Jackson Arnold took a lot away from his roller coaster of a redshirt freshman season at Oklahoma.

What he remembers most is the adversity.

“To be quite honest it’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through my entire life,” Arnold told reporters Wednesday when talking about last season.

Arnold spent two seasons in Norman before transferring to Auburn following the 2024 campaign. He redshirted in 2023, but was the starter for the most of the 2024 season, a year in which he was benched, saw his offensive coordinator fired and watched as just about every single one of his wide receivers fell victim to various injuries.

The result was a topsy-turvy experience that ended with the Sooners finishing 6-7, Arnold throwing for less than 2,000 yards and eventually finding himself in the transfer portal.

“I feel like with everything that happened last year, I felt like it was best for me,” Arnold said. “College football is a business now, just being real. If you’re not thinking about yourself, then you’re really not making the right decisions. And I felt like it was best for me and my career moving on just to get a new scenery, just kind of have a hard reset and get in the position and the place that was going to support me fully.”

That process eventually brought Arnold to Auburn, a decision that was due in part to Hugh Freeze and the staff’s early and persistent interest. Arnold said Auburn was one of the first teams to contact him while he was in the portal.

“They stressed how much they wanted me out of the portal, too,” Arnold said. “It’s nice to feel wanted.”

Another reason for Arnold’s move to the Plains was his fit within the system.

Auburn’s offense includes a lot of run-pass option schemes, something that Arnold was already comfortable with from his time at Oklahoma. Freeze even described Arnold as more of a “pocket-style RPO guy” when Auburn was preparing to face Oklahoma in 2024.

Now playing for Freeze, Arnold is embracing the RPO system and the change of scenery he has in Auburn.

“I feel like I fit very well,” Arnold said. “That was one of the things he told me out of the portal, too, he knows what we did in high school and in college and our schemes, my scheme has always been very similar to what Coach Freeze runs. I know what he expects out of the RPO system, and just his system in general.”

Early impressions on Arnold have been positive around Auburn, with Freeze praising his decision making so far in spring practice. That’s especially significant given the effect turnovers had on the offense last season.

“There’s a reason he was Gatorade Player of the Year coming out of high school,” Freeze said. “I think he needed a (restart) to regain some confidence. I think he’s doing that at a fast, fast pace.”

This spring is a unique situation for Arnold and true freshman quarterback Deuce Knight, as they’re the only scholarship quarterbacks practicing. That makes the reps even more concentrated than normal, something that’s helpful for two players coming into a new system.

Spring practice is coming to an end for Auburn with A-Day being held on Saturday. For Arnold, he said this has been the best spring of his career.

It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last, that a player has said that, but it is Arnold’s first spring in college away from Oklahoma.

He was asked if he feels any pressure given Auburn’s shaky quarterback play over the past few years, but he said more of his personal motivation comes internally, not from anything that happened at Auburn before him.

“I try to be a perfectionist. My expectations for myself are always high,” Arnold said. “But I don’t feel like there’s added pressure on me to come in and fix things. I just want to come in and just do my thing and do what I know I can do.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m