Drew Mestemaker wanted to hear out other programs.
The former walk-on-turned-star had every right. He was coming off a legendary season as quarterback at North Texas in 2025, in which he led the nation in passing as a redshirt freshman. He wasn’t even on recruiting radars coming out of Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas, and now he was suddenly the hot commodity in the transfer portal every program was after.
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Mestemaker following his coach Eric Morris, who Oklahoma State hired Nov. 25, was an obvious move – and maybe even a foregone conclusion – but he told Morris he intended to explore the market. Several schools were linked to Mestemaker, and reports of offers and financial figures were circulating. In a year’s span, he went from nearly no attention to capturing all the attention as a five-star portal recruit.
“I was learning new things about myself on social media every day that I was getting this much money from this school and this much money from this school,” Mestemaker said Thursday in his first media availability as a Cowboy. “It was all stuff that I wasn’t even thinking about. … It was crazy. I kind of learned pretty quickly that you got to keep your circle small. You hear things about yourself that you didn’t even know was going on.”
Mestemaker committed to OSU on Jan. 3, less than a week after announcing his intention to enter the transfer portal. For him, the decision came down to two things: trust and Morris. After Mestemaker’s whirlwind season as one of college football’s fastest-rising stars, that made all the difference, and now he’s right where he wants to be.
“Trust is one of the most important things that you’ll ever have in a football program,” Morris said Feb. 4. “And I think you need trust.”
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By now, Mestemaker’s story has been told extensively. He never started a varsity game in high school and received little to no interest from college coaches at any level. At one point, he visited Laney College, a junior college in California, and thought that was his first step.
Then, a connection to a coach at Sam Houston earned him a walk-on offer there, and he soon had another walk-on offer from Morris at UNT. It was a crazy dream for Mestemaker to chase, but it began to come together like he said he knew it would.
“Some people probably called me crazy for thinking that, but I think that’s kind of the mentality you have to have,” Mestemaker said. “I remember having calls with D-III coaches that wanted me to come be an athlete and play both sides of the ball, and I remember telling them my goal is to play Power Four football. I want to be under the bright lights. I want to do that. They told me I was crazy and I didn’t have the film for it and everything, but I knew somehow an opportunity would come and work out. I didn’t know how it’d happen. I’m forever grateful for Coach Morris for taking a chance on me.”
The chance worked out well for both sides. Mestemaker was a backup during his freshman season, then he made his first start in the First Responder Bowl, where he passed for 393 yards and two touchdowns.
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That’s when the whirlwind really started.
“It is crazy to think that game was 13 months ago and my life has done a complete 180,” Mestemaker said.
Since then, everyone knows what Mestemaker became – a star who threw for 4,379 yards and 34 touchdowns this season while leading UNT to a 12-2 season.
“Drew’s story is so captivating, and I think America kind of took over Drew’s story this year as it kinda grew,” Morris said. “Just remarkable.”
And Morris had been part of Mestemaker’s story and a believer in him from Day 1, which helped create success. Ultimately, that weighed heavily.
“I knew the whole time Coach Morris was going to be a huge factor, and wherever he went, that was probably going to be where I was going,” Mestemaker said.
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Mestemaker’s underdog story excited Cowboy fans, too, once OSU announced Morris’ hiring Nov. 25. After OSU went 4-20 the past two seasons, the idea of bringing in a rising star coach and one of the top QBs in the country was all too enticing.
The Cowboys haven’t had a quarterback start every game in a season since 2018, and QB play hasn’t been consistent recently. This past season, OSU started three different QBs and played five, and the unit combined to pass for six touchdowns and nine interceptions.
“Obviously, we were struggling in the quarterback placement for a little bit,” said Jaleel Johnson, a senior defensive end who has spent his whole career at OSU. “I see great potential in (Mestemaker). Even during morning runs, I’ve seen him take leadership and take control of the team. I’m excited to see what he does for us.”
Although Mestemaker has been in Stillwater just over a month, he’s already building rapport with teammates, which he said is important. And his play on the field is building trust from them, too.
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“When you got a guy that can throw the football like that, you just walk around with a different type of aura, I guess. And you can just feel it,” defensive end Malik Charles said. “You can see it in the team runs. You can see how he portrays himself. He’s a leader.”
Just a couple years removed from not knowing where his football career was headed, Mestemaker now finds himself with the keys to Oklahoma State’s offense and, really, the program’s rebuild. Even one whirlwind year ago, this scenario was only a dream.
It’s the kind of opportunity Mestemaker wished for, and he’s at a program and with a coaching staff that he trusts to help him capitalize on it.
“I’ve always dreamed about being in this position, and for it to happen this fast, I didn’t expect it,” Mestemaker said. “But I’ve been ready for it the whole time. This is all I could ask for right now.”
