The transfer portal has become a perennial presence in college football. But it was not always the case. We don’t have to go that far back. The current state of the portal didn’t exist when Joe Burrow was trying everything to get playing time at Ohio State. Ultimately, he had to graduate to secure a move to LSU. That one move changed Burrow’s life. No. 1 pick in the draft and the face of the Bengals. Many players now use the portal for similar trajectories. Of course, the dominating narrative is that they get lured by NIL, but that can’t be all. More than anything, players look to be on the field and be a part of a winning setup. Jackson Arnold didn’t get that set up at Oklahoma Sooners.

So, what’s next? Well, the portal, and we’d see him at Auburn Tigers in 2025. After a lackluster season at the Sooners, everyone expects Arnold to come good for Hugh Freeze. But is that the prevailing opinion? One analyst has a counter.

Jackson Arnold’s Auburn future seems to be on high alert

Auburn QB commit Jackson Arnold, the prized John H. Guyer High School, has been quite a name throughout his budding career. Well, his stint with Oklahoma State didn’t go as expected. He managed to throw for 1,421 yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions in 10 games during 2024 and ran for 444 yards and three touchdowns. He flashed the best rushing attack against Alabama, where he ran for 131 yards on 25 carries. But multiple injuries, a nonproductive offensive line, and poor coaching brutally derailed his season.

As a new era unfolds, numerous analysts already hold him in high regard, projecting his potential to become one of the SEC’s most exceptional quarterbacks. However, you can exclude SEC football podcast host Mike from the delusionally optimistic analysts’ list. Mike’s take on Arnold’s Tigers’ debut might come off as a shocker to all who spent a whopping $1.9 million on him.

”Looking at Auburn, so Jackson Arnold, you don’t have to do a whole lot of deep dives into stats to realize that things su—- last year in Norman. Dead last in the average depth of target and dead last in the percentage of throws beyond 10 yards downfield, and as a result,t dead last in explosive pass rate and adjusted net passing yards per attempt. So, he wasn’t throwing the ball a whole lot, and he did suffer from drops that cannot be ignored in this equation.”

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Mike appreciated the mobility Arnold possesses but couldn’t get sure of his role as the offensive executive with the Tigers next season. Arnold has been a highly rated junior QB hailing from Denton, TX. If you look past his Sooners’ jab, you will get to see his high school film, where he played some tough competitive games and ran a similar RPO system to Hugh Freeze. He also possesses an extremely robust arm that can easily nail any throw. However, this does not compensate for his turnover and interception issues, nor does it address all the other issues that Mike has highlighted.

He was benched several times during his days with the Sooners. The talent is there, but not proven enough to bank on. ”If he can just be average, I think he can, but beyond that, I am just not so certain based on a whole lot of things that he just did not prove during last season now,” SEC Mike added to Arnold’s visible shortcomings.

But Hugh Freeze keeps fawning over Arnold no matter what.

Hugh Freeze deems Arnold a natural fit for the Tigers’ QB room

There is always an opposing viewpoint. Hugh Freeze tries to live on that other side, nonetheless. ”When I see the way he functions with the fundamentals of that position with what we want to do. It’s a pretty natural fit,” said Freeze about Arnold. The Auburn head coach kind of ignores what Jackson did at Oklahoma. No, it’s not that he is unaware. He watched everything. Freeze sees it more as a collective failure and a dreadful waste of good talent.

Well, that made some sense. In case you forget, Jackson Arnold has dealt with a situation where he lost his offensive coordinator midseason, and top wide receivers fell victim to injuries. So, the worst passing performance and the others were inevitable to some extent. But the situation will be different in Auburn.

Arnold will have a returning core of young receivers who possess immense talent to throw, make room, and protect when necessary. Former blue-chip recruits Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, Perry Thompson, and others will hopefully play a perfect safety guild for the four Arnold in the upcoming season. The receivers, in fact, noticed Arnold’s talent as the coach let us know, ‘‘Our receivers are like, ‘this is different.’ This ball is, it’s spinning the right way.”

The brand-new endeavor is going to be enticing regardless of the debate involving Jackson Arnold.