Hugh Freeze was excited to talk about incoming QB1 Jackson Arnold at Senior Bowl practice on Wednesday in Mobile. While praising Arnold, there was a subtle shot from the receivers to the outbound QB room Freeze was compelled to share.
“If you go back to his high school days, you don’t get to become the Gatorade Player of the Year without a great skill set,” Freeze said, per AL.com. “And when I see the way he functions with the fundamentals of that position with what we want to do. It’s a pretty natural fit.
“We can restore whatever confidence he may have lost for whatever reasons. It’s not for me to say.
“Our receivers are like, ‘this is different.’ This ball is, it’s spinning the right way."
Freeze has never been shy about calling out his players. In the NIL environment college football now resides, players are being called out like never before. And the pushback is less minimal.
Payton Thorne was a frequent hot rod of Freeze's criticism, though the head coach always had a soft spot for the Michigan State transfer. That was who Freeze hitched his wagon to during his first two years on the Plains. Arnold was complimented at Thorne's expense.
Hank Brown, Holden Geriner, and Walker White also stalled in their development, which was just as much of an indictment of them. These receivers took reps with every QB.
The hope is that Arnold never catches a passive-aggressive stray like that. In a new system that Freeze is excited to integrate the Oklahoma transfer into, Arnold has a chance to show why he was a 5-star recruit in the Metroplex.
The talent is there in the WR room. Freeze just needs a QB he doesn't end up losing with regrets in his rearview mirror afterward.