Brent Venables announces decision on benching Michael Hawkins for Jackson Arnold in second half vs Texas

Oklahoma has struggled on offense on Saturday, not producing much against Texas in the Red River Rivalry. Michael Hawkins made history by being the program’s first-ever true freshman to start in the game but has not been able to produce much. This led to questions about who should be out there, wondering if Brent Venables should make a change.

ESPN’s Laura Rutledge asked Venables if Hawkins would be the guy coming out of the locker room and the answer was a quick one from the Oklahoma head coach. Hawkins will remain the Sooners quarterback moving forward, even getting a positive review from Venables.

“Yeah, he’s done okay,” Venables said.

Offensive issues have been the theme of the Oklahoma season, no matter who has been in at quarterback. Saturday has been no different, only putting three first-half points up against Texas despite good field position early in the game. Even ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit was calling for a change to be made, citing Jackson Arnold being a better downfield thrower of the two.

Just 10 pass attempts for Hawkins, with six of them being completed. His 51 yards have not been great but if there is good news, no interceptions have occurred from the true freshman quarterback.

Venables will see if his decision pays off right away, getting the ball back to start the second half. In his eyes, turnovers have been a much bigger deal for the Oklahoma offense. That and tackling Texas runners when in open space.

“I’m just going to start over,” Venables said. “We’ve got to take care of the football. We’ve got to tackle. Got to get those two things cleaned up, see if we can make it a ball game.”

A big comeback is going to be needed from Oklahoma if they are going to retain the Golden Hat. Fortunately from them, we have seen this type of scenario as recently as 2021 when a Lincoln Riley quarterback change to Caleb Williams produced a historic win for the Sooners.