Oklahoma HC Venables Speaks on Facing Auburn Tigers QB Jackson Arnold

Jackson Arnold transferred to Auburn after spending 2024 as Oklahoma's starter.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold is seeing a complete turnaround since transferring from Oklahoma. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala.- No. 22 Auburn travels to No. 11 Oklahoma this Saturday for a top-25 matchup, marking the first time Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold makes his return to Norman. 

Oklahoma Brent Venables, on both Tuesday and Wednesday, broke down Arnold's return to the program where he began his career.

“I think he’s the same guy. I think he’s got a healthy football team around him, and he’s having great success running and throwing, being efficient, taking care of the ball," Venables said Tuesday. "And the people around him are good, you can’t play quarterback by yourself.”

Arnold was essentially thrown into the fire last season at Oklahoma. At one point in time, the Sooners' offense was down their top five receivers on their depth chart before he was benched for freshman Micheal Hawkins Jr. He was eventually brought back into the mix when Hawkins was not performing at a high level. 

Venables is well aware that last year his team was injury-ridden.

"Well, the only thing I wish was different was being a healthy offense, football team," Venables said Wednesday when asked if there was anything he would change looking back at Arnold's time with the program. "That's it. Nothing else. A lot of it is out of your control."

While there's a familiar face on the opposing team's offense, Venables does not see a strategic advantage to facing his former quarterback.

“You know, there's a lot that you don't know because you're not with them for the last eight months,” Venables stated. “I know going from freshman to sophomore, sophomore to junior, junior to senior, man, you're playing your best ball at the end of your career. But, you know, again, Jackson's one of the most talented players in all of college football. He's got a big arm. He can run. He's got great capacity, you know, intellectually as a football player, and great leadership skills. He's been a winner his whole life. And so I don't think there's any kind of advantage whatsoever. He saw our defense every single day, so there's going to be familiarity to that. And, most defenses are, everybody's doing kind of the same stuff anyway. I don't see any advantages one way or the other."

Through three games this season, Arnold has passed for 501 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 192 yards and four touchdowns. 

Last season at Oklahoma, Arnold passed for a total of 1,421 yards and 12 touchdowns. Three games into this season, Arnold has already surpassed his rushing touchdown total from last season, in which he rushed for three touchdowns. 

At the pace he is going, Arnold is set to surpass all of his stats from last season when he was with the Sooners while also establishing himself as a potential dark horse for the Heisman Trophy.

Without a doubt, Arnold has improved since last season. His signature game this season came in Week 1 against the Baylor Bears, where he rushed for 137 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Arnold will have many more opportunities to prove his former head coach wrong, especially this Saturday. 

Auburn will have an opportunity to avenge its heartbreaking loss last year against the Sooners, where it fell 27-21 after a fourth-quarter collapse. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on ABC.