OU's Ben Arbuckle has zeroed in on his next unheralded QB prospect

The Oklahoma Sooners have long been zeroed in on their preferred quarterback for the 2027 recruiting class. This week, OU has been confirmed to still be leading the race for Saraland High School quarterback Jamison Roberts, the player that Sooner Nation hopes can join the incredible lineage of quarterbacks to star at Oklahoma.

Roberts, who is from the Mobile, Alabama area, stands at 6-foot-3, and he weighs 190 pounds. He recently earned a fourth star in Rivals’ updated recruiting rankings, and he still has the Sooners at number one in his recruitment, according to Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong. On Friday, Wiltfong logged another prediction for OU to land Roberts’ services.

Roberts will be in Norman this weekend for OU’s “Future Freaks” event, and the Sooners have long been putting the full-court press on Roberts to make sure he feels the love. However, Roberts’ overall recruitment is the latest example of a trend for Oklahoma offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle that proves he has a keen eye for identifying and developing under-recruited QB prospects.

During his time at Houston Baptist and Western Kentucky, Arbuckle helped current Florida Atlantic head coach Zach Kittley tutor Bailey Zappe, who was an unrated and unranked quarterback. Zappe ended his career with records in multiple FBS single-season categories, and got drafted in the fourth round. In his final season at WKU, Arbuckle coached Austin Reed, another unrated and unranked recruit who put up great numbers for the Hilltoppers and managed to make an NFL practice squad.

When Arbuckle moved to Washington State, he mentored Cameron Ward, yet another unrated and unranked prospect. Ward turned into a superstar at the college level, especially during his last season at Miami, and he was the No. 1 overall pick of last year’s NFL draft.

Finally, Arbuckle’s last year at Wazzu and his first two years at OU have put him alongside John Mateer, a lightly-recruited three-star prospect who was committed to Central Arkansas before he flipped to WSU and former offensive coordinator Eric Morris, a QB guru in his own right. However, it was under Arbuckle that Mateer blossomed into the FBS leader in total touchdowns in 2024 with the Cougars, and helped lead the Sooners to the College Football Playoff in 2025.

Now, with the resources and prestige at Oklahoma that he never would have had at Houston Baptist, Western Kentucky, or Washington State, Arbuckle has preferred to find the diamonds in the rough at quarterback, identifying “his guy” early in the process, and watching him rise up the recruiting rankings.

In the 2025 class, the Sooners had Kevin Sperry committed for months, but when Arbuckle came on the job, Sperry flipped to Florida State, and Oklahoma didn’t have a quarterback. That was until Arbuckle flipped Jett Niu from Oklahoma State on Early Signing Day, and landed his first QB recruit during his OU tenure.

Perhaps the best example of this process came in the 2026 recruiting class. Under former OC/QBC Seth Littrell, the Sooners first looked at Dereon Coleman in the recruiting process, then locked in on Jaden O’Neal, and landed a commitment from him as the quarterback of the future in Norman.

However, Littrell was fired in October of 2024, and Arbuckle was hired in December. Despite having O’Neal committed, Arbuckle preferred Bowe Bentley, and immediately pursued him heavily. Bentley was a low-profile recruit at that time, but he wouldn’t stay that way. He ended up becoming one of the fastest risers in the ’26 class, and a four-star blue-chip recruit by the time his high school career was all said and done. Arbuckle’s early and consistent interest won out in Bentley’s recruitment, as he chose OU over LSU. This meant that the Sooners lost out on O’Neal, but that Arbuckle got “his guy” to run his offense in Bentley. In the end Bentley signed with Oklahoma, O’Neal signed with Florida State, and Coleman signed with Miami.

Now, that process is playing out again in the ’27 class. Littrell had interest in Trae Taylor (Nebraska commit) and Caden Jones, but Arbuckle hasn’t pursued either prospect since taking over the job. Arbuckle’s first choice was Peyton Houston, but after Houston chose hometown LSU, Arbuckle had to move on. He showed some interest in Dane Weber, but ultimately passed. Oklahoma has offered Jonathan Moore and Greydon Howell, but the Sooners likely have them playing defensive back and wide receiver, respectively.

That leaves Roberts as Arbuckle’s clear top choice in the class. Just like with Bentley, Arbuckle identified Roberts early on, despite the three-star passer only having a few lower-profile offers. He’s remained heavily involved as Roberts’ star has risen, and other major schools, especially in the SEC, are starting to show more heavy interest. There’s a long way to go in Roberts’ recruitment, and he has yet to commit to OU, but the Sooners are in good standing with the dual-threat standout.

Arbuckle ran a risk when he honed in on Bentley, and he could have lost out on a big-time QB in the ’26 class. However, his gamble paid off, and now Bentley is Mateer’s heir-apparent. Sooner Nation hopes that the ’27 class doesn’t hold as much drama at quarterback, but Arbuckle has once again clearly found his preferred passer in Roberts.

Perhaps if the Sooners can’t land Roberts, they can take one last run at Houston, who may want to shop around after LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin added USC transfer and class of ’25 QB Husan Longstreet in the portal. Longstreet is Kiffin’s preferred QB of the future, and Arbuckle clearly liked Houston, but Houston has reportedly been locked in with the Tigers, who are much closer to home than the Sooners. It appears to be Roberts-or-bust in Norman.

Back in the Lincoln Riley era, the Sooners would simply find a high-end five-star prospect and get him in the pipeline as the Oklahoma starter (see Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams). That trend continued under Jeff Lebby with Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr., a four-star prospect. Arbuckle is going about things a little differently, and only time will tell if his methods will prove successful in Norman.

However, if Arbuckle can reel in Roberts, he’ll have yet again identified an unheralded signal-caller, and then beaten out his peers in the SEC to sign his priority quarterback target. Arbuckle is prioritizing scheme fit and intangibles over star rankings and hype, and after some of the ballyhooed prospects that Sooner Nation has seen transfer out the door in the last half-decade, a new way of doing things might just pay off for Oklahoma, especially if Roberts is the player Arbuckle believes he is.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma’s Arbuckle identifies quarterbacks faster than everyone else

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