Oklahoma opens preseason training camp this week, and the Sooners have some questions to get answered during the month of August.

In this series, Sooners on SI will attempt to provide some answers ahead of camp.

Last in the series is a look inside Oklahoma’s quarterbacks room. 

Coach Brent Venables confidently stated during spring practice that Oklahoma’s quarterback room is in better shape in 2024 than it was in his previous two years.

From a depth standpoint, that seems irrefutable. 

From an experience standpoint — not so much.

Aside from starter Jackson Arnold’s one career start last year in the Alamo Bowl, only sixth-year senior Casey Thompson has game experience.

“There was a lot of unknown after Jackson,” Venables said.

Thompson started 23 games and played in 35 at Texas, Nebraska and Florida Atlantic. Now he’s wrapping up his compelling college football career at his dream school, his dad’s school, but even that comes with a significant hitch: Thompson is coming off major knee surgery from an injury last fall.

Michael Hawkins seemed to win the backup job in spring as Thompson rehabbed his knee, but Hawkins — ultra-talented as he may be — is a true freshman. So is Brendan Zurbrugg.

“I feel like we have more guys there than what we had a year ago,” Venables said.

That’s not under dispute. Four scholarship QBs is better than three. And with Gabriel settling in at Oregon, Davis Beville off to South Carolina, walk-on General Booty now at Louisiana Monroe and walk-on Jacob Switzer having moved on, new offensive coordinator Seth Littrell watched four of his five quarterbacks transfer out of Norman.

“That’s the depth at the position more than we had a year ago,” Venables said.

But Venables thinks the upgrade this year goes beyond just numbers.

He’s talked about leadership, of course, and how that’s continuing to grow and evolve. But he’s also described OU’s improved athletic ability and natural talent and big, explosive passing arms at the position. 

OU has loads of the latter. 

“We feel good about it,” Venables said.

Arnold has said he wasn’t fully ready for the spotlight of being the Oklahoma starting quarterback when he took the field last December against Arizona.

He said the Wildcats’ defense tricked him and surprised him in the Alamo Bowl, that he misread some things and threw some passes that he shouldn’t have.

It was a roller-coaster ending to his true freshman season.

But this is Oklahoma. Expectations are galactically high. Just Monday, Arnold was on the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award as college football’s top overall player.

Josh Heupel won a national title here. Jason White won a Heisman. So did Sam Bradford, while setting NCAA records. Landry Jones shattered OU’s career passing marks. Baker Mayfield won three straight Big 12 titles and played in two playoff games while also winning a Heisman. Kyler Murray also won a Heisman and helped redefine the position. Jalen Hurts was a Heisman runner-up and elevated the position with his leadership.  

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

One full calendar year studying the game under Gabriel — and former offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby — should have given Arnold a firm foundation as he takes the reins. 

But he’ll need to raise his game in 2024. None of those other OU legends played against an SEC schedule like Arnold will in his first full college season as a starting quarterback.

Arnold also needs to just be himself. He doesn’t need to complete 75 percent of his passes or rush for 1,000 yards. He received the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a senior at Denton Guyer High School for a reason: he’s a really good football player.

Stats will come (even against the SEC). Awards may follow. But if Arnold can avoid catastrophic turnovers and lead the OU offense to points, the Sooners will win games — and that’s all the fan base wants, although they sure like those giant statues on the east side of Memorial Stadium, too.

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with this position for sure,” Arnold said. “Again, at the end of the day, I just gotta go out and perform to the best of my abilities and hope I live up to that lineage.”

Although Thompson probably disagrees, it’s close to even money that Hawkins will get the first backup reps on Aug. 30 when the Sooners take on Temple.

Hawkins earned that opportunity last spring. A highly dynamic dual-threat QB from Frisco (TX) Emerson via Allen, TX, the 6-foot-1, 204-pound Hawkins was the quarterback MVP at the 2023 Dallas Rivals Camp, won the Accuracy Challenge Award at the 2023 Dallas Under Armour Next Camp, and was an Elite 11 Finalist. 

At Emerson — an almost brand new school still accumulating talent — he led his squad to the Texas 5A semifinals with 4,211 yards total offense and 55 touchdowns with only three interceptions in 15 games. He was district MVP as a senior and was first-team all-district as a junior.

Hawkins excited his coaches and teammates with his steady, spectacular performance in spring practice — all while Thompson was made to sit out while rehabbing his knee.

However, Thompson was fully cleared earlier this summer. He has no restrictions, Venables said. He’ll probably still need a little extra time to get into game shape — he’ll be 26 in October — so expect him to be the emergency QB in September.

But when SEC play arrives, don’t be surprised to see Thompson on the field as Arnold’s primary backup. He’s played in and won numerous big games in his career, has accumulated 5,338 yards and 52 TD passes, and it seems likely that Venables will lean on that kind of experience as the schedule gets tougher.