What's next for Oklahoma's former starting quarterback after Hugh Freeze's ouster?

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The Auburn Tigersfired third-year head coach Hugh Freeze on Sunday, a day after losing 10-3 at home against Kentucky. After a 15-19 record on The Plains, Freeze was shown the door before he could finish his third season at the helm.

Auburn is now the third SEC school to fire its head coach this season, joining Arkansas (Sam Pittman) and LSU (Brian Kelly). There have already been 13 FBS head coaches fired this season, with 12 remaining openings, after Kent State took the interim tag off of Mark Carney last week.

Freeze ultimately never delivered Auburn the kind of offenses he was known for at Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty. A big part of that reason was struggles at the quarterback position, which persisted to this year.

Former Oklahoma Sooners starting quarterback Jackson Arnold entered the transfer portal after a rough 2024 regular season at OU, and he quickly landed with Freeze and the Tigers. Arnold became Auburn’s starter, and he played well for the first month or so of the season, but things spiraled for him after a 3-0 start.

Auburn lost four straight games against Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia and Missouri, and in each game, the defense played well enough to give the Tigers the win. However, when Arnold and the offense had a shot to go get the victory, they came up short, often with Arnold holding on to the ball and being sacked with the game on the line.

Arnold was benched in favor of Ashton Daniels in Auburn’s comeback win over Arkansas, and Daniels made his first start of the season in Arnold’s place against Kentucky. However, Arnold replaced Daniels in the second half of the loss. Regardless of who starts for the rest of the season under interim head coach D.J. Durkin, things clearly haven’t worked out the way Arnold thought they would.

So, what’s next for the player who was once thought to be the next great quarterback at Oklahoma? It wouldn’t appear that Arnold would stay with the Tigers, considering his play this year, and the fact that a new regime will be coming to Auburn. He’s got one more year of eligibility left, after playing in more than four games in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

If Arnold wants to stay in the SEC, there’s always Jeff Lebby and Mississippi State. Lebby recruited Arnold to OU, and the two have a great relationship. Arnold loves the system Lebby runs, and although he never started under the former Oklahoma OC, he was coached by Lebby during his freshman season in Norman, before Lebby left to take the head coaching job in Starkville.

However, Arnold’s best chance for success might come outside of the SEC. If he were to play for, say, an ACC team or a Big 12 team, he might be able to have more success when not going against the best athletes in college football on a weekly basis. He’ll likely enter the portal when the regular season is over, and he still has a bit of time to turn around his collegiate career, but that time is growing short.

Arnold’s time at Oklahoma was a far cry from what anyone thought it would be, and now it looks like his time at Auburn won’t yield the results he hoped for, either. It’ll be interesting to follow where the former five-star recruit’s career takes him at his next stop in 2026.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Jackson Arnold’s next move up in the air after Hugh Freeze’s firing

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