During a time in college football when some programs have seven-year veterans at quarterback, the Sooners will be led by a sophomore with one full game of experience. 

Jackson Arnold will be QB1 for Oklahoma this upcoming season. He started OU’s bowl game against Arizona and threw a pass in just four games last season, completing 44-of-69 with four touchdowns. He also threw three interceptions — all of which came in that lone start against Arizona. 

And as he endures his own learning experiences of playing through a full Division I football schedule for the first time, Arnold will also guide the program into its own unknown, as OU enters its first season in the SEC. 

“After that Arizona game, there was a lot of maturing and a lot of growing up that I had to do,” Arnold said at SEC Media Days. “Stepping into that QB1 role, I had to be a real leader for us, for our team, and just stepping into that role, I know I need to mature as a person, as a player too. And the person that I am now and the player that I am now has improved drastically from where I was in that bowl game.” 

Although Arnold will eventually learn from experience throughout OU’s season, his teammates are trying to prepare their young quarterback before the Sooners even take the field in their season opener against Temple on Friday, Aug. 30. Help for the rookie quarterback has come through advice from those who already have that experience Arnold will soon gain, or as simple as trying to make sure Arnold has as much time as possible to make decisions from the pocket. 

“He’s a dude,” tight end Jake Roberts said. “He can sling it, for sure. It’s been great working with him. Being a younger guy, too, I feel like I’m able to help him with some of the experience side of things, playing a lot of football. He’s got the talent, obviously, and I just try to help him out when I can, but he’s great. It’s been great working with him.”

This offseason, Roberts transferred to OU with exposure to 49 games in four seasons with now three different programs after joining the Sooners. More over, he started his career at North Texas, where he played under OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, who was the Mean Green’s head coach at the time. 

Roberts played under Littrell for three seasons, then left for Baylor when Littrell was fired and went to OU as an offensive analyst. Roberts started 22 games for Littrell after immediately seeing the field as a freshman in 2020, a year in which Arnold was still a sophomore backup down the road at Guyer High School in Denton, TX. 

“That experience, you can tell Jake’s played ball,” Arnold said. “Alongside that, he’s played with Coach Littrell, too. He knows how Coach Littrell operates, what he wants in the offense. So going out and running it and executing those plays that he’s known how to do has been big for us. And even teaching those young guys how those plays are supposed to be run.” 

Like Roberts, offensive lineman Febechi Nwaiwu also eventually followed Littrell from Denton to Norman. Nwaiwu was at UNT for three years before transferring this past offseason. He played for Littrell two of those seasons, however, he redshirted his first year on campus in 2021. Once he got on the field as a redshirt freshman, Nwaiwu was named a second-team Freshman All-American by The Athletic and third-team Freshman All-American by College Football News after starting 12 of 14 games. His production dipped last season with Littrell gone, starting seven games and missing two because of injury. 

“We want all of our quarterbacks to feel like they’ve got all the time in the world, especially Jackson,” Nwaiwu said. “We want him to be back there and be able to set the ball down and take a drink if he has to. We want him to have all of his options available, whoever he wants to throw to. Just give him enough time to punch it in there.” 

So far, Arnold has gotten by with a little help from his friends.

Already during fall camp, OU coach Brent Venables noted Arnold’s improved decision-making and running back Jovantae Barnes praised Arnold’s growth as a leader. 

“Jackson understands better than anybody what goes into being a quarterback of a football team,” Venebles said, “of the locker room, the leader, the face, the responsibilities, the challenges.”

Oklahoma wide receiver Jayden Gibson is expected to miss the 2024 season after suffering a significant knee injury during a fall camp practice last week, Sooners coach Brent Venables confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

Gibson, a junior from Winter Garden, Florida, was viewed as a potential breakout star for Oklahoma in 2024 after he caught 14 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore last fall. The 6-foot-5 pass catcher injured his knee in practice last Tuesday, and a subsequent MRI revealed damage that will keep Gibson on the sidelines for Oklahoma’s debut SEC campaign this fall.

