Starkel checks out Stillwater, ready for spring

Argyle (Texas) Liberty Christian quarterback Nick Starkel has been busy on the road. He has been traveling from camp to camp with his most recent stop on Sunday at the Dallas RCS at Cedar Hill High School.

The Sunday stop proved fruitful as he took home Quarterback MVP honors. Then he made his way to Stillwater, Okla., for a Monday visit to Oklahoma State.

"I like it. It's nice," Starkel said. "They have great facilities. There are great people up there. I enjoyed watching practice. I got to see that fast tempo and I really liked that. That offense is a quarterback's offense. It was really good to see the coaching side of the coaches and not just the recruiting side, and I like both sides."

Starkel took a long look at the Oklahoma State coaches, and the staff made a strong impression on the standout quarterback

"I see the same people on the field as they are off the field," Starkel said. "Coach Yurcich is a calm guy off the field and he seemed like a pretty calm guy on the field. Obviously you have to get on your players and make sure they're going the right things, but I really like the way he coaches."

Starkel also likes what he sees in the quarterback development at Oklahoma State.

"Obviously they've had quite a few quarterbacks go through there and be ready for the NFL," Starkel said. "I believe they produce some very good NFL-ready quarterbacks and that's definitely something I'm looking at as far as taking my game to the next level after college if that's available."

It is easy to see the Cowboys have made a strong impression, and he admits the Cowboys are at the top of his list. However, he is not quite ready to make his deicison.

"Right now I only have three offers and out of those offers definitely Oklahoma State is on top," Starkel said. "But I just want to see how spring goes and see if anything pops up that I have not been hearing from or something. I don't want to end it too early is what I'm trying to say I guess, so I'm just waiting probably until after spring or early summer to make a decision."

Waiting is something he knows could be a gamble, but his reason for waiting is definitely an understandable one.

"You know I do feel a little bit a pressure with all the dominoes falling because once one QB commits and a lot of schools start filling up and kids get pressured that their school that they have in mind is going to fill up, so they need to get somewhere," Starkel said. "But the bottom line is I'm just going to compete and I'm going to wait to make my decision. I have a timeframe of when I'm going to make my decision and I want to make sure I'm really making the right decision. I'm not going to commit somewhere and decommit unless there's a coaching change or something like that. I'm looking to pick one school and stick with it.

Oklahoma State is joined by Indiana State and Old Dominion on his offer list, and others have let him know they plan to stop through in the spring.

"Right now I'd say possibly Tulane, Colorado State, and Wake Forest," Starkel said. "Then I've been talking to SMU as well. They're going to come out to spring. A lot of people are going to come out for spring ball.

"A lot of schools unless you're a 50-plus offer kid they don't like to offer a QB without seeing him throw. At least they told me that. So they're going to come and watch me throw live. One, to make sure I'm healthy, and two, to make sure my film matches up and I can do it in practice as well as games."

Just as the college coaches know what they want to see in Starkel, Starkel knows what he wants to see from colleges.

"Definitely education," Starkel said. "That's a big one. I want a school I can get a good degree from in a field I want to study. If they don't offer that then I can switch majors to do something that accomodates me. Then I know coaches don't always stay around but I would like to base it off of some of the coaches. Then I also realize I'm probably going to need to redshirt a year and maybe even sit out another year in order to mature physically and mentally to get the offense. A lot of kids don't go in and start their first year at quarterback. So early playing time may not be such a big factor. Really it's probably education, coaching, and if my family can come and see me play that would be awesome."