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Oklahoma football quarterback Jackson Arnold did not have a good outing on Saturday against Tennessee, eventually getting benched for freshman Michael Hawkins by head coach Brent Venables. Oklahoma football is sticking with Hawkins going into Saturday's game against Auburn, but despite the benching, Venables made it clear that he an the team is still behind Arnold.
“We needed some stuff to go right for us in the second half and not enough things did,” Brent Venables said, via Thomas Goldkamp of On3.com. “Just like I told Jackson, ‘Man, that's a bad moment, that's a bad night. That's not a bad career. So stay out of the gutter and focus on getting better.' And that's all of us.”
So far this season, Jackson Arnold has completed 61-of-102 passes for 538 yards, and eventually, as Tennessee continued its dominance over the Sooners on the defensive side of the ball, Venables decided that it was time to make the move to Hawkins. Venables went further on that Arnold has to keep his head down and get better.
“He's got to stay ready, and he understands where he has fallen short in his responsibility,” Venables said, via Goldkamp. “But anything that he puts on tape, to me, starts with us as a coaching staff. You're either coaching it or you're allowing it. … But he understood. He had a great mindset. No surprise. He's a tough guy. He takes responsibility. Didn't make excuses. We know we've seen lots of different scenarios go down, but you put your head down and get better. That's it. That's what you can control. So he's doing that.”
Will Oklahoma football stick with Michael Hawkins in SEC play?
Regardless of who is starting on Saturday against Auburn, Oklahoma football will expect to come out on top, but perhaps the biggest game of the season looms for the Sooners after that. Oklahoma will have a week off before playing the current No. 1 team in the country, Texas, in the Red River Rivalry.
Texas is one of, if not the most talented team in the country, up there with Georgia. Although there are new rivalries for the Sooners in the SEC, the biggest one remains the same.
It will be interesting to see how Hawkins performs this upcoming week, and if Venables decides to stick with him in the Red River Rivalry game against Texas. That will be the biggest thing to keep an eye on with the Oklahoma football program in the coming weeks.
