When I saw Texas A&M transfer Nick Starkel announce his commitment to Arkansas, my mind immediately went to Chad Morris.

Rare it is that a head coach at a Power 5 program brings in not 1, but 2 graduate transfer quarterbacks. Granted, Starkel is in a different spot than SMU transfer Ben Hicks with possibly 2 years of eligibility left instead of 1.

Still, what Morris did by getting both said a lot about where he’s at in this rebuild.

As Arkansas fans know, that quarterback room was crowded to begin with even though Ty Storey and Cole Kelley both left Fayetteville after Year 1 in Morris’ offense. The likes of Connor Noland, John Stephen Jones and Daulton Hyatt were back, and incoming 4-star freshman K.J. Jefferson is set to arrive this summer.

I’m not very good at counting, but by my count, that’s 6 scholarship quarterbacks for Morris to choose between. Let’s take it a step back.

Before Starkel committed, Morris had 5, including Hicks, who ran his offense at SMU. There were plenty of options for Morris. There were also plenty of options for Starkel, who flashed his potential when healthy in 2017. Despite those possible limiting factors, both parties agreed to start a new chapter together.

At the rate Morris is going, he’ll have a baker’s dozen worth of quarterbacks by the time the 2019 season kicks off.

I’m only half joking.

Credit: C. Morgan Engel-USA TODAY Sports

That tells me a lot about how Morris is valuing this in Year 2. While some might argue that because of the roster overhaul, 2018 was more of a Year 0 for him, he’s not exactly being patient. His relentless recruiting efforts showed that (you’d be stunned to know that Arkansas was the lone 2-win team to sign a Top 25 class).

If you’re an Arkansas fan, you’re probably a bit torn on what Morris’ offseason additions mean.

On one hand, it’s fantastic that he’s going to have so much competition in that quarterback room. Competition breeds success, which is a theory Morris obviously subscribes to. If this offseason battle is going to yield better quarterback play, that’d be a welcome sight for a team that threw more INTs (18) than TD passes (17) and lost every SEC game by an average of 3 touchdowns.

But on the other hand, some might interpret Morris’ offseason quarterback activity as a sign that he doesn’t know what he wants yet. We’re talking about someone who brought in 5 quarterbacks since he took over in December 2017. Um, that’s a lot.

One of those was Noland, an in-state star who was a longtime verbal pledge to Bret Bielema’s staff, but ultimately stuck with the Hogs after Morris took over. Noland is currently not part of that quarterback room — one less chair for Morris to scrounge up — because he’s a starting pitcher on the Arkansas baseball team. It’s an unbelievable accomplishment for anyone to earn a start in multiple sports at a Power 5 school, much less for a true freshman.

Having said that, this Starkel news got me thinking, and I know others around the program have had this thought. I’d be surprised if Noland starts another game for Morris. If I were betting today, I’d put my money on Noland staying at Arkansas and just playing baseball.

Is that premature to say about someone who technically has all of his football eligibility left? Maybe.

But Morris knew that Starkel had 2 years of eligibility left, and he still went out and got him. That was after the Hicks move, which at the time made it seem like Noland would simply be the next man up for 2020. Theoretically, that would mean Noland would be the guy in 2021. That would be his fourth year in Fayetteville, and that’s assuming he beats out Jefferson, whom Morris actually recruited from the start. Jefferson would be in his third year by that point.

Starting to see what I’m getting at?

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The underlying message here is that Morris doesn’t care about hurting any feelings, especially in the quarterback room. That’s pretty obvious. His whole “we’re not gonna wear team gear in spring camp” thing shows why that’s true.

There’s a sense of urgency from Morris to make significant strides. He isn’t acting like a coach who has an extremely low set of expectations, at least from a national standpoint. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that Morris was trying to compete for a division title and finding the right quarterback was the last piece of the puzzle. Clearly, though, that’s not the case.

In Morris’ perfect world, he follows the Bielema path in Year 2. That is, go from winless in SEC play to a bowl game. The schedules sets up as well as Morris could have asked for thanks to some horrific nonconference opponents.

So I guess in a way, Morris is in “win now mode.” Maybe it has something to do with that $160 million north end zone renovation to Razorback Stadium. It could just be that Morris recognizes how antsy a fan base can be if it goes 3 seasons without a bowl berth. That’ll happen if Arkansas doesn’t triple its win total in 2019.

Does Starkel give Arkansas a better chance of a significant year-to-year improvement? Definitely. It was a major addition at the position Morris was brought in to maximize. That’s always good news.

Say what you want about the daunting road that lies ahead for Morris in reaching success in that division. He might get there, he might not. It’s still way too early to tell.

But if he doesn’t get there, it won’t be because a lack of effort.