Former Texas A&M quarterback Nick Starkel went into more details about his commitment to Arkansas Tuesday, and head coach Chad Morris discussed how adding him will boost the competition in the quarterback room.

Starkel, 6-2, 218, will have two years of immediate eligibility remaining for the Hogs. Other schools besides Arkansas made contact with him including Florida State, Ohio State, Louisville, Washington State, Georgia Tech, Duke, Memphis, Rutgers and others. Starkel was going to visit Florida State later this month, but he is no longer going to take that visit. His commitment to the Hogs came after making an official visit to Fayetteville last Friday.

“On Nick, as I have shared all along, we're always in the quarterback market,” Morris said on Tuesday when asked about Starkel. “It doesn't matter we're always in that market. It's my job to make sure every room, not just the quarterback room, can continue to improve. That's on me. To make sure we have competition in all areas. Coaches understand that. Tides rise all boats. So I think what you are seeing is you will see the competition level in all rooms, especially the quarterback room, adding Nick in there will be a huge addition for us as well. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the competition it brings in that room.”

“I would’ve signed two days ago if they would’ve let me," Starkel said Tuesday. "But I think there’s got to be a verification of graduation sent to them on my behalf, and I can start I think technically working out with the team, all player-led workouts that aren’t involved with coaches I think I can start that whenever I get there in June. I plan on moving to Fayetteville in June while still taking an online class here at Texas A&M.”

As a redshirt-freshman in 2017, Starkel was the starter for the Aggies in their season opener against UCLA. Unfortunately, he broke his ankle in that game, but he returned to the field in Week 8. He finished the 2017 season with 1,793 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions with a 60 percent completion rate under former head coach Kevin Sumlin. When Jimbo Fisher took over as Texas A&M’s coach in 2018, Starkel and Kellen Mond competed for a starting job in the off-season, but Mond eventually won the battle and was the Aggie’s starting quarterback throughout 2018. Starkel finished his redshirt-sophomore season with 169 yards and a touchdown.

“In terms of learning the playbook, I don’t think that that’s going to be that hard of a thing. It’s an offense that I could pick up on really quickly,” Starkel said. “I sat in on one position meeting and I went out there and I could have run that offense, I’m very confident in that. Talking with the coaches, terminology’s going to be a big difference. You know, a curl-flat is a curl-flat in every offense, it’s just what you call it. So, I’m not too worried about learning the playbook, I know that will come. That will be natural. It’s something I’m obviously going to work towards, but that’s the entrance fee. So, I’m excited about that.”

Starkell will be joining a quarterback room in Fayetteville that already features one grad-transfer in Ben Hicks. Hicks, who played two of his three seasons at SMU under Morris, set several passing records at his former school, including passing yards, attempts, completions and touchdowns. He is already enrolled at the UA and is participating in spring practice.

The Razorbacks’ 2019 quarterbacks also include redshirt-sophomore Daulton Hyatt and two redshirt-freshmen in Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones. Noland appeared in four games last year and made one start. The multi-sport athlete finished the season 21 of 43 with 255 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Jones made three appearances last season and went 1 of 6 with an interception. 2019 four-star signee KJ Jefferson of Sardis (Miss.) North Panola will join Arkansas’ quarterback room when he arrives on campus this summer.