Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold will be without one of his expected key weapons in 2024.
The Oklahoma football program is hoping for their first dominant season under third-year head coach Brent Venables, but the 2024 season may not see the Sooners return to the glory days of Bob Stoops, Barry Switzer, and Bud Wilkinson. Not only is Oklahoma starting their first season in the SEC — and boy oh boy, do they have a capital-B Brutal schedule to cope with — but the Sooners have already been bitten by the injury bug, and the season hasn’t yet started.
“We got one player that won’t be back, and we know that is Jayden Gibson,” Brent Venables told a gathering of reporters on Tuesday afternoon, according to SI.com’s John E. Hoover. “You hate it when a season ends prematurely. But that is a bunch of people with whom we are really pleased.”
Brent Venables may be confident in this young bunch of pass catchers who will try to make things easier for first-year starting quarterback Jackson Arnold, but losing someone of Jayden Gibson’s height and ability to a season-ending knee injury will be a setback for the Sooners offensively. Despite little playing time last season, the 6’5″ Gibson was an electric presence, averaging 26.8 yards per reception and taking 6 of 14 catches to the house.
“Jayden Gibson was going to have a big season,” Oklahoma wide receiver JJ Hester stated this week (via Gracie Rawlings of the Oklahoma Daily). “Just to see somebody go down like that with such high character is a travesty.”
