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Oklahoma fans showed respect to the outgoing Jackson Arnold

Arnold is planning on leaving OU, but there were no hard feelings from Sooner fans.

ByDekota Gregory|
SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jackson Arnold's days as a Sooner are over.

There were multiple reports Wednesday that Arnold, who was Oklahoma's starting quarterback most of the season, is planning to enter the transfer portal once it officially opens on Monday. It was a shock, but also not unexpected from those who keep up with OU.

Arnold, though, never really met expectations at OU as a five-star signee from the 2023 class. He didn't earn any accoloades as a Sooners, but he did earn respect from most OU fans. He burnt his redshirt as a freshman with limited playing time in five games before starting in the Alamo Bowl.

As a sophomore, Arnold was still a team guy, no matter what you want to think now that he's transferring. He lost his starting job but still chose not to redshirt and eventually won the starting job again. He played behind an underperforming offensive line and was missing his five best receivers most of the season. When the offense had to find a way to function after a midseason coordinator firing, Arnold was willing to tuck the ball and run again and again while taking hit after hit.

So with what he did while at OU, albeit disappointing overall, most Sooner fans and those around the program paid respect to Arnold during the last 24 hours after learning about his plan to transfer.

But maybe OU fans took the news so well because they're used to it, and also scarred a bit by this process.

And although overall disappointing, OU did at least get another Bama win out of Jackson Arnold.

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