Nicholas Starkel (born February 24, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who is currently a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

Early life and high school career

Starkel was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

to Wendy and Murray Starkel. Starkel lived in eight different cities prior to graduating from high school, as his father Murray was a longtime

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

officer who worked with the Army's Corps of Engineers. Starkel attended Liberty Christian School in

Argyle, Texas Argyle is a town in Denton County, Texas, United States, with a population of 4,403 as of 2020. It is a suburb of Fort Worth. History The first European settlement, consisting of a few families, occurred in the Argyle area in the 1850s. The pla ...

, where he threw for 4,745 yards and 48 touchdowns in three seasons, 3,091 of which came from his senior season. A three-star recruit, Starkel initially committed to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

, but after talking with former

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

quarterback

Cody Kessler Cody David Kessler (born May 11, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Early years Kessler attended Centennial Hi ...

, he de-committed from Oklahoma State and narrowed it to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, committing to play college football at Texas A&M.

College career

Texas A&M

Starkel entered

redshirting his true freshman season. As a redshirt freshman, he won the starting quarterback job, although he suffered a broken leg in the season-opener against

. Starkel returned to play six more games in 2017, including a 499-yard, four touchdown performance against Wake Forest in the

Belk Bowl The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2002. The game currently features a matchup between a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) ...

that was a Belk Bowl record. Under new head coach

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies Football, Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State Seminol ...

, Starkel lost the starting job to Mond, the latter thriving under Fisher's system, leading to Starkel announcing he would transfer as a graduate student, with immediate eligibility.

Arkansas

Starkel transferred to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

before the 2019 season. He competed with Ben Hicks for the starting quarterback job, and split time with Hicks in the season opener against

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

. After replacing Hicks in a 31–17 loss to Ole Miss, Starkel was named the Razorbacks starter for their game against

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

, throwing for 305 yards and three touchdowns in a 55–34 win. The following week, he threw five interceptions in a loss to

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. Starkel announced he would transfer from Arkansas after one season, later citing conflict with head coach

Chad Morris Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an American football coach. He is currently an offensive analyst at South Florida. Morris served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University ...

and offensive coordinator

Joe Craddock Joe Craddock (born September 7, 1985) is a American football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator at Troy University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Craddock played college football at Middle Tennessee State Un ...

San Jose State

After Starkel put his name in the transfer portal, former

football player

Josh Love Joshua Michael Love (born September 12, 1996) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football for San Jose State. He also played for the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers of the National Football League ...

reached out to Starkel and informed him the San Jose State coaches were interested in a transfer quarterback and put the two sides in touch. Starkel later announced that he would transfer to San Jose State in 2020. At San Jose State, Starkel had a stellar 2020 season, posting career-highs in passing yards, touchdowns, and passer rating, as San Jose State went 7–0 in conference play and won the 2020 Mountain West Conference Championship. Starkel was named the game's most valuable player after throwing for 453 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Starkel was also named to the Mountain West's All-Conference second team. With the NCAA approving a waiver that allowed college football players to retain their 2020 standing for the 2021 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Starkel announced on Twitter that he would return for a sixth season of eligibility.

Statistics

References

External links

*
San Jose State profile

Arkansas profile

Texas A&M profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starkel, Nick 1998 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arkansas Razorbacks football players San Jose State Spartans football players Texas A&M Aggies football players Players of American football from Pittsburgh Players of American football from Denton County, Texas Liberty Christian School (Argyle, Texas) alumni