Alabama analyst takes shocking shot at Auburn football QB Jackson Arnold

Auburn football QB Jackson Arnold has many believers ahead of his Plains debut in 2025. He also has some shockingly abrasive non-believers — most abrasive being former Crimson Tide QB-turned-TV personality Greg McElroy.

McElroy called Arnold “damaged” and questioned if he can ever be healed.

“I think he is damaged right now,” McElroy said on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, per Saturday Down South. “No one can deny that. He was absolutely a damaged player last year and it is going to take a little while to get things rolling. We have seen this before. We have seen this in the NFL. It happens and it isn’t the first time it will happen, and it won’t be the last. Can you avoid the critical mistake that puts you on the bench to begin with? I don’t know the answer to that, and that’s what we are going to find out with Jackson Arnold.”

Arnold is the perfect storm to bother McElroy. He comes from Oklahoma, where he upset Alabama in Week 13 and eliminated the Crimson Tide from College Football Playoff consideration in 2024. He heads to Auburn, a heated rival who he went 1-1 against and got Camback’d against in 2010.

McElroy isn’t typically this judgmental. This was out of character.

It’s not out of character for Arnold to have doubters within the state of Alabama AL.com’s Peter Rauterkus is one of them.

Rauterkus didn’t feel Arnold was the best choice available and said as much within moments after his December 14 decision to transfer to Auburn.

“Point blank, Freeze needs this decision to work out. After Thorne’s struggles in 2023 and then electing not to get a transfer quarterback in 2024, his future at Auburn could depend on how this next quarterback turns out,” Rauterkus wrote., noting that Freeze took Arnold over proven entities like Fernando Mendoza, Miller Moss, Maalik Murphy, and Darian Mensah.

“For better or for worse, though, it’s a risk Freeze was willing to take. Now, it’s on him and his staff to unlock the potential they see in Arnold.”

The Arnold doubters are at least keeping the door open for a comeback at AU. All the great Tiger QBs throughout the years were transfers, with one being outbound but the others being Cam Newton, Nick Marshall, and Jarrett Stidham.