Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold has “conquered the locker room” this offseason

Jackson-Arnold Although he spent the entire spring and fall camp in the blue no-contact jersey, his daily training was anything but pleasant.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has held nothing back in preparing his quarterback for his first year as a starter and has thrown Arnold onto the field with everything he has to offer to mentally prepare him for the hard work ahead.

After a mixed start against Arizona in the Alamo Bowl, the first of Arnold’s college career, OU linebacker Daniel Stutsman says he is proud of his quarterback’s reaction.

“I think the bowl game last year was really tough on everybody,” Stutsman said Monday in a weekly interview on the Franchise Morning Show on 107.7 The Franchise. “But Jackson really went through it — it’s tough for a young quarterback to go through that kind of adversity, but he handled it phenomenally. He was — he was in the film room right away studying what he did wrong, where he can improve on his mistakes, and that’s what you want to see from a young quarterback.”

Stutsman has seen Arnold in action often, as the Sooners often fielded the first line of defense against the first line of offense in spring and early fall practices.

“I think that’s how you have to prepare the boys,” Venables said last week.

Although the growth is not linear, Stutsman said he saw great progress from Arnold during the offseason.

“I think he used the summer and the spring to really gain confidence,” Stutsman said. “He really got it and really got the timing with the receivers. And every day he tries to be a leader, to improve one percent every day, and he’s done that.”

Before the Alamo Bowl, Arnold had actually only played in two quarters of truly significant football games.

He came into the game late, defeating Arkansas State and Tulsa, but Dillon Gabriel left OU’s game against BYU shortly before halftime, giving the game to the freshman.

Arnold had to contend with poor field position and a conservative game plan. He finished 5 of 9 passes for 33 yards, but had a pair of massive third-down conversions to Jalil Farooq late to seal the victory.

The then newly appointed co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell handed over the keys to the newcomer in the Arizona game.

Arnold completed 26 of 45 passes for 361 yards and two scores against the Wildcats in San Antonio and also threw three interceptions.

Arnold is working behind the scenes to accelerate his mental development, even though Venables and Stutsman have done everything they can to confuse the young gunslinger during training.

“We tell him, ‘Look, we’re throwing everything at you, man, because that’s what it takes,'” Stutsman said. “Especially because it’s tough for a young quarterback to go out there, and he probably has no idea what we’re doing because we want to make everything we do kind of look the same. So it’s definitely a challenge. It’s tough for the offensive line, too, especially when you’ve got a young group.”

“But he’s handled it great. You can see he’s improved. You can see he’s more comfortable in the pocket and the reads he’s making, the throws he can make are unique. I’m really excited to see how the offense does.”

Stutsman wasn’t the only one pleased with Arnold’s progress ahead of OU’s season opener against Temple on Aug. 30.

“Jackson does a good job,” Venables said. “From a leadership standpoint, he’s there every day. He’s consistent, he’s challenged and the guys he’s up against every day, I think, make not only him better but the offense better.”

“There are guys at all three levels of defense that can play for most programs in the country, if not all of them. I don’t like to anoint guys, I think we’ll see how they play this year, but we have experience at all three levels to have an awfully good group. And that’s what they face, Jackson, every single day.”

As Oklahoma leaves fall training camp behind and begins planning for non-conference games, Arnold now has the full support of Stutsman and the team.

“I think he’s won over the locker room,” Stutsman said. “Everyone can really trust him and say, ‘We’ve got our guy.’ And I’m confident he’s going to lead us to whatever we want to accomplish.”