By Chris Marler
Is Jackson Arnold actually the answer for Auburn and is Auburn the answer for Jackson Arnold?
It was no secret that the 2024 season was marred with offensive inconsistencies at Auburn. It was also no secret that Payton Thorne and Hugh Freeze rarely, if ever, saw eye to eye on the offensive game plan or whose fault it was. The divorce between Thorne and Freeze was best for both parties.
Now, the fun begins in finding out who wins the breakup.
Freeze was publicly adamant about his frustrations with Thorne and made him the scapegoat for a lot of their offensive issues. That’s what a therapist would call projecting. Freeze was the play caller who refused to relinquish control over those duties. Freeze is also the person who labeled himself as a quarterback guru.
Auburn’s offense wasn’t that bad. They were actually elite between the twenties. However, they were putrid once they got in the red zone where they closed less frequently than a Waffle House. Auburn ranked second in the SEC and ninth in the country in yards per play at 6.67. However, they were 12th in the conference in scoring averaging just 27.8 points per game.
Out with the old and in with the new, which means their new million dollar investment in a transfer portal quarterback has arrived: Jackson Arnold. Arnold was statistically one of the worst quarterbacks in the SEC last season. He finished last among SEC quarterbacks in passing yards, passer rating, and yards per attempt. His 5.8 yards per attempt finished a full 1.5 yards behind the next closest signal caller.
Lost in all the numbers, stats, and mediocrity is the context needed. Jackson Arnold may have finished at the bottom of several key passing metrics in the SEC, but the more significant factor wasn’t who he trailed on the leaderboard—it was what he was playing behind all season. Oklahoma’s offensive line finished last in the country in sacks allowed with 50. He was also the only quarterback in America who had his top five receivers miss 70% of the season, due to injuries. On top of that, Oklahoma fired their offensive coordinator halfway through the season, which meant Arnold had three different coordinators in a little over a year guiding him.
Arnold left all the dysfunction in Norman for the dysfunctional family known as Auburn.
Auburn’s offensive line was not a strength for the team a season ago. However, it can’t be worse than the unit he was behind at Oklahoma. The upgrade he will have at receiver will be almost impossible to put into words. Arnold was throwing to the sixth man on the depth chart as WR1 for most of the season. Now he has one of the best receiving corps in the SEC, led by several former five stars like Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, and the top-ranked wide receiver in the portal Eric Singleton.
All of that is good news. It’s good news for Arnold. It’s good news for Auburn.
So, the question for Auburn in 2025 is whether or not Jackson Arnold is actually the answer for Auburn and is Auburn the answer for Jackson Arnold?
The answer is going to be yes to both. Just wait.
