Brent Venables: Michael Hawkins Will Start This Week at QB for Oklahoma

The Sooners hit the road for the first time in an SEC game at Auburn, and Venables said the true freshman quarterback did enough on Saturday night to earn the nod over Jackson Arnold.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

As expected, Michael Hawkins is the new starting quarterback at Oklahoma.

OU coach Brent Venables said Monday night on his weekly coach’s show that Hawkins will get the nod when the Sooners hit the road this week for the first time at Auburn.

“Mike will have his opportunity to run out there and be our guy and see where we're at and try to give us a kickstart,” Venables said.

No. 21-ranked OU (3-1, 0-1 SEC) visits Auburn (2-2, 0-1) at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be carried by ABC.

Hawkins, a true freshman from Frisco, TX, came in during the second quarter and replaced starter Jackson Arnold, a sophomore from Denton, TX.

After Dillon Gabriel entered the transfer portal last December, Arnold started the Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona and has had the starting job since, including throughout spring practice and training camp and in the Sooners’ first four games.

But Arnold committed his ninth career turnover in the Sooners’ 25-15 loss to No. 6-ranked Tennessee in the program’s SEC opener, and the turnovers became untenable.

Hawkins came in trailing 19-3 and sparked two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. He completed 11-of-18 passes for 132 yards with a touchdown pass and no turnovers. He had two touchdown runs that were both overturned by replay reviews. and led the Sooners with 22 rushing yards. Arnold was 7-of-16 for 54 yards with two lost fumbles and an interception.

Venables said Arnold’s story was not written yet.

“As I told Jackson, man, you had a bad moment. All right, you don't have a bad career, you know? You're just getting started. You got this amazing career sitting in front of you. And so despite what anybody else (says), every other  proclamations, you know, you're going to have some amazing moments in your future. And, you know, can't let one bad moment, a couple bad series define you. 

“And so he'll be fine. He's handled things really well. And part of my job is to make — help all these young people, you know, they're in this environment where they fail in front of the world. And they're young men, and they — look, they're big boys too, and so everybody has their own perspective.”

Venables said he tried to call Arnold on Saturday night after the game, but “his phone was off, and I was like, that's good.”

Venables said Arnold “practiced well tonight,” as did Hawkins.

“We haven't had the consistency, or the chemistry that you would like, and the cohesion,” Venables said. “… Maybe that can be a catalyst. And so we'll see about that. So Michael will start, unless there's some kind of disaster this week.” 

Hawkins has deep roots at OU. His father Mike Sr. played cornerback for the Sooners under Bob Stoops and Venables, who was defensive coordinator then. That connection is not the only reason he caught Venables and Co.’s attention, though. 

Out of Frisco, TX, Hawkins was a 4-star prospect in the 2024 class by every major recruiting service except for 247Sports, which listed Hawkins as a 3-star recruit. Rivals ranked him as the third-best dual threat quarterback in the class. He also held offers from the likes of Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska and plenty more. 

Auburn is also experiencing a quarterback conundrum right now going into Saturday’s game. The Tigers started redshirt freshman Hank Brown last week against Arkansas but then Brown was benched at halftime. He was replaced by Payton Thorne, who was also benched earlier this season after a Week 2 loss to California. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said during his weekly press conference Monday that Brown and Thorne will compete for the starting job this week.