Jackson Arnold will be better for Alamo Bowl experience

Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell wasn’t concerned about easing his true freshman quarterback into the game. Jackson Arnold threw the ball on the Sooners’ first three plays of the game.

They weren’t straight dropbacks as the Sooners dialed up the run-pass option on the first play of the game and a play action naked bootleg on the second. On his first straight drop on 3rd and 10, Arnold threw a good ball to Drake Stoops, but Arizona safety Genesis Smith drove on the ball and through Stoops to intercept the pass.

It was Arnold’s first interception of his career and first in a game in which the Sooners had six turnovers. In total, Arnold had three interceptions and a fumble.

Despite three first half turnovers, the Sooners took a 14-13 lead into halftime, thanks in large part to a tremendous defensive effort, but also because Arnold settled in and found his stride.

It wasn’t the start that everyone had hoped for as the Sooners ultimately fell 38-24, but it was a game that revealed a lot of positive things about the Sooners’ quarterback.

Brent Venables on Arnold mental makeup

It would be easy to get down on Arnold after this performance, but the head coach is still bought in on his young quarterback. He sees the work Arnold puts in.

“This is a strong dude that’s very process-driven,” Venables said of Arnold after the game. “He’s very committed. He’s relentless with his work ethic, and he’ll bring out the best in everybody. He’s a great leader and incredibly skilled.”

The intangibles are there. You can’t simply write off the performance, but if you’re only looking at the turnovers, you’re not appreciating the good things Arnold did in the game.

“He had some phenomenal moments tonight and gave us a chance going into the fourth quarter having a chance to win,” Venables said.

Yeah, that fourth quarter got away from him and the Sooners, but it shouldn’t erase what he and the offense were able to accomplish in the second and third quarters.

He responded well after a shaky first quarter and gave the Sooners a chance.

More: 5 Takeaways from the Sooners loss to Arizona

There was a lot to like

Jackson Arnold showed off the tools that made him one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2023 recruiting cycle. The tools that made Oklahoma comfortable with him being their backup quarterback to Dillon Gabriel this season.

The arm strength is there. The accuracy is as well. The intangibles are there. After not playing much throughout the course of the season, it’s no surprise that it took him a bit to get settled in. It’s also not surprising that he got fooled on a few plays.

True freshmen are going to have some growing pains, but having this experience, both the good and the bad, will serve him well as he prepares for 2024.

More: Social media reacts to the Sooners 38-24 loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl

Throwing Darts

There were a lot of really nice throws by Jackson Arnold on Thursday evening. Whether it was in the RPO (run-pass option) game or more pure dropbacks, Arnold threw some great balls.

The throw to Nic Anderson in the back corner of the end zone as Arnold was going to his left was incredibly impressive. That’s a high degree of difficulty throw that he put in a place only Nic Anderson could go get it, and Anderson made an incredible play on the ball.

And then there was the throw to Brenen Thompson at the beginning of the second half. It was a rocket. But as impressive as the arm strength was, so was the ball placement.

As the Sooners leaned more on their RPO offense, it relied on Arnold to throw the ball a lot. And while the interceptions are something he’ll have to eliminate going forward, he was throwing a very accurate ball. The interceptions weren’t a matter of poor throws but either cause he was late or the Arizona defensive back simply made a great play on the ball.

Sooners Leader bought in on Jackson Arnold

The culture of the Sooners is strong. The team dynamic is a supportive one. As Jackson Arnold was heading off the field following his disappointing first start as the Sooner’s quarterback, Oklahoma’s defensive leader, Danny Stutsman, offered words of encouragement to his young quarterback.

He echoed those sentiments in the postgame.

“It’s obvious,” Stutsman said. “Jackson is a baller, and we have full faith in him. First career start, he played his heart out. Every time he takes that field, I have so much confidence in that offense and everything that they do. I love him to death… Oklahoma has his back. That entire locker room is with Jackson, and this changes nothing.”

Danny Stutsman is the most important voice in the Sooners locker room now that Dillon Gabriel is at Oregon. Stutsman going to bat for his quarterback in the immediate aftermath of the game will set the tone for the rest of the locker room.

An important learning experience

“Those mistakes were on me,” Arnold said in the postgame press conference. “I’m going to take the full blame for that. I’ve just got to be better. I thought they (OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley) put me in great positions to win tonight, and lack of execution was the problems that we had tonight.”

Sometimes in life we have to learn the hard lessons. Things aren’t always going to be simple. Thursday night in San Antonio provided a lot of learning moments for Jackson Arnold, Brent Venables, Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finley, and the Oklahoma Sooners.

There was a lot of adversity for Oklahoma’s true freshman quarterback in the Alamo Bowl. But he battled. And through it all, will have an opportunity to learn from the things that didn’t go well.

As for what he learned through it all.

“I’d say just to battle through adversity,” Arnold said. “Our team chaplain this morning, that was the main focus was battling through adversity because it’s going to strike at some point and it did tonight. Obviously, there’s things that went bad tonight, but just learn to keep my head up and keep playing through it no matter what is something I take away from the night.”

Arnold has the mental makeup to not let this game get the better of him but to let this game make him better.

As he learns and develops, we’ll look back on this game as a “false start” to what will be a fantastic Oklahoma Sooners career.

Arnold talks about how his experience as a freshman at Denton Guyer when he was forced to enter the Texas 6A state championship game helped mold him into the quarterback he is today. Well, this is another experience that will help forge the future for a player that will end up having a fantastic career at Oklahoma.

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Story originally appeared on Sooners Wire