Starkel’s commitment to Hogs makes quarterback room more competitive

Arkansas picked up another quarterback Monday and it will make the position exactly what Chad Morris wants — much more competitive.

Former Texas A&M quarterback Nick Starkel made the announcement Monday via Twitter:

The story continues in Fayetteville, Arkansas… pic.twitter.com/bO7TOXHaW6

— Nicholas Starkel (@NickStarkel) March 5, 2019

Morris has said for a year now he wants competition and the Razorbacks are always shopping for quarterbacks, which some people scratch their heads over, but is how it’s done in college football today.

You think Alabama or Clemson aren’t trying to get the best quarterbacks every single year? Just remember in the last three national championship games freshmen quarterbacks have been on the winning side.

It’s all about competition. If you think Morris is going to just announce a quarterback and ride with him, you’re about a decade or so behind the times.

“It’s not a lifetime appointment,” he has said about naming a starter.

Some think incoming freshman KJ Jefferson will be “the guy” after a freshman season where the guess is he’ll be given appearances in up to four games and, depending on how he handles it, will either be on the field or redshirted.

He’s going to have to beat out a bunch of people. Whether they are better or not remains to be seen. We’ve seen a whole slew of great high school quarterbacks disappear in the SEC because, well, it’s an entirely different world.

Starkel was rated a four-star coming out of Argyle, Texas, Christian (and if you don’t know where that is, it’s just off 35-West between Fort Worth and Denton. A lot of pretty good quarterbacks have come out of the area.

He’s 6-foot-3, 218 pounds and will be around for two years. Morris pretty much had him nailed down before his official visit this past weekend in Fayetteville, which is when they closed the deal.

Starkel will be on campus this summer and here’s how the quarterback room breaks down (at least now):

• Ben Hicks, senior
• Nick Starkel, junior
• Jack Lindsey, junior
• Daulton Hyatt, sophomore
• Connor Noland, redshirt freshman
• John Stephen Jones, redshirt freshman
• KJ Jefferson, freshman

Hicks likely will have an advantage coming out of spring. He’s played for Morris before and is basically a graduate assistant with a year of eligibility left.

In just a couple of months, he’s already had a positive impact on everybody on the offensive side of the ball, according to players and coaches. You get the idea he basically ran the offensive workouts before spring drills and he’s helped everyone decipher what Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock are wanting and expecting.

There will be more getting-acquainted sessions starting in June, especially with some receivers coming in that have the potential to be as good as anything to come through Fayetteville.

But for now, Starkel’s arrival will shove the competitive level up a couple of notches.

And that can only help things come September.