Auburn Star QB Jackson Arnold Under Fire For Throwing Shade at Oklahoma

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Alec Musa | Last updated Apr 15, 2025 3:37 PM ET

In the era of NIL and loosened transfer portal rules, it's not uncommon to see once highly recruited quarterbacks playing on a second, third, or even fourth team. Auburn football star signal-caller Jackson Arnold is no exception. Among the five-star quarterbacks in the 2023 class, only Texas' Arch Manning is with his original school.

Arnold bounced from the Oklahoma Sooners football program this offseason after a two-year run, staying in the conference and heading to Auburn. Late last week, Arnold went viral for expressing his reasoning for departing Oklahoma.

"You know, play the first three games, we're 3-0, then go to Tennessee, have a bad first half, and get benched," said Arnold about the adversity he faced while playing with OU that led to his transfer to Auburn.

Oklahoma went 3-0 in non-conference play, with Arnold totaling nine touchdowns against two interceptions. However, a 7-of-16 for 56 yards and an interception first-half performance led to Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables switching to true freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins for the final two quarters. OU lost 25-15.

Fans quickly jumped on Arnold following his reveal, bashing the former OU signal-caller for his turnover issues that led to his benching:

Bro barely won the “free” 3 games at the start of the season. And proceeded to get EMBARRASSED against an actual team, your benching was deserved bro.
— Jagger (@Jokl_X) April 15, 2025

Man you're talking like you didn't turn the ball over FOUR TIMES in the Tennessee game LMFAO... ️ pic.twitter.com/6tImzdoPNC
— Monty Sisco (@MontySisco1) April 15, 2025

That first half wasn’t bad, it was horrific. He also didn’t set the world on fire in those previous 3 games either. He was pretty terrible all year
— Braxdan Turner (@FBCoachBT12) April 15, 2025

“bUt I was 3-0!!!!” pic.twitter.com/eEzuFpuZwE
— Boomer (@Run_Away_Riley) April 15, 2025

"a bad first half" lol
— NW (@nightwatchman76) April 15, 2025

That first half in Tennessee was one of the worst I've seen any OU qb have. Multiple terrible turnovers right after the defense forced hard earned ones.
— Chris L (@CzarKassim2) April 15, 2025

3-0**** this is his passer and QB ratings on the right for games against Houston and Tulane. He was progressively worse week to week, and both games against far inferior opponents hung in the balance. THEN he cost us Tennessee in 1H and got benched pic.twitter.com/xtJDutLIb2
— Kyle Dahlgren (@kyledahlgren) April 15, 2025

Turning the ball over in both plays immediately after our defense gets a turnover was honestly impressive. I feel like if I tried to be bad at football I couldn’t have even drawn that up.
— Austin (@Austin405bpm) April 15, 2025

Jackson is a turnover machine. Auburn will find that out sooner or later.
— Dathan Markle (@damark98) April 15, 2025

He threw a screen into the ground.
— Mac Allisters right foot‍ (@kody_ocean) April 15, 2025

Oklahoma would eventually turn back to Arnold following elongated struggles from Hawkins. Arnold finished the year with 1,421 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions. He also rushed for 444 yards and three touchdowns.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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