Following a series of subpar seasons, the Auburn football team is in dire need of a turnaround and has its eyes set on Jackson Arnold, the erstwhile five-star transfer from Oklahoma. National pundits such as David Pollack have referred to Arnold as “Auburn’s biggest question mark,” indicating the pressure placed on him to energize a program that has experienced bowl losses and disappointments accumulate. Even with his obvious skill, Arnold’s Sooner squads achieved 1421 yards passing and 12 touchdowns rushing in Norman, but they simply could not get it done, posting a 5-6 mark when he started.

Jackson Arnold’s return to Auburn immediately altered the atmosphere on The Plains. Ever since Arnold arrived on campus in January, you knew something was building, particularly with Hugh Freeze now calling the shots offensively. All of a sudden, Arnold had a loaded receiver corps around him, guys such as Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, and Perry Thompson, along with a couple of transfer playmakers, all set to make some noise. But the question is, why did he go?

Arnold was elite coming out of Oklahoma, a top ten national prospect, with MVP awards, highlight reels throughout Texas. But at OU, he was working within a system formed by defensive genius Brent Venables, a man who prioritized not turning the ball over. Arnold deconstructed this on the McElroy & Cubelic show. “I’m not going to say that’s the reason anything happened last year,” Arnold says on the show. “But like, that is an accurate statement. Defense, like the coaches, thinks differently. [And] for an offensive head coach, you think differently from a defensive head coach.” For a quarterback like Arnold, coming from a situation where he was throwing to backups and battling through offensive inconsistency, Auburn is a reset, a chance to finally let loose and be himself again.

In Oklahoma, the message for the offense, especially the quarterback, is always loud and clear: don’t put the ball in harm’s way, control the clock, and if you have to choose between taking a shot or avoiding a risky throw, you protect the ball all day. The host states, “And it makes perfect sense because you think about Hugh Freeze or Lane Kiffin or Steve Sarkeesian, their mindset is going to be the total opposite, that like attack, attack, attack, go.” With Freeze, you see Auburn sending receivers deep every few plays, keeping defenses off-balance and always threading the defense with unpredictable calls. Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss is famous for turning every game into a track meet, regularly going for it on fourth down, and piling up 600-yard performances by refusing to let his foot off the gas.

Steve Sarkisian at Texas lets his quarterbacks rip it, turning to downfield throws, fast tempo, and never hesitating to exploit mismatches. This translates to the playbook and even the quarterback’s mentality. He further added, “he [Venables] was big on protecting the ball. Coach V was big on the turnover margin and things like that. And I didn’t even hear what that was like, what you just talked about, until you just told me. And it is accurate. It’s an accurate statement. Um, coaches think differently. It’s just part of the game.” Assuming a head-coaching role after being a long-time defensive coordinator is never a promotion; it’s an entirely new game, and Brent Venables’ Oklahoma tenure is a case study on just how rough that ride can be.

The adjustment has been rocky, and nobody’s experienced those ups and downs more than Jackson Arnold. As the top recruit in Texas, a consensus five-star, Arnold was supposed to power OU’s offense into the SEC era.. But instead of handing him a clear runway, the Sooners’ staff jerked him around. Starting, redshirting, then starting again, all in less than a season. This inconsistency on offense, something with which defensive coaches with a learning curve often struggle, directly spilled over into Arnold’s development. Arnold never established stability with three offensive coordinators within twelve months, a gutted offensive line, and receivers dropping like flies. And now, at Auburn, he feels the liberty.

Why Hugh Freeze set his sights on Jackson Arnold

“I, like everyone else, wanted him, thought he [Arnold] was super talented,” Coach Freeze says during SEC media days. Hugh Freeze motivated his recruitment of Jackson Arnold in the portal by the belief that Arnold had a unique blend of talent, grit, and fit, just what Auburn required to kick-start its offense and stabilize its quarterback position. He adds, “And there’s a reason he was Gatorade Player of the Year and a five-star quarterback. And so you see all of that, and then you go in your mind, too, okay, the lack of production at Oklahoma has to be, you know, at least dealt with in your mind.”

Freeze wasn’t simply staring at box scores; he looked back even further, remembering Arnold’s award-filled high school career and national top 10 overall recruit ranking. Freeze also knew, though, why Arnold’s numbers out of Oklahoma didn’t jump off the sheet. The sophomore was thrust into one of the SEC’s worst situations. Oklahoma’s offense was decimated by injuries, losing its leading six receivers for stretches, and dealing with a patchwork offensive line all year. Those losses contributed to stagnation in Norman, and before long, Arnold found himself sitting on the bench behind a true freshman.

To some coaches, that kind of year would be a cause for concern, but Freeze saw something else: grit and resilience. He noted how Arnold played his best, and toughest, football during Oklahoma’s signature victory against Alabama, where he went 81% on his passes and battled for 131 rushing yards, keeping the Sooners alive drive after drive, even if the stat line didn’t blow up. What sealed it for Freeze was how Arnold meshed into his scheme. Freeze has long sought a quarterback who’s more than a passer, but a playmaker, intelligent, athletic, and capable of managing the creativity and pressure cooker of an SEC offense.