Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Oklahoma sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold loved watching SEC football and dreamed of playing in that environment someday as a collegian.
Georgia was his favorite team as a youth, and now he is living his dream as the starting quarterback of SEC newcomer Oklahoma.
Arnold was a guest on "The Paul Finebaum Show" on the SEC Network earlier this week. Finebaum, one of the SEC's strongest advocates, asked the Sooner quarterback what it felt like joining the conference widely viewed as the strongest and deepest in college football:
Catch Jackson Arnold this afternoon on the @finebaum Show at 3:30 p.m. CT@SECNetwork | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/NZO23vXfxu
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 3, 2024
"For me, it was kind of a recruiting piece," Arnold said. "I lived in Atlanta for the first 10 years of my life, so I grew up watching SEC football. Grew up watching those teams, and so for me it was really special that I knew I was joining a team that was going to be playing in the SEC."
Asked about the Sooners' opening-week win and looking ahead to what appears to be a daunting 2024 schedule, the OU starting quarterback said:
"The guys were ready to go and play some ball, and we had a great time on Friday. Showed a lot of good stuff, have a lot of stuff to clean up, but overall it was a great experience. I think for the next couple of weeks, it's just us developing our identity. Really deciding what we're going to do with this offense."
Everybody wants to talk about the OU-Texas game and the SEC games with some of the top teams in the conference, Arnold said, but for me, and for the team, it's really (about) just focusing on the opponent at hand, and that's Houston right now."
When you look down the onerous schedule for this inaugural OU season, it's pretty clear that the mindset and preparation needs to be on the next game as the most important game of the season.