NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — It’s finally Jackson Arnold’s time.
The former five-star quarterback opens the season as No. 16 Oklahoma’s starter after waiting behind Dillon Gabriel last season. He will lead the Sooners against Temple on Friday night in his second career start.
Arnold steps into a position that has produced like few others in college football. Oklahoma has featured Gabriel, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams at quarterback in the past decade. Mayfield and Murray each won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma and Williams played a year with the Sooners before transferring to USC and winning a Heisman there. Mayfield, Murray and Williams were No. 1 overall picks in the NFL draft.
Arnold understood the history when he signed. He hopes to someday have a statue at Heisman Park across from Memorial Stadium – an honor previously bestowed upon Oklahoma's seven Heisman winners, including four quarterbacks.
“It’s a ton to live up to,” he said. “But at the same time, I want to create a name for myself, create a legacy for myself, and really, I don’t want to be compared to one of those guys. I want to be the best version of myself, and hopefully I can get a statue out there one day.”
Arnold passed for 361 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in his first college start, a loss Arizona in the Alamo Bowl last season. He left an impression on Temple coach Stan Drayton.
“That was a very talented football player that we saw playing quarterback against Arizona,” Drayton said.
Freshman Michael Hawkins won the battle with Casey Thompson for the spot behind Arnold.
Thompson has passed for 5,338 yards in a career that took him to Texas, Nebraska and Florida Atlantic before he landed where his father, Charles Thompson, played quarterback in the 1980s.
Coach Brent Venables considered it no small feat that Hawkins earned the spot over such a proven veteran. Venables said Thompson has been a great mentor for the younger quarterbacks, but Hawkins performed better overall.
“Mike has shown us a lot of things," Venables said. "Tremendous playmaker, really focused and locked-in. Fundamentally sound. He’s got a big arm. He’s a quick decision maker. He can improvise and keep his eyes down the field. He can beat you with his legs. As I said, there’s not a route that he can’t excel in.”
Drayton resisted naming a starting quarterback between Forrest Brock, Evan Simon and Tyler Douglas. It wasn’t that he hadn’t picked one, it was that being undecided seems to have helped the Temple quarterback room.
“What I’m not going to do today is announce a starting quarterback," he said during his weekly availability. “I have a great competitive situation going on in that room right now, and I don’t want to lose that edge. Iron sharpens iron mindset, and everybody in that room is is getting better.”
Temple has named its Temple Tuff players as selected by their teammates who will wear single digit numbers this season.
This year’s honorees are linebacker D.J. Woodbury (0), receiver Ian Stewart (1), safety Andreas Keaton (2), defensive end Tra Thomas (3), cornerback Elijah Deravil (4), receiver Dante Wright (5), defensive tackle Latrell Jean (7), tight end James Della Pesca (8) and defensive tackle Demerick Morris (9).
Stewart is the only one returning from last season.
Oklahoma receiver Nic Anderson will miss the opener as he recovers from an undisclosed injury. The 6-foot-4 sophomore caught 38 passes for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Oklahoma already had announced it had lost receiver Jayden Gibson for the season with a knee injury.
Andrel Anthony, who led Oklahoma in yards receiving last season before being knocked out for the year with a leg injury, will be available.
Drayton, after being pressed about the quarterback situation: “That’s for us, not for y’all. I apologize.”
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