Jackson Arnold is escaping his Auburn Tigers tenure as the one who made the mistake, not the one who was the mistake.
No. Instead, the mistake was Arnold buying what Hugh Freeze was selling and believing he could be the guy to make an inescapably bad Auburn situation work with three play-callers and a locker room that never saw him as the leader.
That was CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah take on the matter, anyway. Jeyarajah projected a strong 2026 season for Arnold in the Mountain West. Arnold is now at his third school in three years with Dan Mullen's UNLV Rebels.
"Arnold made a bad call last year by hitching his wagon to doomed Auburn coach Hugh Freeze. When things went wrong, Freeze quickly threw Arnold under the bus. Luckily, Arnold chose much better for his third school, landing with Dan Mullen at UNLV. To start, Arnold boasts the physical tools to create major advantages in the Mountain West. Additionally, Mullen has done a tremendous job of maximizing quarterback talent, even ones who are still developing as passers. Expect Arnold to quickly contend for all-conference honors," Jeyarajah wrote.
Jackson Arnold never had a chance at Auburn, but he still underperformed
Two things could be true at once. On one hand, Arnold chose a Tigers team that had issues predating his arrival. On the other, though, he didn't exactly do much to prove he was the man for the job to begin with.
Arnold was shockingly bad at avoiding sacks, oftentimes holding the ball too long and not evading pressure well. Of course, Auburn's offensive line was once again underwhelming, which didn't help matters. Still, great QBs can at least scratch and claw enough offense to win games where both teams score below 20 points. Arnold was not a great QB with the Oklahoma Sooners or the Tigers, despite looking like a shoo-in to be after a brilliant career with the Denton Guyer Wildcats in 6A Texas High School Football.
Will he be at UNLV? Against MWC competition, he absolutely could be. But Arnold was not only wronged in East Central Alabama, but he wronged the taxpayers footing the bill for his tax-exempt NIL/rev-share agreement(s).