Eric Morris recalls odd way he was introduced to Drew Mestemaker as a recruit

Oklahoma State made a splash this offseason when it hauled in North Texas head coach Eric Morris and North Texas standout freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker. Morris led the Mean Green to a 12-2 record last season (best record in program history), and Mestemaker led all of FBS with 4,379 passing yards and ranked second with 34 passing touchdowns.

The Morris-Mestemaker duo certainly has Stillwater buzzing. Oklahoma State fans have grown restless for success, as the program has won just four combined games over the past two seasons. This led to the firing of long-time head coach Mike Gundy, with a breath of fresh air desperately needed.

Months before the Eric Morris era kicks off at Oklahoma State, Morris joined ‘Andy & Ari On3.’ There, he revealed a hilarious story about how North Texas hauled in Mestemaker prior to the 2025 season.

Drew Mestemaker was hand-delivered to Eric Morris, North Texas

“I recruited Baker Mayfield and went and watched him not only play football, but play baseball and see his competitive character,” Morris began. “We watched the way teams rallied around him. We saw him throw the ball and process information… same thing with Patrick Mahomes. When we watched Pat, he dropped 35 in basketball and then threw a no-hitter and hit two home runs in a baseball game. I’ll take credit for those guys. John Mateer… I actually offered John playing shortstop. I watched all this tape and everything and then pulled the trigger at Washington State watching him throw at shortstop for a whole day.

“Drew was a little bit lucky if you would… a friend of mine is a quarterback coach. He was Mahomes’ quarterback coach. Jeff Christensen called me in spring ball and said, ‘I’ve got the next NFL quarterback for you.’ I said, perfect, is he going to be a junior? He said, ‘No, he’s a senior.’ He said ‘do you have a walk-on spot?’ And I said, come on, Jeff. There’s a walk-on that’s going to be an NFL guy and you’re this convicted about it? And so then I said, send me his tape and we’ll watch him today and see if we want to take him. Then, he goes one step further and says, ‘he didn’t start in high school and he played safety.’

“So I was like, what are we talking about right now,” Morris continued on. “How the heck are you gonna say this guy is an NFL talent and he’s never played high school football? Two weeks later, he brings him down and lets him throw for us. Naturally, we loved all th ethrowing stuff he did. There’s a bunch of stuff we look for on lower body mechanics, where they put the ball on their back, and no wasted movements. Drew really excelled in a bunch of these things we looked for.”

The move by Morris to bring on Mestemaker worked out perfectly for the program, as it finished at No. 25 in the final College Football Playoff Rankings of the season. He instantly etched his name as one of the best players to ever grace the program, and now has the chance to take the next step in the Big 12 Conference.