Drew Mestemaker

#17 · QB · R-So. · Oklahoma State6′3″ · 215 lb · Austin, TX · Vandegrift

ZPR797th of 119 QBsLast gameL 49–51at Iowa State · Oct 31
Nextat Kansas StateSat Nov 7 · 1 pm ET

Graded Solid or better in each of the last two games.

Last game: L 49-51 at Iowa State, Oct 31 · 27 of 42 for 323 yards, 5 touchdowns, an interception · 4 carries for 16 yards. Started all eight of Oklahoma State’s games.

Oklahoma State’s next game: at Kansas State, Sat Nov 7, 1:00 p.m. ET · TNT

Oklahoma State is 5-3 in the eight games played. A playmaker.

Strongest: 9.4 yards an attempt, 14th best of 159 starters.

Passing yards

2,649

184 of 281, 65%

TD–INT

25–7

9.4 per throw

NCAA rating

169.0

13th of 119

ZPR

79

7th of 119

How ZPR works

One rough passing grade, at Tulsa.

  • 300 or more passing yards in the last seven games.
  • 1-1 against ranked teams, 341 passing yards a game.

Best by our grade: at West Virginia. Lowest: at Tulsa, with 2 interceptions and sacked 2 times. Biggest game: Oregon, No. 6. Best play: Completion for 7 yards, touchdown, at Iowa State, Q4 0:53. Win chance 47% to 82%.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Dashed outlines on the Season row are last season’s average. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Playmaker

Also: explosive runner, big-play arm

Why this word
Runs3.0 a gameRarelyA lot
Throws8.5 yards past the lineShortDeep
Completes64% by play-by-playFewerMore
Takes sacks2% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws at a middling depth and runs some. 3.0 carries a game. Closest matches: Minicucci, Belin, Clark ’25, Brown.

Where the throws go

Behind the line19%typical 17%
Short42%typical 47%
Middle25%typical 22%
Deep13%typical 14%

Runs 3.0 times a game; 67% of starters run more.

Closest in style

MinicucciBelinClark ’25BrownThis QB

Nearer the middle means more alike.

  • Minicucci Delaware · Chain-mover
    1,477 yards, 14 TD, 4 INT so far. Both hit big plays and score a lot.
  • Belin Missouri State · Balanced
    1,071 yards, 8 TD, 4 INT so far. Both score a lot and hit big plays.
  • Clark ’25 Missouri State 2025 · Balanced
    3,244 yards, 28 TD, 11 INT. Both hit big plays and rarely run.
  • Brown Georgia State · Chain-mover
    1,356 yards, 14 TD, 5 INT so far. Both avoid sacks and score a lot.

Compared with the 159 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 220 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

  • RecordOklahoma State is 5-3.
  • Fans after Iowa State

    This d/st does not deserve to have a quartback like Mestemaker.

    Oklahoma State fan

What’s being said

6 stories this week, from 6 outlets.

Oct 30: 1Oct 31: 1Nov 1: 1Nov 2: 1Nov 4: 2L 49-51 at Iowa StateLOct 30Nov 5Most in a day: 2
Oct 30: 1Oct 31: 1Nov 1: 1Nov 2: 1Nov 4: 2L 49-51 at Iowa StateLOct 30Nov 5Most in a day: 2
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

NFL scouts favor Drew Mestemaker as first QB taken in draft

ESPN Oct 31

All 182 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Drew Mestemaker was first-team All-AAC in 2025 at North Texas.
  • Drew Mestemaker had 109 rushing yards in the 39-31 win over No. 6 Oregon, the best game of the season so far.

The most important play this season

  1. Q4, 0:53 · Oklahoma State down 6, takes the leadDrew Mestemaker finds Wyatt Young for a 7-yard touchdownOklahoma State at Iowa State, week 9Q4, 0:53 · Oklahoma State 49, Iowa State 480:53Go-ahead touchdown for Oklahoma State with 0:53 left0:53Go-ahead touchdown for Oklahoma State with 0:53 leftGo-ahead touchdown for Oklahoma State with 0:53 leftD.Mestemaker pass complete short middle to W.Young caught at ISU11, for 7 yards to the ISU00 touchdown, kick goodWatch from this playCFB ON FOX

All 18 plays on video

Drew Mestemaker

QB · Oklahoma State · #17

Filling the Shoesas of Nov 5

9.4 yards per attempt ranked fourth among qualified QBs last season, yet the national conversation on Mestemaker stays unsettled.

2,649passing yards25passing TD166rushing yards

9.4 Y/A · QUALIFIED QBs

No.4

#4 YPA at 9.40 among qualified QBs.

Read the story so far

Mestemaker posted 2,649 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and a 9.4 yards-per-attempt mark that ranked fourth among qualified QBs in 2025, after inheriting the job from Zane Flores. One national Reddit thread slotted him first among Big 12 quarterbacks. A separate projection ranked him a top-20 NFL draft prospect. Yet the Golden Arm watch list left him off entirely, and the discourse never coalesced into consensus.

The 2026 season is the first real referendum on whether those numbers were a floor or a ceiling.

QB successionleap of faith
  • Inherited fromZane Flores 3★

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-05