Why Jeff Lebby Believes Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold Will Play at a ‘Very High Level’

DALLAS — Jeff Lebby may no longer be leading Oklahoma’s offense, but he’s confident the unit will still score big points in 2024.

These days, Lebby is concerned about making his first team at Mississippi State.

But he did take some time to support the next generation of attacking play he built with Norman.

Dillon Gabriel expect a great season for the Oregon Ducks, leaving a 5-star quarterback behind Jackson Arnold to take over for Brent Venables and co-offensive coordinators Seth Littrell And Joe Jon Finley.

Lebby identified Arnold as his quarterback early in the recruiting cycle and the former OU offensive coordinator is eager to see how the new quarterback performs in his first year as a full-time starter, especially since Mississippi State and Oklahoma won’t meet in 2024.

“I think anyone who knows that scenario and that relationship knows how I feel about him,” Lebby said of his former quarterback on Wednesday during SEC Media Days.

Arnold played six important quarters of football last year.

He was inserted into the second half of OU’s trip to Provo after Gabriel was subbed out of the game against BYU.

Lebby asked Arnold to take care of the ball in the second half against the Cougars, and the freshman did so.

He completed 5 of 9 passes for 33 yards, including two crucial passes on third-and-long, and kept the Sooners from losing the ball in the second half, winning 31-24.

In the bowl game, Arnold was allowed to throw the ball in the air under Littrell.

The results were mixed.

Arnold completed 26 of 45 passes for 361 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions and fumbled once, leading OU to a 38-24 loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.

With Oklahoma set to reconvene for training camp at the end of the month, Arnold has been working hard to make mental leaps in his game and put his bowl performance behind him.

Lebby is confident that Arnold will show his full potential in the SEC.

“This is a guy who, again, was as good as there was in America when he came out,” Lebby said. “He got better every day for the calendar year that we had and will play at a very high level.”

The work Arnold will have to do under Littrell will also not be significantly different than under Lebby.

Before taking over the Sooners’ plays, Littrell spent a year as an offensive analyst with Lebby.

Throughout his coaching career, which included success as an offensive mastermind at Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina and as head coach at North Texas, Lebby has built a reputation for tailoring his system to the strengths of his squad.

Therefore, his attack is not expected to look much different from Lebby’s powerful units in 2024.

“I think there’s a lot of similarities with a run-the-ball-first mentality, that toughness and the lines of scrimmage,” Lebby said. “There’s a lot of familiarity from a systems standpoint, some of the guys he had recruited at North Texas were guys who had been in the tree for a long time. So he had kind of made that change. He had made that change a lot more into our style.

“He brings a lot of experience. He brings experience as a head coach of the football team. He brings great experience as a coordinator and as a play caller and he’s a guy who’s done it at a very high level. He does well for the people, he does well for the kids and he’s going to fight his ass off for his university.”