Quarterback Jackson Arnold entered the college ranks with incredibly high expectations placed on his shoulders.
He was a five-star 2023 recruit, ranked as the No. 4 quarterback in the country, the No. 1 player in Texas and the No. 10 recruit overall, according to 247Sports.
Arnold chose the Oklahoma Sooners out of high school and, after one season as the backup to Dillon Gabriel in Norman, he was given the starting job in 2024.
That season, Oklahoma went 6-7, and Arnold was benched for much of the campaign. He then transferred to the Auburn Tigers and tried to be the plug in the hole of the sinking ship known as the Hugh Freeze era.
Freeze was fired mid-season.
“It didn’t work out to the level that he nor I both expected for him and our team. And that’s why I’m sitting here,” Freeze said after being fired.
And so Arnold hit the portal once again, now a senior, and he’s hoping that known quarterback guru Dan Mullen, now the head coach of the UNLV Rebels, can be the answer to the problems that have plagued him throughout his college career.
“I feel like I needed to be around people that I trusted and that I’ve had a previous relationship with, and you know, some dudes that I know you know want the best for me and in my career,” Arnold recently told Richard Johnson of CBS Sports. “Coach Mullen’s offense a little more pro style than I’ve been in, I feel like for the next level, and I feel like offense like that would help me out, help develop me more, and obviously you know Coach Mullen’s got a pedigree with quarterbacks that he’s coached, so that was a big part of it too, just seeing his development and who he’s developed and the people he’s been around, I think those are things that I was looking for.”
Jackson Arnold comfortable with the coaching staff he has at UNLV
Not only is Arnold now working with Mullen, who has developed quarterbacks like Alex Smith, Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott, Cam Newton and others, but he’s also working alongside UNLV offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis.
Dennis recruited Arnold back when he was a five-star quarterback, and Dennis was coaching at Ohio State.
Dennis wanted to work with Arnold then, and he sees a big opportunity ahead now that they’re both at UNLV.
Notably, Arnold is not the de facto QB1 for UNLV just yet, as he’ll be competing alongside former Michigan transfer Alex Orji, who is one heck of a runner with the football in his hands.
With that said, he at the very least has an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Dennis who clearly believes in the player he once recruited. He also understands that not everything is as it seems in the world of college football.
“I think the kid was a scapegoat for two regimes,” Dennis said. “I don’t understand how a kid could be one of the best high school players truly in the country and then all of a sudden, just like the kid just stinks? He doesn’t know how to throw? That makes no sense.”
