Auburn's Jackson Arnold Among Nation's Most Impactful Transfers

Few had high expectations for the Oklahoma transfer coming into this season, mostly due to his lackluster performance with the Sooners, barring one game where he and the unranked Sooners took down Alabama, almost solely due to Arnold’s rushing attack.

Olson acknowledges this, though he also provides some interesting insight into why Arnold may have struggled so much at Oklahoma, and why he’s doing so much better at Auburn.

“Arnold absolutely needed a fresh start and a clean slate by the end of his first season as Oklahoma's starting quarterback,” Olson wrote. “He played in an offense that lost all of its top receivers to injuries, fired its OC after seven games and gave up an FBS-high 50 sacks. He was benched during his first SEC start, was a backup for a month and was then brought back in to start. It would be extremely difficult for any QB to build confidence and play with consistency under those conditions.”

This would certainly explain Arnold’s lack of production at Oklahoma, and Auburn, who seems to be strong everywhere Oklahoma was weak–offensive line, receivers, even coaching–was the perfect place for Arnold to flourish both as a runner and as a passer.

"Obviously, each game has it’s own flavor when you get into it and you figure out the way people are trying to play you. You certainly want to be wise and doing what is going to be effective or what has the best chance at being effective provided you can block them and win routes and things," head coach Hugh Freeze said Monday of Arnold's performance against Ball State. "I thought he had a really solid night, truthfully, and looking forward to improving upon it moving forward.

He’ll have a chance to continue to improve his game and statistics this Saturday at 11:45 a.m. CST back at home against South Alabama.

More From Auburn Tigers on SI