Brent Venables addresses Jackson Arnold benching, what's next for Oklahoma QB

After benching quarterback Jackson Arnold in the loss to Tennessee, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables shared what he expects to see from him in the future.

In place of Jackson Arnold, Brent Venables inserted true freshman Michael Hawkins into the game at quarterback. Now, it appears as though there’s going to be a quarterback controversy in Norman. Still, Venables is confident in Arnold’s future.

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“Jackson’s going to have an amazing future and career,” Brent Venables said. “He’s going to play this game a long time and all of that will work itself out in due time.”

Still, Brent Venables has shared that he will start Michael Hawkins instead of Jackson Arnold for Oklahoma’s next game against Auburn. That will be the first game that Hawkins ever starts during his college career and he’ll be tasked with getting the Sooners offense rolling in SEC play.

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Just a sophomore, Jackson Arnold came to Oklahoma as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Rating. With that has come massive expectations on Arnold and expectations that he’ll thrive at the college level.

In the Tennessee game, Arnold did struggle. Completing just 43.8 percent of his passes for 54 yards with an interception. That gave him three interceptions to go with seven touchdowns on the season and a total of 538 passing yards. Meanwhile, the offense had more success once Michael Hawkins came into the game for Oklahoma as he threw for 132 yards and a touchdown.

As Venables leads Oklahoma deeper into conference play, he knows the schedule is going to get more difficult and finding the right quarterback is key to doing that. So, Hawkins is getting the opportunity moving forward as the Sooners prepare to take on Auburn.

For his part, Michael Hawkins was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2024 and the 18th-ranked quarterback overall in that cycle.

Brent Venables explains decision to bench Jackson Arnold

At the time when Brent Venables decided to bench Jackson Arnold, he explained the thought process behind it to ESPN’s Holly Rowe. She then shared the logic on air.

“Brent Venables said that turnovers were a big factor on why he made a quarterback change in the first half and he is going to stick with the true freshman Michael Hawkins here in the second half,” Rowe said.

“He said it was the turnovers but also stuff has to run on time in our offense. We have timing plays, things that have to happen and it just wasn’t on time. He also said the turnover margin is a big factor. They’re up one for Tennessee. That’s unusual for OU.”