FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas suddenly finds itself with a crowded quarterback room.
After picking up Ben Hicks from SMU, the Razorbacks added Texas A&M graduate transfer Nick Starkel to the mix this week. That gives them six scholarship quarterbacks for the 2019 season.
Head coach Chad Morris reiterated Tuesday that he is always in the quarterback market, something he has said multiple times the last few months, and that it is his job to improve every position. With Starkel, the second-year coach believes he has found the right fit and one with SEC experience.
“He’s got an extremely strong arm, that’s one of the things that really stands out,” Morris said. “I think everybody that has been around him just talks about the quality of a person that he is.”
Starkel won’t join the team until this summer, though, giving Hicks even more of an advantage in the race - which he already has a leg up in because of his time with Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock at SMU.
Through three spring practices, Morris is pleased with the energy his former quarterback has brought to the position and the entire team.
“I think he’s done everything that he’s supposed to do as a grad transfer coming in,” Morris said about Hicks. “You come in and you put your head down and you don’t say much and you earn the respect of your teammates by working.”
Now in his second month at Arkansas, Hicks has built a great rapport with the other quarterbacks and gained their respect, Morris said. He has also been sort of a coach on the field for the younger players.
“He’s taken a lot of reps with the ones and twos and threes - he’s taken all of those types, it doesn’t matter,” Morris said. “What’s impressive is when you watch him coach some of the other quarterbacks that are on the field, as well.”
Included in that group for the first time Tuesday was Connor Noland. After missing the first two practices because of baseball, the redshirt freshman was in the helmet-only stage required by the NCAA while most of the team added shoulder pads.
Despite not being in the same gear and missing a lot of meetings as he bounces back-and-forth between the two sports, Noland was still able to do a lot of things at practice and Morris was glad to have him out there.
“We know he’s going to be sporadic through the course of spring,” Morris said. “He got some reps in at the pace we were putting it in and there really wasn’t a whole lot that he didn’t know.”
As a starting pitcher in Arkansas’ weekend rotation, Noland will almost assuredly miss Saturday’s scrimmage and others that follow in the coming weeks. If he is still the No. 2 starter next month, there’s a chance he could still make it to the April 6 spring game because the baseball team’s series against Auburn begins on a Thursday, meaning Noland would pitch on Friday.
It is an interesting dynamic that all parties involved are still trying to work through, but Morris was adamant about the missed time not being a disadvantage for Noland - who started one game as a true freshman - in the quarterback race.
Morris also added that he is not on a “pitch count” in terms of passes in practice and that it is up to Noland to speak up and communicate with the coaches if he’s feeling tired.
“He’s down there and he’s battling his tail off, so I love that,” Morris said. “Now, it’s on him to get caught up in the meeting rooms and do his own film study when he’s not there and when he’s not at practice to make sure he stays on schedule with that.”
Arkansas returns to the practice field Thursday for its first day in full pads. For a complete schedule of the spring practices, click here.
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