iStockphoto / © Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
Oklahoma State football landed a major upgrade at quarterback in the transfer portal with the commitment of Drew Mestemaker. The North Texas product was the nation’s top passer in 2025.
He will now look to continue his success at the Power 4 level with the Cowboys. He will be paid handsomely upon arriving to Stillwater.
Mestemaker’s story is one of the best in college football. He’s quickly gone from unlikely contributor to one of the sport’s most intriguing prospects.
He entered the transfer portal after his redshirt freshman season with the Mean Green. That move came after his head coach, Eric Morris, was hired by Oklahoma State.
The quarterback opted to follow Morris to the Big 12.
Who is Drew Mestemaker?
The passer was a lowly rated recruit in the 2024 cycle. He made more headlines as a punter and safety than as a quarterback. He walked on at North Texas having not started a football game under center since his ninth-grade season.
Mestemaker sat on the sidelines as a rookie, not making his first start until the team’s bowl game matchup against Texas State. In that debut, he shined.
The signal caller accounted for nearly 450 yards of total offense in a narrow postseason defeat.
The performance provided fans with their first introduction to the talented gunslinger. He put the college football world on notice in 2025.
Mestemaker led the country in yardage as the nation’s only 4,000-yard passer. He threw 34 touchdowns to just nine interceptions while leading the Mean Green to a 12-win season.
He hoped to turn that success into a new opportunity at season’s end and quickly jumped at the chance to cash in with Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys offered $7.5 million.
According to Bill Haisten of Tulsa World, Drew Mestemaker landed a two-year deal to take his talents to Stillwater. In Year 1, he is expected to earn a salary of $3.5 million.
That number increases to $4 million should he stay on to lead the team in 2027.
Haisten reports that a single Oklahoma State booster pledged the money to pay for the quarterback’s transfer. While the financier remains anonymous, the writer says the donor hails from the Oklahoma City area.
The Cowboys had to compete with the likes of Indiana and Oregon to secure Mestemaker’s commitment. The hiring of his head coach played a positive role in that recruitment.
The money didn’t hurt either!
Mestemaker’s massive NIL deal signals a shift in the school’s player payment thinking. The Cowboys have caught up in the new landscape of college sports.
Previous coach Mike Gundy claimed to have only had “around $7 million” for his entire roster across his last three seasons in Stillwater. Oklahoma State’s new quarterback could exceed that number on his own by the time he leaves campus.
For Drew Mestemaker, it’s something that didn’t appear possible just two seasons ago. He’s gone from walk-on to millionaire seemingly overnight.
Oklahoma State will lean heavily on their new football star in hopes of righting the ship under a new coaching staff.