Former Oklahoma Sooners starter is involved in a starting battle that’s playing out into the season, and it doesn’t look good
The Oklahoma Sooners once had quarterback Jackson Arnold on their team, but now he’s in a quarterback battle at UNLV with Alex Orji.
Just a few years ago, the Oklahoma Sooners had one of the best players in the 2023 recruiting class: quarterback Jackson Arnold. The former five-star signal-caller and Gatorade Player of the Year was supposed to be the next great quarterback at Oklahoma, a program that breeds the position.
Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts. The list goes on. Fans were right to assume a former five-star recruit would be the next big thing under center in Norman. It just didn’t happen. Now Arnold finds himself at UNLV under head coach Dan Mullen, and reports suggest the former Sooners quarterback still hasn’t locked down a starting job. According to a national college football reporter, Arnold and former Michigan quarterback Alex Orji are expected to share snaps in Saturday’s opener against Memphis.
Arnold’s winding path from Norman to Las Vegas
Oklahoma fans remember the excitement surrounding Arnold heading into his sophomore season. He played just seven games as a freshman during the Sooners’ first year in the Big 12, but that final start against Arizona gave everyone a glimpse. He could run it, he could throw it, and the future looked bright. The first year in the SEC was supposed to be his arrival.
It never materialized. Oklahoma was terrible that season. The roster construction wasn’t great, the team dealt with significant injuries, and the offense was among the worst in the conference. Arnold struggled at times, but it wasn’t all on him. The offense has gotten marginally better since his departure, which tells you Arnold wasn’t the only problem.
Arnold transferred to Auburn, where things started promisingly enough before falling apart. The Tigers tried to build around him with a run-heavy, RPO-style offense because he wasn’t consistent throwing the ball. He finished with 136 completions on 215 attempts across 10 games. Auburn was arguably a better team when Ashton Daniels took over down the stretch.
A quarterback competition at UNLV isn’t a great sign
This offseason, Arnold landed at UNLV with Mullen, the former Florida and Mississippi State head coach who has a reputation as a quarterback developer. If anybody could fix Jackson Arnold, the thinking went, it’s Dan Mullen.
Maybe. But splitting snaps in the season opener doesn’t scream “fixed.” That situation isn’t normal. Sure, it happens from time to time, but how often does it happen with a guy who was supposed to be the next great college quarterback, a former 5-star recruit? Both Arnold and Orji have played football in major conferences, but playing in big conferences and playing at a high level are two different things.
This could work out well for UNLV as a program. Having two capable quarterbacks with Power Four experience gives Mullen options. But for Arnold specifically, a timeshare is not the outcome anyone projected for him coming out of high school.
You want to see the kid win
The Oklahoma fan base remains split on Arnold. Some feel he never had a fair shot given the circumstances around him. Others saw enough on the field to know his ceiling had a cap. Regardless, you kind of want to see the kid succeed. He’s been through a lot, and a good chunk of it wasn’t his fault.
Hopefully, when Arnold does take the field against Memphis on Saturday, he shows out and puts himself back on the map. The talent has always been there. It’s about putting it all together, and UNLV’s opener will be the next chance to see if that finally happens.
