Jackson Arnold's Auburn Debut Earns Him Weekly QB Honor

Jackson Arnold’s Auburn Tigers debut proved to be an award-winning performance. He received the first Davey O’Brien Great 8 of the year. The award is given to the best eight quarterbacks following each week of college football, and Arnold was the very first on the list.

Arnold is joined by Miami’s Carson Beck, USF’s Byrum Brown, Tommy Castellanos of Florida State, Utah’s Devon Dampier, Garrett Nussmeier of LSU, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and AJ Swann of Appalachian State.

Arnold posted an impressive 137 rushing yards on just 16 carries. Notably, Hugh Freeze stated most of his carries were designed option plays, meaning he was able to make the right reads more times than not– as well as two touchdowns with his legs, both from more than 20 yards out.

Additionally, the Oklahoma transfer posted 108 passing yards on 11 completions, good for an average of 6.4 yards per completion. Though those stats aren’t quite as impressive as his rushing numbers, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze stated that he and Arnold were doing simply whatever was necessary to win the game– we’ll likely see much more impressive passing numbers from Arnold soon, especially with such a stacked receiver room.

In a way, this week put him on the radar for the end-of-year Davey O'Brien Award. Arnold wasn't among the 36 quarterbacks named to the watch list.

Arnold's performance helped improve the fortunes of the team overall. ESPN gave Auburn a 97.9% chance to be bowl eligible this year following the win over Baylor. Additionally, Arnold’s Tigers are officially statistical favorites against rival Alabama, due in part to Arnold’s performance against the Bears, which was the obvious difference in the game.

However, there are a lot of games seprating Auburn from the Iron Bowl and a regular bowl that could change these projections in a hurry. For the time being, it's a good sign for what could be to come.

Arnold is showing that the change of scenery has been beneficial to him. He's got a win under his belt, and that should help grow his confidence going forward.

He’ll continue his comeback tour this coming Saturday at home against Ball State for Kickoff on the Plains, which will be played at 7 p.m. CDT and broadcast on ESPN. He'll also have a game against South Alabama to tune up further before his homecoming in Norman, Okla., on Sept. 20.

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