Oklahoma's Jackson Arnold signs with collective Crimson and Cream
Oklahoma‘s highly touted freshman quarterback Jackson Arnold signed an NIL agreement with the Crimson and Cream collective. He announced the news Thursday on Twitter.
As a high school recruit at Denton (Texas) Guyer, Arnold was a Five-Star Plus+ recruit, which is an exclusive status for players who were rated as five-star recruits by all four major recruiting services. Arnold was one of 12 Five-Star Plus+ recruits in the 2023 recruiting class. Arnold is listed at 6-1 and 206 pounds, according to Oklahoma’s roster. Arnold enrolled early in January.
He led Guyer to the 2021 Class 6A Division 2 state championship game, where he completed 18 of 27 attempts for 183 yards and a touchdown in a 40-21 loss to Westlake High School, which was led by now-Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik. Guyer went 14-1 in 2022 but was upset by De Soto in the Class 6A Division 2 semifinal. He was named the 2022-23 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year.
On3 ranked Arnold as the No. 6 prospect in his recruiting class and the No. 3 quarterback recruit, behind only Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, Alabama EDGE signee Keon Keeley, Texas quarterback signee Arch Manning, Oklahoma EDGE Adepoju Adebawore and USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch.
According to the On3 Industry Ranking, Arnold was the No. 8 prospect and No. 4 quarterback recruit.
He committed to Oklahoma in December 2022. He also received reported scholarship offers from schools including LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Ole Miss.
Jackson Arnold’s NIL profile
Jackson Arnold has an On3 NIL Valuation of $769,000. That ranks No. 46 in the On3 NIL 100 and No. 34 among current college football players. He has more than 22,000 Instagram followers and more than 31,000 Twitter followers.
Due to Texas’s state law, Arnold was unable to engage in NIL deals while attending Guyer High School.
The UIL’s published NIL information from 2022 states, “It is the opinion of UIL staff that the student-athlete would be in violation of this section if an agreement was executed prior to the student being enrolled in an institution of higher education, even if the student, or a third-party receiving compensation on behalf of the student, does not receive compensation ‘until all athletic competitions are completed in the 12th grade.'”
Arnold will now have the opportunity to pursue NIL opportunities at Oklahoma.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel announced in early January that he planned to return to Oklahoma so Arnold will share a quarterback room with a veteran who has played in 38 games in his career. Last season, Gabriel threw for 3,168 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions after transferring from UCF.