“You hate that for anybody, the season comes to an end prematurely,” Venables told reporters Tuesday. “But that’s a group that we feel really good about who’s in that group.”

Gibson joined the Sooners in the 2022 class as the No. 274 prospect in the ESPN 300 and No. 36 wide receiver in the nation. He flashed promise for the 2024 season in the late stages of his sophomore year last fall, tallying six catches for 196 yards and three touchdowns over Oklahoma’s final three regular-season games.

Gibson’s injury comes at a position of depth for the Sooners in a unit expected to be led by Purdue transfer Deion Burks. The 5-foot-9 junior caught 47 passes for 629 yards with seven touchdowns for the Boilermakers last fall and headlines a talented group of Oklahoma pass catchers that returns Jalil Farooq (45 catches, 692 yards), Nic Anderson (38 catches, 798 yards, 10 touchdowns), Andrel Anthony (27 catches, 429 yards before a season-ending knee injury) and Brenen Thompson (seven catches, 421 yards) in 2024.

Oklahoma opens Venables’ third season at home against Temple on Aug. 30 as the 16th-ranked team in the Associated Press Preseason Poll.

This article was originally published in Oklahoma Voice.

OKLAHOMA CITY — A contract founding the nation’s first religious charter school is now void, but it could be reestablished if the U.S. Supreme Court were to rule in favor of the school.

In its fourth time considering the measure, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board finally agreed on Monday to rescind its contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, effectively blocking the school from opening as a state-funded entity. St. Isidore, named for the patron saint of the internet, had already agreed not to attempt to open nor accept public funding in the 2024-25 school year.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court decided on June 25 that the concept of a publicly funded, state-established school that endorses a religion is unlawful and unconstitutional. In doing so, the Court ordered the state board to invalidate St. Isidore’s founding charter contract.

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The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, which created the school, pledged to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Advocates for St. Isidore say denying the school of public funds because it is Catholic violates the right to religious freedom.

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The board’s unanimous vote on Monday included a provision to reinstate the contract if the U.S. Supreme Court “reverses, vacates or otherwise nullifies” the state Supreme Court’s ruling. Father Stephen Hamilton, pastor of St. Monica Catholic Church in Edmond, prays before a meeting of the Statewide Charter School Board on Aug. 12 at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

The Statewide Charter School Board had declined multiple times to void the contract, instead voting July 30 to join Catholic officials in their appeal strategy. The board’s cooperation with Catholic officials was evident again on Monday when it had Father Stephen Hamilton, of St. Monica Catholic Church in Edmond, pray at the beginning of its meeting.

Chairperson Brian Shellem said the board was waiting for an appeals window to close and for further clarification from the Court on the ruling. He said last month that the board intended to follow the Court order but didn’t want to “short circuit” the legal process.

“Our board is always going to be in compliance with a court order,” Shellem said after Monday’s meeting. “Now, there’s those who wanted to rush the process, but there was a process and this board will always respect the process.”

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Shellem said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet been filed.

The odds are long that the nation’s highest court will take up the case. The U.S. Supreme Court receives more than 7,000 requests a year to review cases, of which it agrees to hear about 100 to 150.

Meanwhile, pressure to rescind the contract mounted from Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who sued to strike down the school. Drummond asked the state Supreme Court to threaten a contempt citation against the board members if they again refused to follow the order in their meeting Monday.

Anyone held in contempt of a court order could face a fine of up to $500 or imprisonment up to six months, or both, according to state law.

“While it is appalling that the board took so long to recognize the authority of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, I am pleased that board members finally fulfilled their duty,” Drummond said in a statement after the meeting. “The proposed state-sponsored religious charter school, funded by our tax dollars, represents a serious threat to the religious liberty of all four million Oklahomans.”

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and X.