The impressive job Chad Morris and his coaching did flipping the Arkansas quarterback room in one offseason cannot be overstated. The Razorbacks did not have a quarterback capable of running the current offensive system in Fayetteville and now have two experienced signal-callers that have flashed potential either in the system or in the SEC.

When you look around the SEC and see that very few programs have any meaningful depth behind their starting quarterback, you could even argue that many league teams would be envious of the Razorbacks QB room entering fall camp. That certainly could not have been said this time last year.

Now the big question on The Hill is which signal-caller takes command of the offense first and lands the starting nod heading into the season opener at home against Portland State.

During his recent pre-camp media availability, Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock expressed his belief that the staff feels comfortable with either player under center.

“I love the way Ben [Hicks], his whole demeanor — if anybody knew Ben, I think the No. 1 thing you’d say is he’s a competitor. He hates to lose, I’m talking hates to lose and I think he’s a tough kid,” Craddock said. “If he is the starter come Day 1 [against] Portland State, you’ll see him pregame in the huddle, headbutting all the offensive linemen, making sure they are ready to go because he wants to win. Whatever it takes to win, he’s going to do it, he’s going to work his butt off to do that.”

Hicks does have the advantage of playing multiple seasons in this offensive system at SMU and when you add a fiery personality with that experience, Hicks very well could be the team’s starter to open the season but you can’t write off Nick Starkel, either. Of the two players, Starkel has a higher ceiling and could be the difference between the team making a bowl game in Year 2 under Morris.

“I think Nick is the same way,” Craddock said of Starkel. “Nick’s came in with a good approach, how he’s handled being on a new team, trying to win over his teammates and that kind of thing. It will be interesting to see how it plays out come fall camp, see who kinda has the pulse of the team.”

While Hicks may have more experience in this system, Craddock says Starkel has picked up the offense very quickly.

“Nick is a really intelligent guy, he’s very cerebral,” the offensive coordinator said. “He’s been around a lot of good offense. He’s done a really good job of picking up ours. We are able to meet with our guys once a week and in those meetings, he’s done a really good job of kind of regurgitating what he’s learned to me and if I were to ask him a question, he was able to answer it.”

Look for this competition to go all the way into Portland State game week for the Razorbacks as both players have reason to believe they will win the job — now they just have to go out and do it.