Jackson Arnold's father on Jeff Lebby closing in Mississippi State job: 'It doesn't affect him, He plays for OU'

Jackson Arnold is considered the future of Oklahoma Football. While he spent most of the year behind Dillon Gabriel, Arnold is expected to be the starting quarterback beginning in the 2024 season. His recruitment, led by Jeff Lebby, was a huge early win for the Sooners, locking down their franchise guy.

On Saturday, news broke of Lebby likely leaving Norman in favor of Starkville, becoming the next head coach at Mississippi State. With how close Arnold was with his offensive coordinator, there are naturally going to be questions about him leaving via the NCAA transfer portal.

Have no fear, Oklahoma fans. Based on comments made by Arnold’s father, he is not going anywhere anytime soon.

“It doesn’t affect Jackson,” his father, Todd Arnold, said in a text to OU Daily. “He plays for OU.”

Arnold played high school football at Denton (TX) Guyer, where he was a Five-Star Plus+ prospect. He was the No. 8 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Not too long ago, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables admitted the plan was to redshirt Arnold and sit him for the rest of the year. Already playing four games, Arnold had reached his max appearances for the regular season but could have played during a bowl game.

Things changed when Gabriel went down with an injury against BYU, forcing Arnold to play the entire second half. Arnold wound up having a major impact on the game, whether or not the stat sheet shows it. He finished with 33 passing yards on nine attempts and eight carries for 24 rushing yards.

“Great job by Jackson there in the second half with the offense, running it, throwing it,” Venables said during his BYU postgame press conference. “Great catch there by (Jahlil) Farooq to really kind of seal the game. But yeah, enough stops in the second half to kind of make the difference. We got a lot to improve on, a lot to clean up.”

Gabriel has not officially announced his future plans but the expectation is that his final season at Oklahoma has already been played. If everything went to plan for Venables, the Sooners would have gotten a great year out of Gabriel before transitioning to Arnold while in the SEC.

With the confirmation from his father of not leaving, Arnold is making sure the plan is stuck to.