Drew Mestemaker’s Preseason Media Tour Continues—And He Reveals Who Else Wanted Him in the Portal

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Drew Mestemaker might be Oklahoma State's starting quarterback. But this week, he might also be the busiest man in college football media.

After appearing on ESPN's College Football Live and Barstool's Blut Talks Ball, Mestemaker popped up on the Brandon Walker College Football Show.

And this time, Oklahoma State's new quarterback revealed a little more about just how interesting his transfer portal recruitment became.

We're talking Michigan, Oregon and LSU. Not exactly a bad group to have calling.

Mestemaker Reveals His Other Options

Mestemaker told Brandon Walker he didn't actually speak with a massive number of programs after entering the portal. But his agent helped narrow things down to a pretty impressive group.

“Really, the schools that were interested were like Oregon. LSU was on there. Michigan was in our radar.”

Mestemaker also mentioned Texas Tech as having some level of interest before saying he ultimately made his decision relatively quickly.

That's noteworthy. Oregon. LSU. Michigan. Texas Tech.

And Mestemaker ultimately ended up at a program coming off a 1-11 season.

Of course, we know why. Eric Morris.

This Makes His ESPN Comments Even More Interesting

This actually connects perfectly with what Mestemaker said during his ESPN appearance.

Remember, Mestemaker acknowledged that he wanted to hear from other programs because he'd never experienced being recruited before.

After barely playing quarterback in high school and walking on at North Texas, he finally had schools pursuing him.

These weren't just random offers. We're talking about some of the biggest brands in college football.

Mestemaker had earned that attention after exploding for 4,379 passing yards, 34 touchdowns and only nine interceptions last season at North Texas.

But after finally getting his chance to listen? He still followed Morris to Stillwater.

Michigan Might Be the Most Fascinating

Michigan's involvement is particularly interesting. The Wolverines already had former five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, who started during the 2025 season and remained in Ann Arbor through the program's coaching change.

Yet according to Mestemaker, Michigan was still on the radar during his portal recruitment. That tells you how highly his breakout season was viewed.

Oregon eventually added Dylan Raiola, while LSU landed Sam Leavitt. Texas Tech initially landed Brendan Sorsby before that situation unraveled.

Mestemaker? He chose Oklahoma State.

From Unrecruited to Blue Bloods Calling

That's what continues to make this story remarkable. Mestemaker went from essentially not being recruited out of high school to becoming the FBS passing leader.

Then the portal opened. Suddenly Oregon was interested. LSU was interested. Michigan was interested. Texas Tech was involved.

The kid who never got to experience recruiting finally had some of college football's biggest programs looking his way.

And after all of that? He picked the coach who helped get him there.

Final Thoughts

Mestemaker's preseason media tour is giving us quite a bit of material.

ESPN gave us the why behind his Oklahoma State decision. Now the Brandon Walker College Football Show gave us a better idea of what he potentially turned down to make it.

Michigan. Oregon. LSU. Possibly Texas Tech. Those aren't insignificant alternatives.

Mestemaker had finally become the quarterback everybody wanted. But instead of chasing the biggest logo or starting over somewhere else, he chose familiarity, development and his relationship with Morris.

The guy nobody recruited suddenly had blue bloods interested. And he still chose Oklahoma State.

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