Brent Venables raves about early impression of Jackson Arnold

During a recent sit-down interview on The Number One College Football Show, the Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Brent Venables gave his assessment of the state of his program heading into year two. Along with examining his program, Venables took some time to rave about his early impression of offseason recruiting acquisition Jackson Arnold.

“He loves to work. He’s a great teammate. He responds well to adversity. He’s got that focus about him where he doesn’t get too high or too low,” said Venables. “He’s very consistent with his approach to the game and the work that it takes, and he learns from his mistakes. He plays with great anticipation. He carries himself with a strong presence. He’s got great toughness to him. Players like him because he’s willing to learn from others (and) he’s not too full of himself. That he (does) not lack the humility to learn from other people. He’s got all the intangibles that maybe some guys don’t, but a good one to do. And again, he knows he’s not where he needs to be, or he wants to be, but he knows he’s not where he was. So he’s just getting incrementally, you know, improving.”

Arnold played high school football at Guyer High in Denton, TX, where he was a five-star prospect. He was the no. eight overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Position-wise, Arnold was the no. four-ranked quarterback prospect in his class.

More from Venables on Arnold

As Venables continued, he highlighted how he and his coaching staff are helping Arnold adjust to the game at the college football level.

“He believes in the improvement process. To progress, it’s plant, cultivate and then reap a harvest. But you can’t get out of that order: plant, cultivate, reap a harvest. And so we try to break up the year into different segments so that our guys don’t get overwhelmed with the burden of expectations. That’s our job as a staff and certainly how we run our program day-to-day. But he’s bought into that. He’s a great fit for that type of daily focus, a daily focus of improvement.

“Yesterday’s dead; tomorrow’s unborn. You control the controllable. So one day at a time. Giving it everything you got. Jackson, you just focus on showing up with the right mindset and do your best. Stay locked in, stay focused. If it’s the weight room, it’s nutrition, if it’s the classroom, if it’s the locker room with teammates, if it’s the practice field, if it’s a walk-through — whatever it is — you be intentional and purposeful in that moment and do your best. And your best should be your trademark and the focus is to be the best. The best is a byproduct of everybody in the organization’s focus on showing up and doing their best at Jackson has been the epitome of that.”

During spring practice, Arnold showed more than just a glimpse into the Sooners’ future at quarterback; he showed a ton of promise. And that earned him the opportunity to go against and take snaps with the Oklahoma ones. Venables has loved what he’s seen from his freshman quarterback early in his time on campus. And if his spring is any indication of what the future at Oklahoma will look like, the Sooners might be set at quarterback for the next few seasons with Arnold.