Jackson Arnold came to OU in part because of the Sooners’ great quarterback legacy. But is that a blessing or a curse?

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NORMAN — Jackson Arnold takes the stage as the Oklahoma quarterback for a second time Saturday.

The Alamo Bowl 110 days ago didn’t go so smooth. We’ll see if Arnold fares better against teammates, in the Sooner spring game (1 p.m. Saturday). Eventually comes Temple, Houston and Tulane, before the various exhibitions give way to Tennessee on Sept. 21.

Arnold, a true freshman last season, arrived in Norman with a prized recruiting ranking. But recruiting hype is not a zero-sum game, so take it for what it’s worth. 

These days, recruiting hype is more burden than anything else. The transfer portal means it’s much easier to shed that burden by leaving for other shores (Quinn Ewers from Ohio State to Texas, for example), or for a school to recruit over you (Caleb Williams to Southern Cal, at the expense of Jaxson Dart).

Arnold is billed as the total package, and maybe he’s exactly that. But Arnold in 2024 faces two major barricades to success:

1. The Southeastern Conference. Arnold is the lucky devil who gets to lead the wagon train as the Sooners discover if indeed the SEC is a haunted forest of werewolves and warlocks.

2. The big cleats Arnold must fill.

Arnold gets no grace on either front. He signed up for both assignments. We’ve known for almost three years that the SEC was coming, and from the start it seemed quite likely that the announced 2025 launch would move up.

And the hard-act-to-follow script of Sooner quarterbacking greats? Well, that’s one reason Arnold chose OU.

Many are the reasons a blue-chip quarterback picks a college in these rip-roaring ‘20s.

Head coach. Money, under the guise of name/image/likeness. Offensive system. Geography. Money. Offensive coordinator. Program tradition. Did I mention money?

But don’t forget positional tradition. Positional tradition long has been with us and seems as important as ever.

Penn State linebackers back in the day, Louisiana State and Texas defensive backs in these times. Southern Cal tailbacks then, Alabama and Wisconsin offensive linemen now.

Stanford quarterbacks when the world was young. Oklahoma quarterbacks when the world is chaotic. And the newest Sooner messiah admits he’s in Norman partly because of OU’s quarterback pedigree.

“It definitely impacted my decision, just knowing the caliber of QBs that came before me and just knowing I wanted to be a part of that group really stood out to me,” Arnold said Tuesday, standing against the brick wall on the south end of Owen Field.

“Being in a lineage of Heisman winners is obviously something I want to join, and following those footsteps is the place where I wanted to be.”

You know well the Sooners’ status as Quarterback U. Since Bob Stoops arrived 25 years ago and began prioritizing the passing game, OU routinely has produced elite QBs.

Heisman Trophy winners Jason White, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Heisman silver medalists Josh Heupel and Jalen Hurts.

But three of those iconic Sooners are at least 15 years removed from Owen Field grass stains. Ancient history to Gen Z quarterbacks.

So let’s stick with recent history. In OU’s final nine seasons in the Big 12, the Sooners produced the all-conference quarterback seven times.

Mayfield in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Murray in 2018. Hurts in 2019. Spencer Rattler in 2020. Dillon Gabriel in 2023.

Only in 2021 and 2022 did the Sooners not have The Associated Press all-Big 12 quarterback. In both years, they settled for the second-team all-league QB — true freshman Williams in ‘21, even though he started only half the season, and Gabriel in ‘22.

That’s a ridiculous domination of the most important position in sports. The league’s best quarterback for virtually a decade, year after year.

Mayfield, Murray and Hurts are National Football League starters. Williams is the presumptive first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Rattler is projected as a third-round pick in the ‘24 draft. Gabriel, now at Oregon for reasons still not fully understood, is rated by ESPN as the second-best quarterback in college football for 2024. 

Even if Arnold shines, the Sooners won’t hog the quarterback spotlight in the SEC. The league is too deep. Three of the last five Heisman winners have been SEC quarterbacks — LSU’s Joe Burrow (2019), Alabama’s Bryce Young (2022) and LSU’s Jayden Daniels (2023).

Georgia’s Carson Beck was second-team all-SEC last season. That ESPN list that ranks Gabriel No. 2 nationally going into 2024? It has Beck No. 1.

So the Sooners’ perennial advantage at quarterback figures to decline, if not dissipate. Arnold will be compared to the likes of Mayfield and Murray, Hurts and Williams, even Gabriel, while navigating a more difficult road.

Seems like the pressure might be mounting on the Sooner crown prince.

“I mean, not really,” Arnold said. “I feel like there’s pressure everywhere you go playing quarterback, especially at a school like this, going to the SEC for the first time. 

“There’s going to be pressure for everything I do, and I don’t think necessarily being in that lineage adds more pressure. But it is awesome being behind Heisman winners like that.”

I understand that argument. There was pressure on every OU quarterback from Jack Mitchell to Jack Mildren, from Josh Heupel to Nate Hybl, no matter what their immediate predecessors had done.

But I don’t buy it. I mean, Sooner fans wondered if Hurts was worthy of the mantle, even a few games into 2019, when his numbers were unassailable. OU students chanted Williams’ name when Rattler was 13-2 as the starter. Just because those chemistry majors were right didn’t make it any easier on Rattler.

Brent Venables has turned most questions about Arnold this spring into answers about all the quarterbacks on campus, including Brendan Zurbrugg and General Booty. Don’t read anything into that; Venables turns most any question into roster recitation.

“Got good quarterbacks who have great vision and great instincts, good decision-making — starting with Jackson — and throw with accuracy and do a good job from a leadership standpoint,” Venables said.

“We’re in the best position we’ve been since we’ve been here.”

That’s three years, and Venables is correct only if you’re giving major points for backup Casey Thompson’s experience. Last year, OU had a veteran, proven quarterback in Gabriel, who added to the deep legacy of the position and left behind one more set of cleats that will be difficult for Jackson Arnold to fill.