From the high school level to the NFL, quarterback play has become the greatest contributor to winning in the game of football. Teams can certainly win without great quarterback play, but they must have an elite defense and running game to do so.
So when a team lands one of the top quarterbacks in a recruiting class, it’s a big deal.
The Oklahoma Sooners have had their fair share of great quarterbacks over the last 20 years. Sooner quarterbacks have won four Heisman trophies and earned more trips to New York as a finalist as well.
In the 2023 cycle, the Sooners signed [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]. A four-star player at the time of his commitment last January, he has skyrocketed over the last 11 months. From earning Elite 11 MVP honors in the summer to becoming a consensus five-star player, Arnold’s stock has seen incredible growth. He backed that up with an incredible senior season, during which he accounted for 4,400 total yards and 57 touchdowns to help Denton Guyer reach the Texas 6A state semifinals.
He’s the highest-ranked player in the Oklahoma Sooners recruiting class, according to 247Sports. Arnold was the second-longest tenured commitment in the class before signing with Oklahoma on the first day of the early signing period. Pulling the No. 1 player in the state of Texas and the No. 7 player in the class is a huge win for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag].
Arnold’s addition helped ease the loss of Malachi Nelson, who flipped to USC to follow Lincoln Riley last December. Signing Arnold also helped the Sooners answer the Arch Manning signing by Texas.
There are a lot of good quarterbacks out there going to a lot of different places. Let’s take a look at where the top signal-callers landed.