Pete Thamel, Rece Davis react to Oklahoma benching Jackson Arnold
Oklahoma made waves this week when it benched starting quarterback Jackson Arnold against Tennessee and coach Brent Venables came out pretty brutally honest about the reason why.
Simply put, Arnold was missing some simple reads and checks within the offense that must be made. It was putting the Sooners behind the 8-ball before plays started and had a chance to develop.
A couple of ESPN insiders chimed in on the benching, as well as Venables’ handling of it.
“I’m always appreciative of insight, right?” Pete Thamel said on the College GameDay Podcast. “Because one of the things about covering football that we all have to acknowledge is we don’t know what’s happening on every play, right? We can understand it’s an RPO, we don’t know the reads, we don’t know everything going forward.
“So I appreciated just the forthrightness of that, and I think it was Venables’ moment of honesty, and I don’t know if this was calculated. He threw the ball backwards and there’s no backwards option, so we should be moving forwards was basically the way I read it.”
ESPN’s Rece Davis also weighed in, saying he too was a fan of the way Venables handled things with Jackson Arnold.
“I also appreciated the honesty. Found it very insightful,” Davis said. “It changed my judgment of what I was questioning. (I thought), ‘You’ve got to ride with this kid, let him play through it.’ But there are times when you get to the point if you’re making that type of mental error at that position that maybe it is time to change. It’s really fascinating, because the first thing everybody started talking about immediately afterwards, how’s that game different if Dillon Gabriel‘s the quarterback at Oklahoma?”
The offseason transfer of Gabriel to Oregon left Oklahoma in a bit of a bind, though it was one not many in Norman, Okla., really chose to sweat. Arnold was the heir apparent and had really flashed at times.
Of course, things haven’t played out that way so far.
And the scrutiny now placed on Jackson Arnold is fair game, in the eyes of Thamel.
“Look, I’m never going to tell guys not to be interesting or not to be insightful,” Thamel said of Venables. “I think we’ve evolved here, Rece, to where it used to be don’t criticize the kid, criticize the coach, five years ago. I just think we’re beyond that now. I don’t know how much money Jackson Arnold makes, and I don’t really care, but if you are an SEC starting quarterback, you’re probably in the neighborhood of seven figures, and if you’re not performing and the coach wants to justify why he pulled you, please, let us know. That’s where I sat with that.”
Davis concurred.
“I didn’t think it was unfair ripping,” Davis said. “I think it was sort of what I was trying to get across was that it was a different reaction from me. Not that it was wrong. Just because wow, he actually told us the whole thing. You knew it was bad plays, but it looked like, in the moment, it looked like a physical error that he threw the ball backwards and he short-hopped it and then if I understood his description right, that’s not really where he needed to go. After he missed the one read, you can’t do the second one too.”
For the time being, Jackson Arnold will work on making those improvements while Michael Hawkins helms the offense.
Oklahoma is back in action this weekend against Auburn, with a game that kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET from The Plains. The game will be broadcast nationally on ABC.