It’s not going to be easy. That’ll do for the opening statement. All eyes are on Jackson Arnold in Auburn after a disastrous stint at Oklahoma under Brent Venables. Now, he’s trying to rewrite his story in orange and blue under Hugh Freeze. But a major uphill battle awaits.
247Sports’ Brad Crawford dropped his post-spring SEC Football power rankings that have Auburn at No. 12. That’s behind Missouri but ahead of Arkansas and Kentucky. Not exactly a confidence booster, right? But here’s where it gets spicy because they’re make-or-break is going to heavily depend on Jackson Arnold. “Hugh Freeze has the finest collection of talent at the wide receiver position in the SEC,” Crawford wrote. “But Auburn needs elite production out of former Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold and a rebuilt offensive line to improve during the 2025 season.” Note the word “elite,” for that’s where things get murky.
Tom joined Kyle Rush in a Friendship Friday episode on The Barn on May 2 to break down Brad Crawford’s “elite” keyword. What does it take for a QB to be called elite in terms of passing yards, completion rate, and touchdowns? Or in this case, what should Jackson Arnold rack up to be considered elite to lead Hugh Freeze’s squad to a winning season? “From my history and what I’ve seen in the past, 3,000 yards would be an elite,” Tom stated. He also added a 65 percent completion rate and 35 TDs to be considered an elite category.
Kyle agreed with the passing yard and completion rate mark. However, he toned down the TD expectations to 25. And then he asked, “Do you think it would actually require that type of production for Auburn to achieve let’s say nine-ish wins, nine, ten wins?” Tom confidently stated, “Nine no. 11 yes.” And would that lead to a national championship conversation? Let’s not forget, Auburn’s coming off a 5-7 season, but there’s some hope.
Jackson Arnold is joined by fellow new faces in the QB room with Ashton Daniels and true freshman Deuce Knight. The O-line’s getting a lift too with the return of key players like Dillon Wade, Jeremiah Wright, and Connor Lew, and new additions from USC transfer Mason Murphy and Virginia Tech’s Xavier Chaplin. And with WRs like Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, and Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton in the mix? This team should cook. But here’s the problem: the Tigers’ new QB1 isn’t coming in clean.
Jackson Arnold’s plight under Brent Venables
Jackson Arnold was the guy for Brent Venables at OU. A savior-type. And what happened? Ten starts. 12 touchdowns. Just 1,421 passing yards. He got benched for three games midseason for true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. Had his redshirt burned in a panic move by the defensive-minded HC, who pulled him back in for the final five games of the season. The whole thing was a mess.
Even former Auburn player and ESPN’s Cole Cubelic chimed in with a brutal truth bomb based off a conversation with Greg McElroy on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning show. He recalled his co-host saying, “The thing that you need to think about that I don’t think you think about is it’s hard playing quarterback for a defensive-minded head coach.” Meaning? With Venables, it’s all about not screwing up, not letting it rip. That’s a QB’s confidence killer. As Cubelic put it, “Would Lane Kiffin ever say anything like that to a quarterback? Lincoln Riley, with Steve Sarkisian in their last dying days ever, say something like that to a quarterback? H— to the no! You know what it’s like, ‘hey man, let it rip. Hey boy, go get it.’” And that mindset showed. Jackson Arnold was playing scared, not free, definitely not a recipe for success.
But well, Jackson Arnold is getting a fresh start. A better system under a new HC. Real weapons. But the pressure? It’s still sky-high. We’ll see what happens.
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