Jackson Arnold's last shot? Former five-star QB starts fresh at UNLV in 2026 bounce-back bid
Jackson Arnold is getting used to Las Vegas. Sin City is a far cry from Auburn, Alabama, or Norman, Oklahoma, after all. He doesn't get recognized when he's out to dinner, and his profile as a quarterback in town can fly under the radar with No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza (who he met years ago at the Manning Passing Academy) debuting for the Raiders.
There was a time when Arnold looked like he could have been on that track as a dominant high school QB in Texas, but so far, his career is a far cry from the promise his five-star status suggested, derailed by multiple factors both inside and outside his control.
He arrived at UNLV in January looking for a second chance at a second chance with a Rebels program that, under head coach Dan Mullen, has a valid shot at the Group of Six's College Football Playoff bid in a Mountain West that has lost stalwart Boise State. In this edition of our 2026 bounce-back series, how is Arnold hoping to get back on track?
Arnold reunites with Corey Dennis
UNLV offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis told Arnold he'd eventually coach him. Dennis remembers a teenager at Guyer High School near Dallas, one of the meccas of high school football. Arnold's team was facing off against powerhouse Allen back in 2021. His 307 passing yards and two touchdowns impressed Dennis, who was then at Ohio State. It proved Arnold could hang on a big stage. The Buckeyes offered days later, joining a list of national powers in pursuit of Arnold, like Notre Dame, LSU and Alabama. The young signal caller opted to go to Oklahoma, but Dennis had a message for him when he got the bad news.
"You can get mad at a kid for making the decision that they think is best for themselves, or you can wish a kid best and not burn any bridges," Dennis told CBS Sports. "And the joke was, hey, man, it might be at the Dallas Cowboys in the next 10 years, but who knows, I'm gonna find a way to coach you."
After one year backing up Dillon Gabriel with the Sooners, Arnold became the starter in an ill-fated 2024 season that was a disaster offensively for multiple reasons, including the complete decimation of Arnold's receiving corps due to injury and a revolving door at offensive line that featured eight starting fives in the first nine games. He was benched after three first-half turnovers against Tennessee in his first SEC game, then turned to again later in the season. A blowout upset over Alabama late in the season showed off his running ability, but the passing game never took flight, and even Brent Venables admitted at SEC Media Days last year that OU tried to keep Arnold and acknowledged his former QB in a near-impossible situation.
"I know this, without reservation, he's gonna play this game a long time at a really high level," Venables said. "Unfortunately for him, everything around him wasn't helping him be successful. He had no chance in some ways under the circumstances and dealt a really bad hand."
Arnold shuffled the deck and transferred to Auburn for 2025, where the hand looked better heading into the season with head coach Hugh Freeze saying his team had six NFL-ready offensive linemen and great receiving prospects to throw to in Eric Singleton and Cam Coleman. But as is common with Freeze's teams, chaos won out, and the coach was fired on Nov. 2. A training camp interaction where Freeze threw a visor and lit into Arnold for missing a would-be touchdown went viral before the season even started, and after Freeze was out at Auburn, he came under fire for placing blame on the quarterback for the demise of his tenure. The season also featured an unfortunate return to Norman, where he was sacked nine times, including on a safety on a late fourth down that effectively ended the game. It was clear to Arnold that new head coach Alex Golesh wanted his own QB, so he hit the portal again.
"I think the kid was a scapegoat for two regimes," Dennis said. "I don't understand how a kid could be one of the best high school players truly in the country and then all of a sudden, just like the kid just stinks? He doesn't know how to throw? That makes no sense."
A different portal experience
Arnold's first foray into the portal was not quite predestined, but he says it was pretty clear Auburn was where he'd end up. When he went through the process a second time, he was more willing to let the portal process play out and was open to different landing spots. Much to his surprise, Anthony Colandrea announced he was leaving UNLV around Christmas, and his second portal process took a turn.
Portal recruiting processes move fast, and have little of the wooing that goes on in the high school recruiting process. For all the bemoaning that recruiting relationships matter less in the rev-share era, they can still help in the portal process if a player wants to get closer to home or is looking for a comfortable landing spot, like Arnold, after a few rough years. Dennis built a relationship with Arnold for three years while he was a high schooler, and, along with Mullen's chief of staff, Lee Davis, who had been at OU with Arnold, those personal connections created a comfort that helped make UNLV the right spot for him. The Rebels had only one quarterback come in for a portal visit, and Arnold took only one visit. He showed up in Vegas looking to commit, and it was not purely a mercenary endeavor.
"I feel like I needed to be around people that I trusted and that I've had a previous relationship with, and you know, some dudes that I know you know want the best for me and in my career," Arnold said. "Coach Mullen's offense a little more pro style than I've been in, I feel like for the next level, and I feel like offense like that would help me out, help develop me more, and obviously you know Coach Mullen's got a pedigree with quarterbacks that he's coached, so that was a big part of it too, just seeing his development and who he's developed and the people he's been around, I think those are things that I was looking for."
Arnold doesn't come to UNLV as the clear QB1, with over a month to go before training camp. Former Michigan transfer Alex Orji remains in the QB room from last year and was the running complement to Colandrea until he suffered a season-ending knee and hamstring injury last September. The injury was still limiting Orji in the spring. Mullen is no stranger to playing two quarterbacks, having done it multiple times going back to his days as Florida's offensive coordinator. Orji and Colandrea were actually on the field together to start the 2025 season, a nod to how tight the race for the starting job was then.
