Auburn Daily

Auburn QB Named Top Sleeper Pick For Next Season

After transferring to Auburn, this former top-10 recruit is being projected to reach that potential

Austin Walls

It didn't work out in Norman for Arnold, but there's always a chance for him to succeed at Auburn
It didn't work out in Norman for Arnold, but there's always a chance for him to succeed at Auburn / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Auburn Tigers went 5-7 in 2024 and missed the bowl season in head coach Hugh Freeze’s second year. They lost many players to graduation, the NFL Draft or the transfer portal at its conclusion. Because of this, Freeze had to go hunting to fill many positions via the portal. One of the highlights from the portal is Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold. 

However, Bleacher Report has Arnold as one of the top impact players for next season, alongside Devon Dampier of Utah, C.J. Daniels of Miami (FL), C.J. Donaldson of Ohio State and Mark Gronowski of Iowa. 

In a sense, this prediction sees him finally live up to being a top-10 recruit in his class. It just wasn’t panning out at Oklahoma. 

During his final season at OU, Arnold threw 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He also threw for 1,421 passing yards. It likely would have been more had he not had just 246 passing attempts on the season. The sad thing is that while he had a limited amount of passing yards, he led the Sooners all season long. It also didn’t help that the quarterback was sacked 34 times throughout the season. 

He was benched for a couple games in the first half of the season in favor of Michael Hawkins Jr during the loss to Tennessee. However, Arnold earned the starting job again when his backup struggled against South Carolina and kept it the rest of the way. 

With that said, a chance of scenery could do a lot to tap into the talent scouts were all over in 2023. He certainly won’t have the excuse of not having the weapons. They now have last year’s superstar Cam Coleman, transfer Eric Singleton Jr., who is getting a lot of headlines so far and Horatio Fields ready to make a difference offensively. 

Secondly, Arnold could help Freeze prove he is an SEC-caliber coach. Freeze has yet to have a winning season since moving from Liberty a few seasons ago. Despite his success there, it hasn’t translated over onto the field yet. With Arnold, there is a chance that that could happen. 

If Arnold turns into the top quarterback that he is expected to be, the Tigers could be really scary once again. 

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Austin Walls
AUSTIN WALLS

Austin Walls is a University of Florida Sports Journalism graduate. He has covered different sports, from motorsport, professional and college football, professional and college basketball, women's basketball and hockey among others. He has spent most of his time focusing on the SEC Conference, but has spent time covering the AAC, MWC and ACC.

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