Former Oklahoma Quarterback Jackson Arnold 'Confident' Entering First Year at Auburn

ATLANTA — The Jackson Arnold experiment didn’t go as planned in Norman.

Arnold, a former 5-star quarterback, started nine games behind center for the Sooners in 2024. He finished the year with just 1,421 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions, leading OU to a 5-4 record in his start.

Arnold’s SEC Media Days affiliation is different than it was last year, as he transferred to Auburn in December.

The quarterback was one of three Tiger players to attend the media spectacle, joining offensive lineman Connor Lew and defensive lineman Keldric Faulk.

Though his year as OU’s starter didn’t live up to expectations, Arnold is confident that he’ll fit into his new program.

“I think this offseason was great for me mentally, just being in a new place, getting a fresh start, being around new people, new coaches, new players, new scenery, too, honestly,” Arnold said. “I think for me, mentally, I need to be in a new spot, to be around some other people in order to thrive. And I feel like God put me in a great position that I'm in right now.”

Arnold started the first four games of OU’s 2024 season before getting benched in favor of backup Michael Hawkins Jr. He eventually earned the job back in the South Carolina game, starting for the remainder of the season before transferring ahead of the Sooners’ bowl game.

The disappointing season followed lofty goals.

Arnold, who attended Guyer High School in Frisco, TX, was the Gatorade National Player of the Year after his senior season. He played sparingly as a true freshman in 2023 but did start the Alamo Bowl against Arizona. Arnold showed promise in that bowl loss, throwing for 362 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Long before his transfer, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze hoped to land Arnold as a high school recruit, saying, “He fit everything that I believe in doing offensively.”

Freeze admitted that he and his staff had to re-evaluate Arnold after his up-and-down year as OU’s starter. But once they did so, Freeze felt the same as he initially did about the quarterback — that he’s a can’t-miss prospect.

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“When you evaluate him, he had several different play callers, injured offensive linemen and receivers…” Freeze said. “Yet, when you pull all of his throws, I still saw that ‘there it is.’ He still has that about him.”

OU saw several key players around Arnold suffer injuries early into the 2024 season, including wide receivers Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq and J.J. Hester. The Sooners also trotted out eight different offensive line combinations in their first nine games, due to injuries and inconsistency at the position group.

Freeze believes that Arnold was dealt a bad hand during his lone season as OU’s starter. And his goal for the spring was to get his quarterback’s confidence back up.

“It was just a matter of let’s give this guy a restart and let this guy regain his swagger and confidence,” Freeze said. “I’ve seen that swagger and confidence come back pretty quickly.”

Arnold added, “I think having their respect and their trust and going out and doing what we did in the spring, I feel like the offense had a really efficient spring, which instilled a lot of confidence in me.”

Freeze admitted that Arnold told him that there was often “confusion” about his responsibilities within Oklahoma’s offense.

Keeping Arnold on the same page as Freeze and his assistants has been another emphasis for the coach before Arnold’s first season at Auburn.

“There are very, very few times he is confused on what the expectation is on a given concept, a given play, a given RPO,” Freeze said. “His decision making has been pretty dang high. He has the same skill set that he had there, but I do think he has a pretty good understanding of what we want to accomplish.”

Oklahoma and Auburn will battle in Norman on Saturday, Sept. 20. The Sooners scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter last year to win 27-21 on the road.

The game against his former team is one of several matchups on Auburn’s schedule that Arnold has circled.

“No animosity, whatsoever,” Arnold said in an interview with SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum. “I think it’s going to be a fun environment to go in and play. I really enjoy playing in that stadium.”