54% |
| 2022 | Spencer Sanders | 41 | 49% |
| 2014 | Daxx Garman | 32 | 48% |
| 2020 | Spencer Sanders | 24 | 57% |
| 2019 | Spencer Sanders | 22 | 43% |
As you can see, only in Mason Rudolph’s senior season did the Cowboys complete more than 70 passes between 10 and 19 yards.
Secondly, no OSU starter has completed 65% of those passes in a season since PFF started tracking the stat in 2014.
Something to think about, Mestemaker was playing in the American. I wouldn’t put up an argument if one said that could hypothetically knock a few of those completions off. But even if you axed off 15 of those things (which I would argue is too many), 62 completions would have Mestemaker behind 2021 Spencer Sanders and right around some of the better seasons in OSU’s recent history.
All of this is if, buts and maybes until it’s proven on the field, but there’s plenty of reason to believe that OSU added the most talented quarterback it has had in some time on Saturday.