Awesome Story – Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker Went From Not Starting A Single Game in High School To Making $7.5M In The Transfer Portal (After One Year Of Quarterbacking)
There's a lot of money in college football. Has been for decades. For the longest time, the NCAA managed to keep that money completely out of the hands of those who made that money possible – the players. But NIL has changed all that. Schools are now willing to throw millions of dollars at quarterbacks for nothing more than a single year of quarterbacking. Sometimes the million-dollar quarterbacks have proven their ability to play D-I FBS college football at a high level – i.e. Carson Beck.
Sometimes schools take wild swings on prospects straight out of high school, based primarily on potential, before they've ever faced a real defense – i.e. Bryce Underwood.
Oklahoma State transfer QB Drew Mestemaker falls somewhere in between those two examples. But the way he ascended the college football quarterback ranks and earned his millions from Oklahoma State is nothing short of inspiring. It's a crazy example of how quickly a college athlete can go from being a complete unknown, to cashing a paycheck that will set him up for life.
For starters, I really wanted to share a clip of Drew Mestemaker playing high school football. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any. Which is probably because clips of Drew Mestemaker playing quarterback in high school don't exist. At least not many of them. Over the course of Drew Mestemaker's varsity football career, he started a grand total of zero (0) football games.
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At Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas, Drew Mestemaker (as a Junior) backed up a quarterback named Brayden Buchanan. Brayden Buchanan went on to play college baseball for the Baylor Bears.
But it appeared Mestemaker would get his chance to start in his senior season. Until a kid named Deuce Adams transferred to Vandergrift. Deuce Adams went on to win the starting job, and Drew Mestemaker spent his senior season as a backup once again. Drew was able to contribute to the team as a defensive back. He also served as the team's punter. But the man went a full high school career focusing on the QB position, and could never earn the starting job.
For the record, Duece Adams went on to commit to Louisville, where he spent two seasons on the bench before transferring to Wisconsin earlier this month.
Fast forward to the start of the 2024 college football season. Drew Mestemaker was a zero-star recruit. He enrolled at North Texas, and made the football team as a walk-on. He was North Texas' 5th string quarterback. In that position, a head coach is more likely to put his fastest receiver at QB to run the wildcat before turning the offense over to you.
But Mestemaker moved his way up the depth chart. He quickly worked his way up to 2nd string. Right back where he was in high school. Except this time, at the end of the season, when North Texas' 6th year super senior QB Chandler Morris graduated, Drew Mestemaker's coach didn't bring in a transfer to take his job. Drew Mestemaker would be starting for North Texas as a redshirt freshman in 2025. In their Week 1 game vs Lamar, he went 24-32 for 329 YDS & 3 TD's.
And from there, things went really, really, really well.
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North Texas finished 12-2. He threw for 600+ yards against the Charlotte 49ers. The redshirt freshman quarterback who never earned the title of QB1 in high school had his team one win away from making the FBS College Football Playoffs.
10 years ago this would have been an awesome story, and Drew Mestemaker would have a real shot at making NFL money in a couple of years. In 2026, one great season of G5 conference quarterback play earns you life-changing money.
This off-season, North Texas head coach Eric Morris accepted the head coaching job at Oklahoma State. Drew Mestemaker went with him. Mestemaker reportedly signed a $7.5M deal with Oklahoma State. He'll receive $3.5M his first season, and the additional $4M if he stays for 2027.
It's amazing how quickly life can change as a college football player in the modern era. Drew Mestemaker has still never faced a Power 4 conference defense. He didn't even play especially well against the best defenses he faced (South Florida & Tulane). But there are so many teams with money to throw around who are desperate for a competent QB, that one great season playing an American Conference schedule is all it takes. If Drew Mestemaker manages that money properly, he could parlay that single year at North Texas into never having to work another day in his life
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It's hard to have a better 2025 than Drew Mestemaker did. For his sake, hopefully this is just the start. Oklahoma State could be formidable this year. Some people are even predicting them to be the next Indiana. Which is an impossible standard to live up to, but there are similarities. Oklahoma State is a downtrodden program. They've got themselves a new up and coming head coach out of the G5. Much like Curt Cignetti at Indiana, Eric Morris is bringing all of his good players from North Texas with him. And with Drew Mestemaker, they've got one of the best quarterbacks in the portal.
Go Pokes.