STILLWATER, Okla. — Milling about the press box at Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday was a New York Giants scout. He was easy to spot. It’s hard to hide when you’re wearing a pullover with a Giants logo on it.
While there weren’t as many scouts at Oklahoma State on Saturday for the Cowboys’ 42-28 win over the UCF Knights as they were for the Oregon game a month ago, they were there to see quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who stock is steadily rising on the back of a four-game winning streak.
In just the last week ESPN’s NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid called Mestemaker his top ranked quarterback prospect for next April’s NFL Draft. David Pollock, who hosts his “See Ball, Get Ball” podcast, told the Brandon Walker College Football Show that is Mestemaker’s last name was Manning he would be the No. 1 pick in the draft this year.
Mestemaker put together a great performance against UCF, throwing for 304 yards and two scores. It only added fuel to his rising NFL Draft stock.
Drew Mestemaker Knows Scouts are Watching
It’s not like Mestemaker is blind to what’s going on. It’s hard to escape the noise. But he told reporters on Saturday that he’s not paying attention to it and knows that the best thing he can do is to keep doing what he’s doing — winning.
“It’s cool to hear but at the end of the day we have to keep taking it one week at a time,” Mestemaker said. “You can’t get caught up in that because if we start losing, I’m not going to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. So that’s not my goal. It’s not what I’m set on. I’m just trying to win games.”
Mestemaker, a redshirt sophomore, leads the Big 12 with 315 passing yards per game. He’s thrown for 1,575 yards and 13 touchdowns in five games, along with five interceptions. The only quarterback in the conference with more passing yards than Mestemaker is Arizona’s Noah Fifita, who has 1,756 yards in six games and is averaging 292.7 yards passing per game. He’s thrown for 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Mestemaker put himself on the map last year as he threw for 4,379 yards and 32 touchdowns with North Texas last year. The former walk-on was the American Conference offensive player of the year and won the Burlsworth Trophy as the best player in the country who started his career as a walk-on.
His head coach, Eric Morris, has consistently praised Mestemaker’s processing ability and decision-making, which looks tailor-made for an NFL offense. Secretly, Morris would love to have Mestemaker in Stillwater for another season.
But his play may make that impossible. The good news is that Mestemaker knows what will raise his profile — winning. And that’s exactly what the Cowboys want on Saturday against Houston.
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