Hugh Freeze Ready to See Full Arsenal from Quarterback Jackson Arnold

AUBURN, Ala.- With another scrimmage under their belt and 11 days until the Auburn Tigers face the Baylor Bears, Hugh Freeze is notably pleased with the performance of his offense, which has been struggling during fall camp.

In particular, Freeze has had trouble evaluating Jackson Arnold’s running ability because sacks aren’t allowed in a no-contact setting with quarterbacks wearing green jerseys. Freeze was able to lean on a pretty good running quarterback for an opinion on whether Arnold would have been able to extend a play in live action.

“I asked Cam Newton (who was attending the scrimmage) that the other day because I don’t know,” Freeze stated. “Our offensive staff is frustrated when you’re in a scrimmage and you don't feel like you're getting maybe the yards that you would’ve gotten because the whistle is getting blown.

“Then you watch the film and you’re like, ‘I’m pretty confident he got out of this one’. I don't know what would've happened afterwards. I would’ve loved to have seen.”

It is important to protect your quarterback from unnecessary hits during practice if need be. However, it does create problems, as Freeze mentioned, having to limit plays and being left with the question, “What if?”

When Arnold was at Oklahoma, he displayed the ability to use his legs. Last season, he rushed for 444 yards and reached the endzone four times on 150 carries. If there is one game in particular that displayed Arnold’s ability to run, it would have to be the game against Alabama last season.

In that matchup, Arnold had 25 carries for 131 yards and passed for just 68 yards as the Sooner’s defense smothered the Crimson Tide in a 24-3 victory.

“We’ve seen enough tape to know he has that ability (to run),” Freeze said. “You see it out there. We called a few today and are still blowing it pretty quick. I have to see the film, but it looked like you’re clicking off five, six, seven yards there. Not just him, Ashton (Daniels) and Deuce (Knight) also.”

Freeze loves to have a quarterback who can use his legs. Unfortunately, Payton Thorne wasn’t suited particularly well for an RPO-based attack. Last season, Thorne had 112 carries for 283 yards, often getting brought down immediately near the line of scrimmage or in the backfield.

Arnold, on the other hand, displayed his ability at Oklahoma to make a defense pay for not being able to contain him.

Arnold will likely have a lot of opportunities in the run game, and his ability to scramble and extend plays should benefit the Tigers as well. It is hard to measure it in practice, but Freeze is still confident that his quarterback will make defenses have to gameplan with his legs in mind.