AUBURN | Jackson Arnold entered the transfer portal after a tumultuous season at Oklahoma that included a benching at halftime of game four and a midseason change at offensive coordinator.
He was looking for a reset on his career and has found that at Auburn, bringing with him two years of college experience and the maturity that often comes from going through adversity.
“You know, play the first three games, we’re 3-0, then go to Tennessee, have a bad first half and get benched,” said Arnold. “I feel like for me it was a wake-up call from God, just to kind of take a step back and root my identity in something other than the game.
“And really just go through that and just learn how to persevere through hard times, because to be quite honest it’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through my entire life, and just really being strong, being able to persevere, is something that I feel like I learned a lot last year.”
The junior quarterback has quickly fit in at Auburn, building relationships with his new teammates and jumping right into an offense that he’s already got familiarity with.
“I feel like I fit very well,” said Arnold. “That was one of the things (Hugh Freeze) told me out of the portal, too, is he knows what we did in high school and in college and our schemes, my scheme has always been very similar to what Coach Freeze runs.
“I know what he expects out of the RPO system, and just his system in general. I feel like, for me coming in, it was big because all these plays I’ve ran before. They were just called something different. So I was able to pick up the offense really quick and be efficient early on with decision-making and accuracy.”
Arnold has also stepped into a much-needed leadership role with the offense. He helped organize workouts with the wide receivers before the start of spring and has developed a close bond with freshman Deuce Knight, the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster this spring.
“Since Day 1 we got in we came in working and been on the field constantly getting extra catches in, extra throws in. Real cool guy, brings a lot of energy. He's a spark on our team,” said wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., who transferred from Georgia Tech during the offseason.
Arnold believes this is the best spring he’s had in college and part of the reason for that is AU’s talented group of receivers, which is includes returning standouts like Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons, and new additions such as Singleton, Horatio Fields and Sam Turner.
“Absolute studs. I’m surrounded by dudes. It makes my job a lot easier. All I’ve got to do is just distribute the ball to them,” said Arnold. “You can go across different receivers and say different things, but I’d say overall the catching radius is unbelievable. I feel like Cam’s caught like the most one-handed balls I’ve ever seen before in my life.
And obviously Eric and Malcolm are just extremely fast. Extremely shifty. I feel like throwing to Eric and Malcolm is like throwing routes on air sometimes. They’ll just blow by some people.”
Auburn will conclude spring drills with the A-Day practice and autograph sessions at noon CT on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Admission is free. There will be an alumni flag football game at 11 a.m. and Tiger Walk at 11:30. The autograph session will take place after the practice.
