Here's Why Jackson Arnold is Playing Better Since His Return to the Oklahoma Lineup

The Sooners' quarterback has experienced a resurgence in the last few games after being benched following his shaky start to the season.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — It’s a small sample size, and this week will reveal a lot. But the early returns are that Version 2.0 of Jackson Arnold has been a major upgrade to Oklahoma’s offensive operating system.

“I think he's more and more and more confident,” head coach Brent Venables said Monday night during his weekly coach’s show, “as they've been able to play in rhythm.”

In his first four starts this season, Arnold completed 59.8 percent of his passes, averaged 134.5 passing yards per game, threw seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

In his last two starts, he’s completed 71.1 percent of his throws, is averaging 211 yards per game, has three TDs and zero INTs.

"Jackson's played incredibly efficiently," Venables added Tuesday at his weekly press conference.

The Sooners are 5-4 and 1-4 in SEC play and need to see that continued improvement this week as they are back on the road at Missouri, which is 6-2 and 4-4 and ranked No. 22 in the coaches poll.

A lot of Arnold’s improvement stems from a dedicated and experienced quarterbacks coach. Kevin Johns, a former college QB himself, has made a career out of coaching quarterbacks and has given Arnold a more singular focus as he replaced Seth Littrell as OU’s quarterback coach. And new offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley’s game plans and play calls have simplified the game for Arnold.

But Venables thinks there’s one primary element that has made Arnold better since returning from the bench.

“I think the number one thing is the guys around him are better,” Venables said. “You know, you go back and look, you got all these new guys that haven't been together as an offense, let alone the guys up front. Everybody around him is getting a little bit better. If you go and look at Bauer Sharp or Jake Roberts, or you look at having Troy Everett at center, you know, everybody is a little bit better. JJ Hester is a better version of himself. (Jacob Jordan) in there, in the slot, has made us better. 

“And so you just go down that list. I think that's number one. I think it's important that you recognize that we're running the ball more efficiently. You know, that that helps him, you know, not put the pressure the world on him.”

The emergence of Jovantae Barnes and the continued growth of the offensive line has produced a more prolific run game, and so Arnold is benefiting from that.

There’s another factor at play in the former 5-star prospects career progress.

“Taking the couple of weeks where he was forced to get on the sideline and look at things from a different lens, I think, was healthy for him,” Venables said. “And … probably, he wouldn't have chosen that. He'd rather have learned a different way. But it gave him an opportunity to take a … step back and take a different look at, you know, all of it. 

“And when he came back … probably the best thing he did was just kept his head down and went to work and had several weeks of really, really, really good practices. I think you're seeing that, you know, the byproduct is what you're seeing right now, just the cleanliness.”