Oklahoma GameDay: How Kevin Johns Got Jackson Arnold to Be More Efficient, More Carefree

The Sooners' new quarterback coach has made quick strides with Arnold and the offense going into today's game at Missouri.

Oklahoma quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns / Parker Thune / OU Insider (used with permission)

COLUMBIA, MO — Kevin Johns has been in Norman since March.

But he’s only coached Oklahoma quarterbacks for three weeks.

It just wasn’t Johns’ place. That job belonged to Seth Littrell — and he always respected that space.

“If you ever get to actually sit down and talk to Coach Johns, when he came in here, he told me this: he didn't want to step on any toes,” said OU quarterback Jackson Arnold. “He just wanted to be here. He wanted to learn from the dudes in the room and improve his game and his play calling while he was here, and so he never really stepped out and coached us, per se. 

“But ever since — now, and since he got (promoted), he's been very vocal with us.”

Arnold and the Sooners meet Missouri on Saturday night at Faurot Field, and although OU is 5-4 overall and just 1-4 in Southeastern Conference play, the Sooners are a 3-point favorite tonight in part because of the progress of Arnold at quarterback since his reinsertion into the starting lineup.

Like any new app, the JFA v. 2.0 update comes with bug fixes and various enhancements, such as fewer turnovers, higher accuracy, more read-option plays — and best of all, a dedicated quarterback coach.

Not that Littrell wasn’t coaching Sooner QBs. He was. It’s just that it’s a position he’d never coached before (or played). And maybe more than that, as offensive coordinator, Littrell’s plate was already full with scheming and game planning. Bottom line, he didn’t have the bandwidth to dedicate all the focus on the position that young quarterbacks like Arnold and Michael Hawkins require.

It’s why Bob Stoops often preferred his offensive coordinators (Mark Mangino, Kevin Wilson) to coach a position other than QBs. Mike Leach had no problem with it. Neither did Chuck Long or Lincoln Riley. But Josh Heupel’s quarterbacks' development dropped off once he got the OC job. To be fair, it’s a lot for any young coach or any coach who’s not made a career out of doing both.

Johns has.

A former quarterback at Dayton, Johns was passing game coordinator at Northwestern from 2008-10, then was co-OC and quarterbacks coach at Indiana under Wilson in 2012-13. He held the Hoosiers’ full-time OC job in 2014-16, did both at Western Michigan in 2017, did both at Texas Tech in 2018, did both at Memphis from 2019-21, and did both at Duke from 2022-23.

That’s a full decade of coordinating offenses while also coaching quarterbacks.

“The things that he teaches us and how to be efficient, even with different footwork drills that he does with us, I've seen improvement so far,” Arnold said. “Even through two to three weeks of my pocket movement getting to progressions quicker and easier, he's really helped us so far.”

With Johns coaching quarterbacks and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley calling plays (Johns is also Finley’s co-OC), the transition has been smooth, the teaching has been more micro, and the play-calling has been effective.

“Things have been — they have been different,” said wide receiver J.J. Hester. “I would say it's the little things that's starting to add up and having a snowball effect. And you're starting to see them just pile up and pile up. Coach Joe Jon has emphasized us a lot just getting this much better every day, and you're really starting to see it now.”

Saturday will tell just how much better. After wilting in the second half at Ole Miss, the Sooners got right against overmatched Maine last week.

Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC) was ranked No. 25 last week and is still at No. 22 in the coaches poll this week. The Tigers are a good football team, and they will be waiting to pounce on Saturday.

How will Arnold react? The last time he faced an FBS team, at Ole Miss, he was sacked nine times. The time before that, against Tennessee, he gave up three turnovers before halftime.

The coding on this Arnold update, this JFA 2.0, seems to indicate he’s playing more free. He’s said it himself, the sometimes unrealistic expectations that come with this job feel like they’ve been lifted.

“The biggest thing was — not playing carefree, but I had nothing else to lose, just having that edge and playing like that has really let me see things better and just play more comfortable and more loose,” Arnold said. “And Coach Johns, since he got promoted, he's been big about us being efficient as quarterbacks. Whether that's getting through reads quick and boom, taking off, not sitting in the pocket too long, or just even just getting completions. Like today in practice, he was harping about us in seven-on-seven about not throwing an incomplete ball. He just wants us to create completions and be efficient."

OU receivers have liked what they’ve seen from the Arnold update. 

“He's definitely just playing more confident,” Hester said. “I’m happy for him. I like to see him play like that. The kids call it 'aura' nowadays. And so he has a lot of aura going off. I need to get some of that. 

“Just, being the leader, it just motivates everybody. Everybody wants a piece of it. Just like granny's cake. Everybody wants a piece of Jackson, I guess you could say.”