Jackson Arnold left Auburn this past offseason after losing the starting job to Ashton Daniels before November even started last year. Arnold was Hugh Freeze's multi-million dollar gamble that fell flat on its face. In 2026, Arnold still doesn't seem to have recovered. He's deadlocked in a quarterback competition with former Michigan quarterback Alex Orji at UNLV, with the season opener imminently approaching.
Rebels head coach Dan Mullen was defensive when asked about the quarterback situation this week heading into UNLV's home opener against Memphis on Saturday night in one of Week 0's featured matchups.
"I don't know what the first play of the game [is], don't know what the second play of the [game is]. [People are] so caught up in who starts right [now]. [Whoever] doesn't start [is] not a starter," Mullen told reporters on Monday.
Mullen didn't release a depth chart, which is perhaps a strategic play against a Tigers team that enters the weekend as an underdog. Maybe he was being overly protective to maintain that competitive advantage.
Then again, the reaction from Mullen was so animated and over the top that you wonder if even asking that question opens up a major wound as the 2026 season arrives in a few short days.
Jackson Arnold not beating out Alex Orji is a dire sign for UNLV
Orji suffered a grade 3 LCL tear and a severe hamstring injury in Week 2 last year, missing most of the 2025 season in Vegas. In 2024 with the Wolverines, Orji completed just 53% of his passes with average of 3.4 yards per reception. While Michigan's receiving corps was depleted after the 2023 championship and Jim Harbaugh's baton pass to Sherrone Moore couldn't have been worse, tight end Colston Loveland was enough of a weapon on his own to have better numbers than that.
Orji was replaced by Davis Warren, and afterward, the Wolverines ended up being good enough to knock off that year's champion, Ohio State, at the "Shoe." This is the QB that Arnold is having trouble winning the starting job from.
That's not a knock on Orji by any stretch. Orji is a gifted runner, owning a recorded 4.73-second 40-yard dash, with great size at six-foot-three and 235 pounds. He may even be miscast as a quarterback.
The thing is, Arnold entered college football with major hype from Texas Class 6A powerhouse John H. Guyer High School and has let down Oklahoma and Auburn already. UNLV was supposed to be his redemption arc, but he's already losing ground in what should've been a fairly cut-and-dried QB competition in the Mountain West.
Maybe Orji is simply playing out of his mind in fall camp and showing a marked improvement in slowing down as he's getting the ball out of his hand. More likely, though, Arnold is showing the same inconsistencies in accuracy and holding the ball too long in the pocket that plagued his tenures on the Plains and in Norman.
Whatever is going on, it has Mullen frustrated. To be fair, Arnold not being the clear QB1 probably is extremely frustrating to those at the helm in Sin City so close to the season opener.
That frustration is all too familiar in Lee County, Alabama.
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