Jackson Arnold playing more loose and free and Sooner offense is reaping the reward

When Jackson Arnold was benched four games into the season against Tennessee after throwing an interception and fumbling twice in the first 30 minutes, there were many within and outside of the Sooner Nation who were concerned that Arnold's time as the starting quarterback at Oklahoma might have reached the end before it had barely gotten started.

Three games later, the former five-star prospect and OU's top recruit in its top-10 2023 class, received a second chance when his replacement, true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr., turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions to start the game against South Carolina.

Now that Arnold has had a retaste of the starting role, it appears that he's determined to seize the opportunity and not, as some conspiracy theorists would have us believe, go quietly into the night and into the transfer portal.

Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell was fired after the Sooners lost in embarrassing fashion at home, 34-3, to South Carolina. Co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley assumed that role as well as the play-calling duties, and offensive analyst Kevin Johns was elevated to an assistant's role working with the quarterbacks. Since those coaching changes, the Oklahoma offense has showed more life and efficiency than it has since the season-opening win over Temple.

Arnold's performance in the past two games has been a prime reason for the Sooners' offensive turnaround, albeit just a two-game sample at this point and one of the two games a 59-14 blowout of a Maine team that competes at a level one down from Oklahoma.

Since returning to the starting role, Arnold has enjoyed his most productive games of the season, passing for a combined 631 yards over the last three games (with greater than a 70 percent completion percentage the past two outings), with five touchdown passes and, importantly, no interceptions.

The Sooners have gained just shy of 1,000 yards of offense the last two games after averaging just 288 yards of total offense in the first seven games.

Brent Venables was asked during his weekly press conference on Tuesday about the sudden offensive improvement. "Obviously, we've taken care of the ball better, so that's helped," he said. "But in regards to how we do what we do, Joe Jon's (Finley) got really strong leadership skills. Keven Johns does as well. And I see a really great collaboration, and that's carried over to the field."

"I've had some more plays that have gotten me more in rhythm early on and allowed me to be more efficient," Arnold told reporters this week. "We have dudes stepping up, and we're playing super hard right now."

Arnold said he is playing more carefree right now and not trying to overthink everything or do too much. "Just having (an) edge and playing like that has really let me see things better and just play more comfortable and loose. And (quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns), since he got promoted, he's been big about us being efficient as quarterbacks."

Arnold says he's seen improvement in just the short time he has been working more closely with Johns. "Even with different footwork drills he does with us, I've seen improvement so far. Even through two to three weeks of my pocket movement, getting to progressions quicker and easier, he's really helped us so far," said the Sooner sophomore quarterback.

Arnold is one of the Oklahoma captains at Missouri on Saturday, and there is a good chance he will have a couple of his missing weapons back for that game. Wide receivers Deion Burks, who has been out with a soft tissue injury suffered in the Texas game, and Jalil Farooq, who broke his foot in the Sooners' season-opening game, are expected to be available to play against Missouri.

"It opens up a lot of things," Arnold said about having Burks and Farooq back on the field. "On top of that, it just builds a whole lot of confidence for our offense."