Auburn football quarterback Jackson Arnold has numerous supporters as his Plains debut in 2025 approaches. He also features some surprisingly harsh non-believers — the harshest being former Crimson Tide QB-turned-TV figure Greg McElroy.
McElroy referred to Arnold as “damaged” and doubted whether he could ever recover.
“I believe he is hurting at the moment,” McElroy stated on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, according to Saturday Down South. “Nobody can dispute that.” Last year, he was definitely a troubled player, and it will take some time to get things moving again. We’ve encountered this previously. This has been observed in the NFL. It occurs, and this isn’t the first instance of it happening, nor will it be the last. Can you steer clear of the crucial error that lands you on the sidelines from the start? “I’m not sure about that, and that’s what we will discover with Jackson Arnold.”
Arnold is the ideal disturbance for McElroy. He hails from Oklahoma, where he surprised Alabama in Week 13 and knocked the Crimson Tide out of College Football Playoff contention in 2024. He goes to Auburn, a fierce opponent with whom he has a 1-1 record and faced a comeback loss in 2010.
For better or worse, however, it’s a gamble Freeze was prepared to embrace. Now, it’s up to him and his team to realize the potential they perceive in Arnold.
The Arnold skeptics are at least leaving the possibility of a comeback at AU. Throughout the years, all of the outstanding Tiger quarterbacks were transfers, with one leaving the program while the others included Cam Newton, Nick Marshall, and Jarrett Stidham.
