Kirk Herbstreit sees 'rebuilt' Jackson Arnold with Auburn, Hugh Freeze

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has seen a rebuilt Jackson Arnold through three games at Auburn following his transfer from Oklahoma. Arnold’s bounce back under Hugh Freeze is certainly notable, per Herbstreit.

Arnold and Auburn are off to a 3-0 start, looking solid on offense and all around as well. Now, the Tigers will head to Oklahoma on Saturday as Arnold returns to his former stomping grounds.

As Herbstreit said, Arnold has stepped it up a notch as a dual-threat quarterback this season. It’s early, but the Freeze effect is real.

“Well, I think that Hugh Freeze, first of all, has kind of rebuilt him,” Herbstreit said on SportsCenter. “I think he lost his confidence last year. I think last year, as an offense that Oklahoma lost their top six receivers, they became very predictable. 

“You can see what he’s done running the football. To me, it’s the thing that’s really standing out. You can see his QBR is great. He’s playing much better, playing within the structure of the offense. But this is an offense that’s built on their running game, and he’s a big part of that, to give them that plus-one look for defense staff to contend with. But I would say the first three weeks of the season, this is a great storyline: Jackson Arnold coming back to Norman.”

Through three games this season, Arnold has 501 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions, a 69.6% completion percentage, 192 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Arnold has eight total touchdowns this season after scoring 15 in 10 games just last season for Oklahoma.

ESPN’s Jordan Rodgers took it a step further earlier this week. He mentioned how this will be the Arnold revenge tour, beginning in Norman.

“I am just intrigued, so anxious to see Jackson Arnold in what I’m kind of calling the start of his revenge tour,” Rodgers said. “I know Oklahoma fans that feel a certain way about him, that’s totally fine.

“He got a lot of criticism for things that were outside of his control. He also got a lot of criticism because he didn’t play very well. And both things can be true at the same time.”

Oklahoma and Auburn will square off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will air live on ABC.