Before reinventing himself as Oklahoma State's scintillating star quarterback and a top NFL Draft prospect, Drew Mestemaker was once rated by scouting websites as a 'zero-star' recruit out of Austin, Texas' Vandegrift High School. 

And 'recruit' may have been too strong of a word at the time. He'd won a state title, but did so as a safety, punter and backup quarterback, who never once started a game under center. 

Despite a dearth of experience, Mestemaker's desire to play the position in college drove him in 2024 to study under Jeff Christensen, a former Eastern Illinois signal caller who played five NFL seasons before becoming one of the preeminent quarterback gurus in the country.

Former first-overall pick Baker Mayfield and three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes have trained under Christensen, but Mestemaker was a different sort of pupil. For starters, his high school career was already over. But more perplexing for Christensen was Mestemaker's 'live arm.'

'So, who are you and why did you not play [quarterback] in your senior season [of high school]?' Christensen asked Mestemaker at his Texas camp, as the coach recalled to the Daily Mail. 'He told me they had picked a quarterback who was a good athlete, they had a really good team, went to the state championship.'

Asked by Christensen why he didn't transfer somewhere he could start at quarterback 'like 95 percent of everybody' at the position, Mestemaker offered a thoughtful response – one that perfectly contrasts him with this generation of pampered prospects.

'He said: "Well, Coach, I was never going to leave my best friends in high school for football,"' Christensen recalled. '"You know, we had a great team. It was a blast going to the state championship. I figured if the quarterback thing was going to work out, it was going to work out. And then I found my way to you [Christensen], and hopefully now I can get a chance somewhere and make it work out."'

Mestemaker's words were pure poetry to Christensen, who'd grown jaded by the growing number of transfers across all levels of amateur football.

These days, Christensen explained, when a player is denied the position or playing time they think they deserve, the typical response is to retreat – not compete.

'In this world we live in now, with the transfer portal, make millions, switch [colleges], switch high schools, you got kids in grade school, parents leaving New York and moving to Texas because of grade-school football.

'I'm like, are you crazy? Let your kid compete and let him get beat out [for a position] and then wake up on Wednesday and let's see if he wants to go back and play catch. Find out what the kid's passion is a little bit. Let the kid go through some conflict and see what his resolve is.'

Mestemaker's resolve was never in question with Christensen, nor was his arm strength or accuracy for that matter. What did surprise Christensen was Mestemaker's capacity for improvement.

Like Mahomes years earlier, Mestemaker wasn't perfect, but he didn't lose focus, get discouraged or repeat mistakes.

'They just have a way of learning from the bad and then not repeating it,' Christensen said of the two. '[Mestemaker's] facial expression doesn't change; his heartbeat and pulse don't change. Just the look in his eyes is about the only thing that changes. He gets a real distant look in his eyes, and he gets that little glazy stare.'

The more Christensen worked with Mestemaker, the more he realized the budding quarterback 'concentrates at a level that's even higher than normal,' which is what helped make him more 'resilient.'

The bad throwing habits he brought to Christensen's camp are now a distant memory for Mestemaker, whose eyes have proven to be every bit as good as his arm.

'His biggest improvement is his processing of information, his vision, understanding defenses,' said Christensen.

And Coach wasn't the only one who noticed Mestemaker's rapid improvement. Christensen's acquaintance and then-North Texas head coach Eric Morris couldn't help but marvel at the in-state product overlooked by every other local college.

'[Mestemaker's] first summer camp, when [Morris] was there, Eric looked at me and said, "You know, he's pretty damn good,"' Christensen said.

That camp helped Mestemaker join Morris with the Mean Green as a walk-on fifth-string quarterback in 2024. By season's end, he was starting in the First Responder Bowl and passing for a whopping 393 yards in a loss to Texas State.

A year later, Mestemaker was a scholarship player and one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country, albeit against North Texas' limited competition. Nonetheless, he led the country with 4,379 yards, 34 touchdowns and a 68.9-percent completion rate as the Mean Green finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time in program history.

Inevitably, college football heavyweights offered lucrative NIL deals to entice Mestemaker to transfer, which he did. Only instead of signing with the coaches who'd ignored him years earlier, Mestemaker joined several North Texas teammates in following Coach Morris to Oklahoma State.

'With all of his teammates, he had earned the right to transfer,' Christensen said, defending Mestemaker's decision as an act of loyalty to his friends and coaches. 

Now, against tougher competition, the redshirt sophomore enters Saturday's game against Kansas State ranked first in the country with 25 touchdowns and second with 2,649 passing yards for the 5-3 Cowboys. And with the exception of a season-opening loss to Tulsa, Mestemaker has passed for more than 300 yards in each game this season.

The NFL has taken notice.

With Texas quarterback Arch Manning enduring an up-and-down season in Mestemaker's native Austin, the Oklahoma State sensation has supplanted Peyton and Eli's nephew atop NFL mock drafts. A recent ESPN survey of 25 NFL decisionmakers found 17 who said Mestemaker would be the first quarterback drafted in April's draft, provided he leaves school.

'Mestemaker seems like the only real choice at this point,' one league scout told ESPN's Pete Thamel.

ESPN draft guru Todd McShay agreed, saying Mestemaker would be the first quarterback picked if he declared this spring. 

For now, the 2027 quarterback class is not seen as particularly promising. Manning, another of Christensen's pupils, could also decide to remain in school next season, leaving April's NFL Draft particularly light at the position.

Such a thin quarterback class could present an opportunity for Mestemaker to fly up draft boards and compete for the No. 1 spot, which should pay around $66.7 million over four seasons.

But Mestemaker's decision is unlikely to be dictated by cash. He's currently reviving a once-dormant Oklahoma State program that might compete for a College Football Playoff berth in 2027 if not this season. And for someone who treasured a Texas state high school championship, the chance to win an NCAA title with Morris and his buddies might be too good to pass.

'He's just a transparent kid,' said Christensen, who doesn't know what Mestemaker will ultimately decide. 'He doesn't play games. He doesn't try to be cool. He doesn't wear cool clothes. He doesn't talk tough and act tough. He's just a real person who loves the game of football.

'But more importantly, I think what I've cared about most is his deep loyalty and maturity and sense of honoring friendships along the way and protecting them,' Christensen concluded. 'And I've become very close with him now, and it's all built on respect and trust. He's quite a person.'