Oklahoma failed to build much offensive momentum in its SEC debut against Tennessee on Saturday night, and Sooners head coach Brent Venables even went so far as to make a change at quarterback during the game, swapping out Jackson Arnold for Michael Hawkins Jr.
After the 25-15 loss and an 0-1 record in the conference ahead of a difficult SEC schedule, Venables says the Sooners’ quarterback position will be reevaluated going forward.
For Kirk Herbstreit the decision has already been made.
“This kid is your quarterback,” he said of Hawkins in the final minutes of the game.
“This is the quarterback here, No. 9, going into next week. He’s done enough in those couple of series in the second half.”
After watching Hawkins make progress on the ground, Herbstreit added, “That’s what this is about. This kid fights for every inch.”
Arnold struggled early on, completing 7 of 16 passes for 54 yards and one interception and losing two fumbles, each on the play immediately after the OU defense forced his opponent, Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava, to fumble.
The former five-star player only managed one of six passes over 10 yards over 12 yards.
“It just didn’t feel right,” Venables said of the quarterback’s play and the subsequent change. “There wasn’t enough other evidence that we were going to get it done.”
Hawkins, a true freshman, played the rest of the game and helped revitalize the Sooners’ offense with 22 rushing yards, his team’s best of the night, and threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jovantae Barnes that capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive in the fourth quarter.
Now Venables must decide whether Hawkins will pick up where he left off next week in Auburn or whether Arnold will get another chance to redeem himself.
“(We) have to evaluate that, figure out who the best man is to get us to No. 4, our fourth win, and do everything we can to prepare, shake off the dust and get right back in the game,” Venables said.
“We have a good enough team to still have a really good year.”
–
More college football from SI: Top 25 ranking | schedule | Team
Follow College Football HQ: bookmark | Rankings | Tips
