CBS Sports Analyst Questions Jackson Arnold's Impact with Auburn Tigers

After Bo Nix left Auburn and became a 1st-round pick for the Denver Broncos, Arnold's ability to provide that same impact for Auburn came into question

Don't get to crazy about the expectations for Arnold when comparing him to a former Tiger / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold will presumably be the starting quarterback for the Auburn Tigers in 2025. However, how he’ll fare in a new environment remains to be seen. 

On Josh Pate’s College Football Show, a fan asked if Jackson Arnold would be Auburn’s version of Bo Nix for Oregon. Nix was Auburn’s starting quarterback from 2019 to 2021. He was an OK quarterback at Auburn. After that, he transferred to Oregon for his fourth and fifth years of eligibility and popped off. He was a first-round pick (12th overall) by the Denver Broncos in 2024.

This was the long way of asking Pate if Arnold would have a big year with a new program and finally live up to being the top-10, five-star recruit in the country. 

Pate wasn’t so sure but not because of Arnold’s ability. It's partially because Arnold has something to prove. But it also has to do with Auburn’s ability to set Arnold up for the same success the same way Oregon was able to for Nix. 

“My question is is Auburn going to be Oregon?” Pate said. “Is Auburn going to provide the same environment? Is he going to have the same supporting cast? The same quality of coaching staff? Meemaw always to me a five-star seed is worthless if you plant it in crappy topsoil.” 

Auburn is coming off a very different season than Oregon was the year the Ducks got Nix. The Tigers went 5-7 last season, the Ducks finished 10-3 in 2021 and were in the Pac-12 title game. So, Arnold has a bigger leap to make. However, Pate believes that Auburn has no reason not to take a big step forward in year three of the Freeze regime.

“In today’s college football with all the roster reconstruction mechanisms at your disposal and how well-resourced Auburn University is, you have no excuse to suck in year three...it’s not like we’re banging on the door demanding them to be in Atlanta when the dust clears in December. But they better be a lot better than they’ve been the last couple of year.” 

Pate still leaves quarterback as a question mark. Even with Arnold’s promise, they still don’t know what they have until he goes out there and plays.  

In theory, Arnold should already have the pieces he needs. Auburn has had a top-10 recruiting class the last two seasons. He has Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons as top wide receiver options. 

But until proven otherwise, Pate concluded that he doesn’t expect Arnold to be what Nix was to Oregon. He’d be happy if Arnold was 70% of what Nix was at Oregon. 

Arnold played in 17 games during his time with the Sooners. He completed 62.9% of his passes for 1,984 yards and threw 16 touchdowns to six interceptions.

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