The Church of Crimson: Jackson Arnold's time will come, even if it's not in 2023

On Friday, my OU Insider colleague Parker Thune and I recorded an episode of our “Quick Slants” Youtube series that focused on the Sooners’ quarterback room. Parker posed an interesting question.

Are there parallels between the 2023 QB group, which features redshirt senior Dillon Gabriel and true freshman Jackson Arnold, with the Sooners’ 2021 group? That year, then-true freshman Caleb Williams overtook the starting job from Spencer Rattler midway through the season.

I said no, and gave a couple of reasons that I will articulate (hopefully) better in this piece. But I also want to look at the bigger question regarding Arnold.

When will Jackson Arnold see the field? When should he see the field?

It’s a tough question to answer. The former five-star quarterback is one of the highest-recruited players in OU history, and given that the Sooners are coming off a disappointing 6-7 campaign in 2022, some of the fanbase over the next few months is likely and understandably going to push for Arnold to see meaningful snaps right away.

But the coaching staff should resist that temptation. This should be a year that’s focused on helping Arnold grow off the field and avoiding putting pressure on him to produce right away.

It’s certainly not dissimilar to the 2021 situation, but the context is much different.

The Sooners were supposed to be a bonafide title contender in 2021. Rattler was seen as a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite. It made sense for Williams, a former five-star prospect, to wait his turn.

But it eventually made sense for Williams to take over.

The Sooners started 5-0 but narrowly escaped bad losses to bad teams. Rattler was, by his standards, mediocre. When he turned it over twice in the first half against Texas, which helped the Longhorns take a 28-7 lead, it was time for the QB switch. Williams was stellar in a come-from-behind victory.

He was great in the next two games, too, leading OU to wins over TCU and Texas Tech. But I think it’s sometimes forgotten how hard things got for Williams.

He threw for just 178 yards against Kansas, a game the Sooners trailed 10-0 in the first half before somehow finding a way to win. Two weeks later, he had 152 total yards and two interceptions in a 27-17 loss to Baylor. The following week, he had 87 passing yards (though ran for 67) in a 28-21 win over Iowa State.

None of this is a knock on Williams, who had incredible moments that season. The point is that the Sooners were desperate to compete for a championship, which essentially forced them to rely on up-and-down moments from a true freshman.

Of course, the Sooners are desperate to improve on last season, too. They should be better. But they’re likely not going to be competing for a national championship.

They are closer to rebuilding than they are to contending. The team is still undergoing a huge culture shift on and off the field under Brent Venables.

That means there’s no reason to rush Arnold’s development.

The Sooners also still have Gabriel, who is more experienced, more mature than Rattler was in 2021. He's also a lot more familiar with Jeff Lebby's offense compared to Arnold.

Yes, Gabriel and the Sooners’ offense was up-and-down last season. But it’s a safe bet that Gabriel and the offense should have more consistency in Year 2.

It’s an ideal situation for Arnold, who can come in and learn from Gabriel in 2023. It sounds like they’ve already developed a good relationship.

“They’ve hit it off and I knew they would from a personality standpoint,” Lebby said. “Dillon’s an incredibly unselfish guy. He wants to be great himself and he wants everyone around him to be great. He’s finding ways to lead every single day and he’ll continue to do so.”

Now, that doesn’t mean Arnold shouldn’t have a chance to compete for the job or be limited by the staff. The reviews for Arnold among players and the coaching staff have been glowing.

But there’s no reason to force anything. This isn’t 2021. There is plenty of time for Arnold to be OU’s long-tenured starting quarterback, even if it doesn’t happen right away.

A good problem for Patty Gasso and the Sooners’ softball team

Gasso again has the Sooners atop the college softball world, and the fanbase continues to grow.

So much so, the Sooners are struggling to “find” a hostile road environment.

It's a good problem to have.

The Sooners’ fan base has become more and more dedicated in recent years, which includes traveling to many of the team’s road contests. It’s made it to where most road contests feel more like home games at Marita Hynes Field, Gasso said.

Gasso, of course, appreciates the fan support. But she often preaches the need for the Sooners to go through adversity. And to this point, they’ve not yet had to deal with overcoming a road crowd.

Gasso doesn’t expect that to change on Tuesday, when the Sooners will face off at No. 11 LSU in Baton Rouge.

“You walk into a stadium and you're thinking everyone's going to be doing cheers for the other team,” Gasso said. “When you walk in, you hear 'Boomer!' And I'm like, ‘Oh no.’ I want a hostile environment. I want us to feel like we're the underdogs and everything we don't do right is cheered and everything they do right is cheered. I just want them to feel a chaotic environment, a suffocating environment.

“Whatever we can take from it to learn from it is important because we're walking into stadiums that are not our home stadiums and it's a home crowd. It just kind of backfires on some growth at times. I really want to see them up against big time players in a big time environment.”

This kind of "problem" might be the latest example of the Sooners' dominance.