{"id":10812,"date":"2026-04-21T16:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/oklahoma-state-football-qb-drew-mestemaker-shows-chemistry-trust-built-with-new-wrs-the-oklahoman\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:44:19","slug":"oklahoma-state-football-qb-drew-mestemaker-shows-chemistry-trust-built-with-new-wrs-the-oklahoman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/oklahoma-state-football-qb-drew-mestemaker-shows-chemistry-trust-built-with-new-wrs-the-oklahoman\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma State football QB Drew Mestemaker shows chemistry, trust built with new WRs – The Oklahoman"},"content":{"rendered":"

STILLWATER \u2014 The 98-yard touchdown pass<\/a> from Drew Mestemaker<\/a> to Chris Barnes in Oklahoma State\u2019s<\/a> spring game on Saturday will be the fuel that feeds Cowboy fans\u2019 excitement into August.
But the inner workings of the perfectly executed play were reason for even more enthusiasm, because it reveals the trust and understanding that has already begun to build within the offense.
From the quarterback\u2019s spot in the shotgun formation, Mestemaker read the defense and knew what Barnes was going to do.
Aligned as the outside receiver on the right side of the formation, Barnes read the defense exactly the same way and knew what he was supposed to do \u2014 then he did the exact opposite.
More: <\/strong>Inside new Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris’ Cowboys spring game debut<\/a><\/span>
\u201cI thought he was gonna shut it down at 5 yards and we were gonna take 7 yards and run out of bounds,\u201d Mestemaker said with a smile. \u201cAnd then he just kept going and ran past everyone. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019ve got a guy like him that can take the top off the defense.\u201d
Basically, if the cornerback is backing off from the snap rather than pushing up on Barnes, he\u2019s supposed to stop the route for the easy throw-and-catch underneath the coverage.
\u201cI felt like with my speed, I got on him kind of quick,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cHe was bailing, but I was like, \u2018No, I\u2019m just gonna keep running.\u2019 I just trusted Drew with the ball and he threw it.\u00a0
\u201cFor other guys in that moment, they probably would\u2019ve stopped. But I trusted my speed and Drew\u2019s arm.\u201d
Mestemaker is a humble player with an unassuming personality, but he\u2019s serious about football, and moments like the 98-yard TD are an example of the work he\u2019s put in since arriving in January.
More: <\/strong>A full-circle Oklahoma State football journey has Skyler Cassity wearing orange again<\/a><\/span>
\u201cI\u2019m happy with where we are, but I think we know we gotta clean some stuff up,\u201d Mestemaker said. \u201cWe got big goals for this year. We\u2019re obviously not where we need to be or want to be, but I think we\u2019re still playing really good football.
\u201cHaving guys transfer in, and the coaches we have bringing them up to speed really quickly, at that point, it\u2019s just learning what they like and how I see things \u2014 communicating that to them. It\u2019s gone pretty quickly, I think, adjusting to new guys I\u2019m throwing to.\u201d
Football is football, but so far, the fan support in Stillwater has trumped what Mestemaker experienced at North Texas.
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely been crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s the life you dream of as a kid, and it\u2019s what you work for every day. The support, everywhere you go. I\u2019ll go into Walmart to get dinner for the day, and you\u2019ve got people saying, \u2018Good luck this year,\u2019 or whatever. And it\u2019s just awesome to feel that support everywhere you go.\u00a0
\u201cIt\u2019s kinda weird getting recognized. I feel like I\u2019m just a normal guy that plays football. So, it\u2019s a little weird, but I don\u2019t feel any type of way about it.\u201d
Scott Wright<\/em><\/a> covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at <\/em>swright@oklahoman.com<\/em><\/a> or on X at <\/em>@ScottWrightOK<\/em><\/a>. Support Scott\u2019s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing <\/em>a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com<\/em><\/a> or by using the link at the top of this page.<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STILLWATER \u2014 The 98-yard touchdown pass from Drew Mestemaker to Chris Barnes in Oklahoma State\u2019s spring game on Saturday will be the fuel that feeds Cowboy fans\u2019 excitement into August.But the inner workings of the perfectly executed play were reason for even more enthusiasm, because it reveals the trust and understanding that has already begun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}