OU's Mateer back at full strength from hand injury...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer said that the mental toll he suffered after a hand injury temporarily derailed his season last year was "the hardest thing" he has ever faced but that he's now at full strength and has returned to his pre-injury throwing motion. Mateer, who spoke to ESPN on Monday at SEC media days, said he recently scored a 150 on a grip strength test, which is a drastic improvement from the 90 he scored post-surgery last fall after he was cleared to play and his hand was still weak. "It was not strong," said Mateer, who is entering his second season as the Sooners' starter. "And the range of motion, I had to change how I held the ball. "In the offseason you put in the work to be prepared, and I had a belief because of the work, and the work it didn't matter," he said. "I don't want to say it got taken away from me, but physically it wasn't the same." With Mateer averaging over 300 passing yards and nearly 50 rushing yards per game through Oklahoma's 4-0 start last year, he quickly became the Heisman favorite by late September. He broke a bone in his throwing hand in OU's win against Auburn, though, that hindered him for the next month. Oklahoma went 2-2 in October, with losses to Texas and Ole Miss, as Mateer completed just 58% of his passes while barely rushing the ball (36 yards on 35 carries). As his health improved, the Sooners finished the regular season on a four-game win streak to earn a home game in the first round of the College Football Playoff. While Mateer didn't put up the same numbers he managed in non-conference play, he did average nearly 200 passing and 50 rushing yards in November. Mateer, who should again be a Heisman contender if he stays healthy, said he's less focused this year on the individual awards and more concerned about getting back to the CFP. "There's a lot of personal opportunities here at Oklahoma playing quarterback, and I don't know if I was thinking too much about those, and then I got to the peak, and God was like, 'No, that's not why we're doing this.' So I've been trying to scale back on the personal stuff. If it happens, it happens, but the team is what matters. You taste the playoff. That's what I want. You get it and they can't take it away from you. It means so much to so many people." Mateer said he cringes when he looks back at October film, but he's been working this offseason on the discipline of his steps, his timing of the progressions, and working through his reads. "It's being a year better," he said. Oklahoma coach Brent Venables told ESPN he believes there's enough talent on the team for the Sooners to win every game they play -- and it starts with a healthy Mateer. "I just think we're going to be a lot better around him," Venables said. "And to his point, it's hard to throw a football consistently or down the field, push it or throw it with the velocity when he can barely squeeze it." Oklahoma offensive lineman Eddy Pierre-Louis said his locker is next to Mateer's, and that he noticed him struggling "a little bit last year," but that it made Mateer tougher. "He's in a good mindset," Pierre-Louis said. "He knows what he needs to do now to get to where he needs to be at and a lot of people talk about his injury, but I see a lot of toughness from him. That's someone I want to go play with. That's my guy. That's someone you know is putting their body on the line. That flipped a switch in my head as well. That made me want to go a lot harder in the stuff I do and try to be a leader and become that dude he wants me to be as well."