Re-learning to cut it loose
Last year, Dennis and Mullen were trying to get Colandrea to rein it in. The former Virginia QB threw 11 interceptions the season before getting to UNLV. For Arnold, who has a proclivity to scramble himself into trouble, the advice is the opposite.
"It was funny, Coach Mullen wants me to actually in practice to stop scrambling to run. He wants me to start throwing up 50/50 balls or whatnot, things I probably wouldn't throw in-game, and he's like just do it now while you can and try to see how much you can get away with," Arnold said. "We'll do some QB run stuff, naturally, that is part of my game, so I think some of that stuff will get put in throughout the year, without a doubt, but I think his emphasis for me is developing as a passer and really reading out progressions in the pocket and getting better in the aspect of the game."
On Sept. 12, UNLV will play North Texas in Denton, and Arnold will get a chance to go home, 15 minutes from where Dennis first saw him star. With friends and family in attendance, a freer version of the player might just re-emerge, hopefully unburdened from the adversity that has so far defined his career.
"I just remember a kid from high school that freaking ripped it, and trust every throw, and now it's like, no, you can make these throws, make the throw, and so it's kind of cool to see and do, and you know, every kid has different stories as they go through it," Dennis said.
Add CBS Sports on GoogleBadenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
Venezuela Fury and Noah Price subsidising their life by livestreaming
Venezuela Fury and her husband Noah Price look to be making their own way in the world by raking it in from their lucrative social media accounts.
The influencer daughter of Tyson and Paris Fury, 16, has become an internet sensation after tying the knot with her husband Noah, 19, earlier this year.
Since getting married and moving in together the couple have been earning thousands of pounds a month, livestreaming their life as newlyweds in their static caravan in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
And fans can't get enough of their regular life updates on TikTok and Kick, which have proved to be very profitable for the pair.
They look to be supporting themselves after Noah denied that he was given £5million by Venezuela's family as a wedding gift.
Despite his wife's huge family wealth, an estimated combined £160 million, Noah recently told his Kick followers that he 'pays for everything' for the couple.
Making light of the claims about Venezuela's millionaire financial status, Noah said: 'I actually pay for everything unfortunately. You'd expect the millionaire to pay for it wouldn't you.'
Venezuela Fury and Noah Price are earning thousands livestreaming their caravan life - after her new groom insisted he pays all the bills and denied he had £5m handout from her dad
The influencer daughter of Tyson and Paris Fury , 16, has become an internet sensation after tying the knot with her husband Noah, 19, earlier this year
Venezuela then asked their fans: 'Do you think I am a millionaire?'
Noah joked: 'She isn't a secret millionaire guys', before she broke into song and sang: 'But I live like a millionaire!'
But it seems according to estimated calculations from their social media work, Noah and Venezuela can more than afford to support themselves.
Noah has been livestreaming on platforms such as Kick and TikTok, where viewers can send paid gifts or donations.
He was previously encouraging viewers to send gifts on his honeymoon during livestreams, suggesting this is one revenue stream.
Both Noah and Venezuela have built substantial followings on Instagram and TikTok. They can potentially earn money through sponsored posts, brand collaborations, affiliate links and creator payouts.
Kick allows its creators to take home 95 per cent of the £4.99 subscription cost that fans pay.
Streamers keep 100 per cent of direct tips and donations, minus minor standard payment processing fees.
It is unclear how many subscribers Noah currently has because this information is hidden, but he does have 7,200 followers which is publicly viewable.
An industry insider has suggested Noah is making around £400 per video on TikTok, while Venezuela is likely to make £2,000 due to her following count of 1.3 million.
An industry insider has suggested Noah is making around £400 per video on TikTok, while Venezuela is likely to make £2,000 due to her following count of 1.3 million
In one video on their honeymoon, Noah asked his followers if they'd give them some more gifts now that they were married.
In a TikTok live viewed by 20,000 he said: 'Keep liking our videos people, keep sending gifts.'
After saying thank you to several of his followers he joked they should stick around on the livestream and 'watch Venezuela punch me in the mouth'.
The other half of the honeymooning couple said: 'I am, honestly!'
Noah previously confirmed that the pair don't share their finances after they were asked whether they have a shared bank account.
'She earns her money, I earn mine,' said Noah, as Venezuela joked: 'Yeah, what you gonna do about it.'
Noah went on to debunk the rumour that Tyson gave him £5million when he tied the knot with his daughter as he insisted: 'No Tyson did not give me £5million'.
Meanwhile Venezuela is being eyed up by executives for a fly on the wall TV series.
Noah went on to debunk the rumour that Tyson gave him £5million when he tied the knot with his daughter as he insisted: 'No Tyson did not give me £5million'
Boasting 1.3 million TikTok followers, Venezuela is already entertaining fans with her honest musings and candid moments, from cooking to kitting out her and Noah's static caravan home.
And following the success of the Netflix series At Home With The Furys, it is no wonder bosses are wanting to draw on the Fury popularity.
A TV insider said: 'The couple are not A-list celebrities but everyone has become obsessed with their love story.
'People are genuinely intrigued by them. Whether it’s the fact they have married so young, Venezuela’s famous family or their gypsy lifestyle, they have the ‘X factor'.
'Several TV executives think a proper fly-on-the-wall series following their lives as newlyweds in the gypsy community would be fascinating,' they told The Sun.
It is thought Netflix would be likely to produce the series due to their already established relationship with the Furys.
Venezuela's representatives told The Daily Mail: 'We have many offers on the table regarding Venezuela which we are discussing.'
