Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel Says Jackson Arnold is 'A Great Dude' and Will 'Be Just Fine'

The Sooners' new quarterback already has an appreciation from his teammates as well as his position coach as he's been with the team for two months and two practices.

NORMAN — Two days into spring practice of his freshman year, Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold is impressing his teammates.

But not necessarily with his powerful arm, his mousetrap release or his pinpoint accuracy.

“More than his game,” starting QB Dillon Gabriel said, “I just like the type of person he is. I think it takes that type of person to be a quarterback — you know, super selfless, loving, caring. And that’s what we need. Not me guys, but we guys.”

That persona has already reached beyond the quarterback room.

“Yeah man, he’s a good dude,” said running back Gavin Sawchuk. “He’s a nice dude. He’s a servant. He’s a leader. Natural born leader. You can see how he cares about everybody on the team. You can see that in the locker room, in the film room, anywhere. He’s just a good dude.”

“He’s a great dude,” Gabriel added. “I got to host him and obviously I’ve built a relationship with him through his recruiting process. Just a great family. Know the mom, know the dad. Met the dogs. He’s just a good dude.

“And physically, he’s got everything he wants to do. Just learning. You know, freshman things. He’s gonna be just fine.”

Arnold has all the tools, arriving as one of the top quarterback prospects in the nation out of Guyer High School in Denton, TX, a 5-star, blue-chip, All-American, can’t-miss — but now he has to learn how to be a college quarterback. Someone of Gabriel’s even-keel demeanor, someone who’s been a starter in each of his four years of college football, would seem to be an ideal teacher for the Sooners’ young prodigy.

“Yeah, I mean, it looks like a great dynamic,” Sawchuk said. “I mean, Dillon’s a great leader. I know Jackson came in here as a talented guy, highly recruited. But I think it’s great for him to come in and spend time under Dillon and have Dillon show him how to do it, be a leader in that sense. Same way Eric (Gray) was for the running back room (last year), you know, lead by example and see how it’s done, see how to carry himself like a professional and really get the job done here at the college level.”

There’s also the academic side — not school, per se, but learning the playbook, learning how to call projections, learning how to read defenses. He’s been hard at it all semester, cramming what he can into two months before spring practice began. Ultimately, though, that’s something that can only come with time on task.

“You don’t have one-on-one football meetings nonstop like we do right now with him,” said offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeff Lebby, “so the fact that he’s come in and he’s picked everything up and he’s worked incredibly hard … he’s spent a ton of time in the building on his own. He understands what it means to be the guy here and understands what it is going to take for him to get to that point. He’s spent a lot of time and has done a good job in there, which has been good to see.”

Gabriel remembers what it was like as a true freshman at Central Florida, when starter McKenzie Milton missed the entire year after a knee injury in 2018 and Gabriel  suddenly won the job and found himself in the fire. Here was a kid from the Islands now playing college football on the other side of the world, where he thought he was just going to be a freshman backup but ended up starting all 13 games.

Arnold, who graduated high school in December and enrolled early, might feel like he's on that kind of fast-track. But he can take his time and learn at an appropriate pace, Gabriel suggested.

“You think about a freshman who’s 18 years old, really should be in high school — they’re juggling a lot of things,” Gabriel said. “A lot of people don’t put that in perspective. We’re playing at a high level, but he’s also 18. So he’s learning, he’s growing, and you’ve just got to take that into perspective.

“He’s got school, he’s got a relationship, he’s got family, he’s got football, he’s got a lot going on — which is obviously what we sign up for — but it’s just something to think about. A lot to put in perspective. He’s doing a great job, and he’s doing just fine, but he’s a stud. Love the kid.”