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Oklahoma State football QB Drew Mestemaker might be elsewhere if not for Miles Coleman
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- Oklahoma State football QB Drew Mestemaker might be elsewhere if not for Miles Coleman
STILLWATER — Miles Coleman looked at the screen of his ringing cell phone.
It was his best friend, Drew Mestemaker .
They'd been friends since they were 5, a bond forged on the football field long before they ever arrived at Oklahoma State . But being teammates for more than a decade, Coleman had signed with North Texas while Mestemaker was planning to walk on at Sam Houston State.
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But when North Texas made a late walk-on offer to Mestemaker, Coleman had laid on the sales pitch, texting and calling and pleading with Mestemaker.
After about a week, Mestemaker was calling Coleman.
"I'm going to North Texas," Mestemaker told him. "We're gonna play together."
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Coleman's response?
"I was screaming," he said, with a laugh. "I was jumping around."
Mestemaker wouldn't be a Cowboy had he not gone to North Texas — and more than likely, he wouldn't have gone to North Texas had his best friend not been there.
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If you're looking for a butterfly effect, an unlikely piece of the rebuilding puzzle at OSU, this is it.
"It's crazy to think about, honestly," Coleman said Tuesday as OSU prepares for its Big 12 opener Saturday at West Virginia .
Now, Coleman, who caught his first touchdown pass as a Cowboy last week against Murray State, admits that Eric Morris' Air-Raid-influenced system undoubtedly had a lot to do with Mestemaker's decision to choose North Texas over Sam Houston.
But …
"Then just being able to play again with your best friend," Coleman said, "I mean, it's hard to deny that."
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After the 2023 football season, Coleman and others believed for months that Mestemaker was headed to Sam Houston. His high school coaches at Vandegrift in Austin, Texas, knew some of the assistants at Sam Houston, and even though Mestemaker hadn't started a Vandegrift varsity game at quarterback, the coaches vouched for him.
Sam Houston gave him a walk-on spot.
And Mestemaker was excited about it. K.C. Keeler was then the head coach at Sam Houston, and he had a track record of finding unheralded quarterbacks, then getting the most out of them. He was the head coach at Delaware in 2005 when Joe Flacco transferred there after getting stuck down the depth chart at Pitt.
Three years later, Flacco was a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
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Flacco just needed a chance.
Maybe the same was true of Mestemaker.
But while he was training in the Metroplex after his senior season at Vandegrift, North Texas decided to take a look at him. Quarterbacks coach Sean Brophy liked what he saw, and soon, he and Morris called Coleman to pick his brain about Mestemaker.
"Just get some background and what type of human being more so than playing football and what kind of kid he was, what kind of person he was," Morris said.
Coleman's assessment?
"This is a guy you want on the team," Coleman remembers telling them. "He's a special player. He's a team player. He'll do anything you want for the team to win, and he's a talented quarterback."
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Coleman knew they didn't have a lot of film showing Mestemaker's talent, but Coleman assured them it was there.
"I knew he had the talent from the get-go," he said.
Morris and Brophy ultimately offered Mestemaker a walk-on spot, and at that point, Coleman turned his sales pitch on Mestemaker.
"I wanted to get him there so bad," Coleman said.
"We were texting back and forth that whole week Coach Brophy and him were talking. I was always texting him. He was texting me updates and everything."
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Oklahoma State 's Justin Bowick (0) celebrates a touchdown with Miles Coleman (1) in the first half of the college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and Murray State Racers at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Sept., 19, 2026.
So, Sam Houston walk-on or North Texas walk-on?
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Similar mid-major programs.
Similar distance from home.
In the end, Mestemaker chose North Texas, and as they say, the rest is history.
What swayed him?
"Just to be able to play with your best friend at the next level is a dream," Coleman said.
And he didn't just mean that for Mestemaker.
"Just having him as my quarterback, too," Coleman said, "it's really a dream come true."
Coleman, now starting alongside Mestemaker at OSU, is one of four receivers with double-digit receptions and more than 100 yards receiving this season. He is one of the quarterback's favorite targets.
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No surprise there.
That's been the case since they were 5, and 15 years later, nothing has changed.
Well, the crowds are a bit bigger, the stakes a bit higher, but for the best friends who are roommates, too, they can't help but marvel at how they have walked side by side through so many stages of football.
"It's crazy to think about," Coleman said. "But I think it's just a blessing and just the opportunity to play with Drew and just see his success has been amazing."
Mestemaker said, "It was awesome to continue our journey together."
They had no way of knowing it would take them to Stillwater. Playing Power Four football? Helping to resurrect a downtrodden program? Maybe even authoring a fairytale turnaround this season and doing it together?
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"I'm just blessed to be in that situation," Coleman said.
He had no way of knowing what these past few years would bring when Mestemaker called and said he was going to North Texas instead of Sam Houston.
Coleman just wanted to play ball with his best friend. Ditto for Mestemaker.
Now, they've got a chance to do that and then some.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football QB Drew Mestemaker might be elsewhere if not for Miles Coleman
