Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold's Spring Game Was Memorable, Even if the TD Didn't Happen

Arnold said he wasn't nervous and showed it with uncommon poise as he guided the No. 1 offense downfield for the tying touchdown in the final moments.

NORMAN — It goes down as a measly 3-yard run.

But Jackson Arnold knows he would have scored a 53-yard touchdown. So do the 54,000 OU fans assembled at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. And so does Brent Venables.

“I saw it with my own two eyes, right there,” the Oklahoma coach defiantly proclaimed of his decision to call back his freshman quarterback’s second play of the annual Red/White Game that ended at first in the end zone but then was deemed something significantly less.

“It was like a 4-yard gain,” Venables insisted. “ … I just saw body and hands and jersey. I know everybody would have went nuts. That would have been the buzz, was that. That was a good, nice run — after he got tackled.

“It was a really good run.”

“Yeah, I was definitely close enough to get touched,” Arnold said. “I wish I could have scored a touchdown, but I’m good.”

Arnold’s raw skills were apparent as he completed 6-of-14 passes for 64 yards and a touchdown and was held to two runs for four yards.

“I definitely could have played better,” Arnold said, “but I’m super excited to play in an environment like that and play with guys like that. It was my first actual college game and I was super excited. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.”

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said he didn’t feel compelled to argue with Venables on the touchdown run-that-wasn’t.

“No. No. I did not,” Lebby said with a laugh. “I said ‘Yes sir,’ and called a 3rd-and-5 play.”

In reality, Arnold wore a blue no-contact jersey, and under no circumstances are OU defenders allowed to hit quarterbacks in a scrimmage. So as a defender eased up at the last moment and took a one-armed swipe at the fleet-footed Arnold, he was down. But the other reality is that if it had been a real football game — the fourth quarter against Arkansas State or Tulsa, for instance — Arnold might very well have run through that arm tackle and found the end zone.

He’s that good — and he showed it on Saturday.

“It was good,” Lebby said. “Jackson can make some plays with his feet. I think everybody saw that. He can do a lot of things. I'm proud of the spring he's had. This guy has come in and worked incredibly hard, taken the coaching. The rest of the room has been big brothers to him. That's been fun to see.”

Everybody knew Arnold could run the ball like that in high school. But to see him do it in his first real test against college athletes was perhaps a validation for the OU coaches’ efforts in signing the 5-star from Denton, TX.

“Yeah,” Venables agreed. “Again, we had seen it earlier in the spring, too. Today was another day. Again, he'll be the first to tell you he's certainly not where he was when he started the spring. But he's definitely not where he wants to be, either. And so, again, a lot of work.”

Four months ago, Arnold was roaming the halls of Guyer High School. Now he’s making plays against the OU defense, meeting Kyler Murray, being applauded by 50,000 fans and wearing a Sooners jersey.

“Very surreal,” he said. “Being in high school four months ago and playing my first college game now is really surreal. It’s everything I expected and more. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot more fun than I thought I would because I was less stressed today and less nervous than I thought I would be. I went out and executed and had fun today.”

Arnold said he usually goes into games a bundle of nerves but for some reason, Saturday was different.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I felt really comfortable today for some reason. Maybe because it wasn’t a game — the spring game — but I felt comfortable out there and felt like this is where I needed to be.”

The 53-yard touchdown run might have stayed Arnold’s highlight from Saturday. Instead, he did something else that was much less arguable, much more important.

With the game on the line in the closing minutes, Arnold finally got a series with the starting offensive line and receivers and calmly drove the offense down the field. He threw a beautiful pass to Gavin Freeman for a tying touchdown, and then delivered a perfect throw to Jayden Gibson for the winning two-point conversion — which Gibson dropped.

.@_JacksonArnold_ throwin' darts 🎯#OUDNA pic.twitter.com/HAaNChE9cs

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) April 22, 2023

“Good read by Gavin, a good route,” Arnold said. “Had a lot of time in the pocket, but gave him a ball.”

That drive, those throws — that’s what Lebby and Venables and the Sooner fans really wanted to see from Arnold, not some exciting run. And it showed poise after an otherwise tough day where his pass protection wasn’t particularly good and even the center snaps were frequently too low.

“It was really helpful for me, just working with that, that one-on-one and playing with the (No.) 1 receivers,” Arnold said. “It helped me out tremendously … It gave me time in the pocket that I could just step back and throw it, essentially.”

“With the way he started and the negative plays and situations he was put in as he was on the field,” Lebby said, “I loved the way he was able to battle back and do some really good things there at the end of the game and put us in a position to make the play on the 2-point conversion to go win it for the Red team. I was just proud of him for sticking with it.”

Gabriel said he was impressed with every freshman, but said about Arnold, “the sky’s limit for him.”

That may be the case, but Arnold said any success he has at OU won’t happen by accident.

“I got to work harder,” he said. “It’s not as easy as high school, obviously. I had that good drive at the end but there were some plays that were my fault. I have to go back and look at them and execute properly and just work harder and study harder. Everything is on another level in college.”

Even though the offense lost by the entirely confusing score or 84-82, Arnold’s strong finish was like ending on a high note.

“Without that last drive, it wouldn’t have been as fun of a game,” he said. “I think that last drive put a great bow on top of spring ball. It’s been hard. It hasn’t been easy learning the playbook, going to class, going to meetings – it hasn’t been easy whatsoever. I think that last drive and everything that’s happened so far in spring has been really awesome.”