North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker set a college and an American Convention document by throwing for 608 passing yards within the Imply Inexperienced’s 54-20 win over Charlotte on Friday evening.
Mestemaker’s passing yardage complete is the Tenth-highest single-game complete by an FBS quarterback since 1995, based on Stathead. He’s now considered one of solely 15 FBS quarterbacks to throw for at the least 600 yards in a recreation within the final 30 years. It’s also the very best single-game passing yardage complete of the 2025 season, based on TruMedia, passing the earlier excessive of 457 yards set by Hawaii’s Micah Alejado on Sept. 27 in opposition to Air Power.
Mestemaker’s efficiency marked the primary 600-yard passing efficiency by an FBS quarterback since Oct. 17, 2020, when UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 601 yards in opposition to Memphis.
It additionally marked the continuation of an unlikely rise for Mestemaker, a redshirt freshman who wasn’t the full-time beginning quarterback at his highschool and had his final full-time beginning quarterback job as a highschool freshman.
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The previous walk-on made his first profession begin for North Texas in December, throwing for 393 yards in a loss to Texas State within the First Responder Bowl. This offseason, Mestemaker beat out Miami switch Reese Poffenbarger for the beginning job going into 2025 and threw 11 landing passes and no interceptions in his first 5 begins.
Mestemaker threw 4 landing passes on Friday in opposition to the 49ers and is now as much as 2,468 passing yards and 21 landing passes with 4 interceptions this season. Coming into Friday’s video games, solely seven FBS quarterbacks had thrown for two,000-plus yards this season.
Mestemaker is the newest of a protracted line of proficient quarterbacks recruited and/or developed by North Texas head coach Eric Morris. Whereas head coach at Incarnate Phrase, Morris recruited and signed Cam Ward, who gained the Jerry Rice Award, which matches to the highest freshman within the FCS. Ward later transferred to Washington State, the place Morris grew to become offensive coordinator, and Miami, the place Ward was a Heisman Trophy finalist and eventual No. 1 draft decide.
Morris additionally recruited John Mateer to Washington State and helped Chandler Morris lead the American in passing yards and touchdowns final season. Mateer and Chandler Morris are each quarterbacking top-25 groups at Oklahoma and Virginia, respectively.
Friday’s win improved the Imply Inexperienced to 7-1 total and stored them in competition for a berth within the American Convention title recreation. Three groups (Navy, USF, Tulane) are unbeaten in convention play and North Texas is tied with Memphis and East Carolina with one convention loss.
Mestemaker’s efficiency will proceed to lift his profile amongst Energy 4 convention applications which may goal him within the switch portal in January ought to he determine to enter. After his first three begins, at the least one SEC crew had Mestemaker atop its checklist of potential portal targets, based on an agent briefed on that crew’s technique.
North Texas basic managers Raj Murti and Steve Keasler informed The Athletic not too long ago that their aim is to lift sufficient cash to make a seven-figure supply to Mestemaker after the season to attempt to retain him. A typical Energy 4 beginning quarterback in 2025 makes round $1 million.
