On Wednesday, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables took the stage at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta at SEC Media Days. He was joined by three player representatives, two of whom are former teammates of Auburn football quarterback Jackson Arnold.
Arnold spent two seasons in Norman before transferring to the Plains in January. He is set to start for the Tigers this fall, and there is a lot riding on his success as leader of the offense. Arnold was an extremely impressive recruit and was a solid quarterback at Oklahoma despite having to deal with an injury-riddled offense last season. Despite last year's rocky campaign, it's widely believed he will regain his confidence and bounce back with Auburn football.
Here is what Venables and Arnold's former teammates, edge rusher R Mason Thomas and safety Robert Spears-Jennings, had to say about the QB, per 247 Sports.
Venables, when asked about last year's injured offense:
"I'm going to take this moment just to say what type of a future I believe that Jackson Arnold and Mike Hawkins [another Oklahoma QB], both of those guys, put in a really tough spot as first-year players. The supporting cast... They can't play quarterback by themselves, to put them in a really tough position based on what happened. Both of them are going to be incredibly successful in the future. Yeah, that made it really difficult. No excuses.
Spears-Jennings on Arnold and facing him and the Tigers this season:
"Jackson's a great guy on and off the field. He has a lot of confidence. Makes a lot of throws.
"He was young, I feel like this year it's just his time to really shine. I feel like he has a great staff around him. I feel he's going to have a great time at Auburn.
"Him coming back to Norman, he's going to try to -- redemption game, I should say. He's going to have a great time. We're waiting for him to come. Just going to have fun."
Thomas on Arnold returning to Norman as an Auburn Tiger:
"It's going to be exciting. Hats off to Auburn. For them to come into our stadium, it's going to be exciting. The AC/DC, they're going to hear a lot of that. I know Jackson already knows -- he's been in our stadium before. He's going to know it already, the environment, he's played a lot of games there. We're just excited to play them."