Out of all games this season, this Saturday's game vs. Oklahoma will be particularly personal for Auburn's Jackson Arnold. The quarterback returns to his former team at his former home turf, and it is only natural for the chatter surrounding this highly-anticipated return to get the better of him.
Lucky for him, his coach Hugh Freeze has been in the same spot, just in different shoes.
It was in 2021 that Freeze faced the team he previously coached for five years, the Ole Miss Rebels, for the first time. But it was not the game that was the nerve-wrecking part; it was all the noise, expectations, and pressure surrounding it. The exact situation that Arnold is in.
Freeze may have lost that 28-21 game, but it left him with a lesson that he is now passing on to Arnold.
"The good thing is that I’ve had personal experience with that. I’ve had to go back in a place that I enjoyed coaching," Freeze said. "Won some games. Had to go back in there and take another team in and play. That whole week, it was a challenge for me not to think about some of that.
"I know the same will be true for Jackson (Arnold). He’s very mature and he doesn’t give any credit to any noise or talk. He’s a pro. We all understand people might cheer for him, boo him, whatever it is. I think he’s mentally strong and is more about preparing.
"My advice to him is to just keep the focus on our team. That was my advice to myself. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about our team preparing to go in to play. I don’t know what they’re ranked now, but I think they’re a top 10 team. So that’s where the focus needs to be and all the rest will subside at some point. It will be about what do on the field. So that’s my advice to him. Same thing I told myself going back into Ole Miss when I was at Liberty.”
Following their win over South Alabama on Saturday, Arnold emphasized how he is focusing on just the game and tuning out all the noise surrounding it.
But ignoring the outer noise will probably be the easiest part for him. The brutal part would be his inner turmoil as he returns to his former team. Or, better said, it's fiercer version.
It'll be nothing short of cinematic seeing Arnold in action against the pass-rushers he was once sharing the locker room with.