QB Starkel finds his niche in San Jose after pitstops at Texas A&M, Arkansas
With four seconds left in the third quarter of San Jose State’s eventual 3821 victory over New Mexico Halloween night, Nick Starkel threw a deep ball into the hands of a sprinting Bailey Gaither for a 69yard touchdown. W hile Gaither celebrated in the end zone, Starkel looked at his bench and pointed to his right arm, drawing attention to symbols etched in permanent marker on his white sleeve. The symbols, from top to bottom, read, “L1, R1, Square, R1, Left, R2, R1, Left, Square, Down, L1, L1,” the cheat code for “infinite ammo” in the PlayStation 2 video game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.”
“That week, the whole time we were saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to air it out on these guys. We’re going to throw for infinity. We’re going to keep airing it out,’” Starkel said. “That was the joke going into the game. I took it one step further and wrote down the cheat code on the sleeve and it ended up working.”
Starkel admitted the celebration was “boisterous” and “cocky,” but it’s that
confidence that’s fueling the best football he’s ever played.
It’s the kind of confidence that wavered within Starkel in his unsettled college career.
“I said it when I first got here: I’ve still got a lot of juice left in my arm,” Starkel said. “I’ve still got a lot of life left in it, and I want to showcase that.”
Starkel began his collegiate career at Texas A&M, where he flashed his potential as a redshirt freshman in 2017 despite missing a chunk of the season due to a foot injury. In the Belk Bowl against Wake Forest, Starkel completed 42 passes and threw for 499 yards, both of which are still his single-game highs.
Starkel looked like a program cornerstone, but the next year, he lost the starting job to Kellen Mond. As a backup, he attempted just 22 passes all season, prompting him to transfer to Arkansas at season’s end.
Starkel was named the Razorbacks’ starting quarterback in Week 2 of 2019 but lost his job after a fiveinterception game against none other than San Jose State. He started two of Arkansas’ next seven games, and didn’t play at all in three of them. Coach Chad Morris was fired with two games remaining as the team was in a tailspin.
“I wanted to stay relevant,” Starkel said on his decision to transfer to Arkansas. “I wanted to remain in the topic every week on ESPN or SEC Network. I wanted to stay in the spotlight. I think it made me go into a situation that was maybe not the best for me.”
Starkel decided to transfer again, and a text message from former San Jose State star quarterback Josh Love guided him to Silicon Valley. Just 50 miles south of San Francisco’s Presidio, where military kid Starkel lived with his family from 2002 to 2004.
Love and Starkel met during Summer of 2019 at Steve Clarkson’s Quarterback Retreat in Los Angeles, where they worked as camp counselors alongside the likes of Tua Tagoailoa, Trevor Lawrence and Jalen Hurts.
In off hours, Love and Starkel bonded with other counselors over games of Spikeball. The two kept in touch after the camp, and when Starkel announced his intent to transfer from Arkansas, Love had to make his pitch.
“When I saw that he was transferring and when I saw that his coach got fired, I was like, ‘ This is a great offense and I know you can spin it,’” Love said.
Love spoke glowingly of the Spartans’ returning core of receivers, as well as the offensive-minded trio of Brennan, offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven and quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson. Starkel didn’t even need to make official visit to San Jose State. He committed, transferring as a graduate student, after developing quickly a bond with his future coaching staff.
“I trusted that I was going to be in good hands,” Starkel said. “Building a relationship over the recruiting process with coach Brennan and coach McGiven and knowing Josh, I felt very, very comfortable making that move.”
So far, Starkel looks to have finally settled. Through two games with the Spartans, Starkel has completed 73.7% of his passes for 693 yards with seven touchdowns to one interception. The Spartans are off to their first 2- 0 start since 1987 with a chance to improve to 3- 0 for the first time since 1982.
“However Nick wants to go out there and play, we rally behind him and do whatever we can to help him be successful,” receiver Tre Walker said.
Said Gaither: “He has confidence in us. He understands that if he gives us an opportunity, we can go make a play.”
Starkel said that the “infinite ammo” cheat code on his arm sleeve was a onetime thing. Starkel doesn’t think of himself as a cheat code. Despite years in the SEC’s harsh spotlight, Starkel came to San Jose State because he knew he had room to grow.
“He wants to be coached,” Brennan said. “That’s one of the really refreshing things about him. He wants to get better. He wants to improve every day.”