The biggest storyline of the week for the No. 22 Auburn Tigers, who are heading to Norman to open up SEC play with the 11th-ranked Sooners, will be Jackson Arnold’s return to the sidelines of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
As had been discussed ad nauseam throughout the offseason, Arnold, a former 5-star recruit and National Gatorade Player of the Year, made his way to the Plains after signing with the Sooners in the 2023 class.
Arnold will return to Norman on Saturday for the first time since his departure and will lead a 3-0 Tigers squad into the state of Oklahoma for the first time ever. With the Sooners, he passed for 1,421 yards and 12 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2024, playing in 10 games with nine starts.
There’s no doubt it will be a sentimental moment for Arnold, but he’s made amends for what happened during his tenure at the helm of the Sooners’ offense. He’ll be met with boos, perhaps some cheers. He’ll reunite with former coaches and teammates. He’ll encounter scenes that resonate with him from the past.
But when the lights come on, Arnold will handle himself like the professional his head coach sees him as.
“He's a pro. We all understand that. People might cheer for him and boo him, whatever it is, but I think he's mentally strong, and it is more about preparing,” said Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze.
Saturday may be a first for the 6-foot-2 gunslinger, in that he’s never played against a team that once meant so much to him – at least at this level. However, fortunately, his head coach has some experience in this regard and can offer some guidance on how to manage the intensity of the situation.
While at Liberty, Freeze took an outmanned squad into Vaught Hemingway Stadium, where he got his first gig as a head coach in the SEC – a place that certainly had some nostalgic value to him.
“I've had to go back in a place where I enjoyed coaching and won some games, and that whole week, it was a challenge for me not to think about some of that,” Freeze said. “I know the same will be true for Jackson, but he's very mature, and he doesn’t give any credit to any noise or talk.”
“My advice to him has been, ‘Just keep the focus on our team.’ And that was my advice to myself: it's not about you, it's not about me. It's about our team preparing to go in and play,” he later added.
Arnold’s outlook for the 2025 season seems to be on an upward trajectory just three games into the season.
His debut in orange and blue, returning to his home state of Texas, was one for the record books. He was named SEC Co-Player of the Week after rushing for a career-high 137 yards on 16 carries, good for 8.6 yards per carry. Additionally, he became the first Auburn quarterback since Cam Newton to rush and pass for 100+ yards in their debut, and his 137 rushing yards were the most by an Auburn QB since Nick Marshall rushed for 214 yards at Tennessee in 2013.
He ranks sixth in the SEC in completion percentage with a 69.5% mark through three games. He tossed it for 251 yards in his first game under the lights in Jordan-Hare Stadium, and he ranks ninth in the nation in QBR (quarterback rating) with an 86.7 grade.
It’ll be a week filled with emotion, social media antics and outside noise for the Tigers’ field general. It would certainly be easy for a 21-year-old to let the stakes of such a big week loom large in his mind.
But Arnold isn’t like most his age. It’s about the team and worrying about what he can control.
“I’m not on social media, so no noise for me,” Arnold said after Auburn’s 31-15 win over South Alabama. “Just worried about going to practice every day and being the best version of myself. Off the field, watching tape, watching OU. Just locking in and doing my job throughout the week. It's a job for us. We'll be going every day and attack it and (trying) to make every day my best day.”
Kickoff in Norman is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and will be broadcast on ABC.
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