San Jose State quarterback Nick Starkel (17), right, shares a bump with offensive lineman Jaime Navarro (54) as they get ready to go up against Ball State in the Arizona Bowl, Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., December 31, 2020.

 Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

You can’t draw a straight line from quarterback Nick Starkel’s performance against San Jose State in 2019 to his becoming a Spartan in 2020. But you can make the case that the former was an essential first step in the latter becoming a reality.

Starkel was the starting quarterback for Arkansas on that September 2019 evening in Fayetteville. He had joined the Razorbacks as a graduate transfer from Texas A&M, where he had started his career under Kevin Sumlin and Noel Mazzone. Yes, college football is a small world.

Starkel threw five interceptions that night in Arkansas’ 31-24 loss to San Jose State. He never truly recovered that season. He got buried on the bench.

“It was their way of saying, ‘Hey we’re done with you,’ ” said Starkel, who will lead SJSU against Ball State in the Offerpad Arizona Bowl on Thursday afternoon at Arizona Stadium. “It was like throwing out an old toy or an old T-shirt that you used to love. And that hurt. That hurt me. I had put so much blood, sweat and tears into that team, into that coaching staff and into that program.”

Starkel didn’t deny being responsible for his own demise. He hadn’t played well. He understood why he was being demoted.

He wasn’t in a great space mentally at the time, having lost a close friend to cancer that summer. Somewhere along the way, Starkel also lost his love for the game.

After Arkansas changed coaches — about two years after Texas A&M did the same — Starkel entered the NCAA transfer portal. A friend he had made at a QB camp reached out to him.

It was Josh Love, the outgoing quarterback at San Jose State. Love had just been named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He told Starkel about the Spartans’ returning talent, their coaching staff and their upward momentum. Starkel had seen the SJSU offense operate in person. He was sold.

Starkel became the Spartans’ starter and thrived in the role. He passed for 1,906 yards and 16 touchdowns as upstart SJSU went 7-0. He found a home and rekindled his passion for the sport with a team that had picked him off five times.

“I don’t know if it’s the reason that he’s here, but his rough night ended up being a gain for us down the road for sure,” said Ryan Gunderson, the Spartans’ quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator. “I just think sometimes situations aren’t right for quarterbacks. The fit that we offered him, the situation that he came into here, was great.”

Said Starkel: “You can always get into the ifs and the buts about things. I don’t attribute it to just to one game. But it’s sure as heck ironic that I ended up here.”

San Jose State quarterback Nick Starkel found his love for football again during the Spartans’ surprising 2020 season.

For love of the game

Once he realized where he belonged, Starkel could begin the process of rediscovering who he was. One’s sense of self can be misplaced when times are tough.

In August 2019, Starkel’s friend and former teammate, Luke Laufenberg, died of cancer. Starkel and Laufenberg, a tight end, had played together at Liberty Christian School in Argyle, Texas. Laufenberg had followed Starkel to Texas A&M, joining the Aggies as a walk-on.

Starkel left Arkansas to attend Laufenberg’s memorial service shortly before the ’19 season began. Understandably, Starkel’s mind was elsewhere after he returned.

“I really just wasn’t there mentally,” Starkel said.

When he played poorly and the team struggled, it only got worse. The situation demanded introspection. Starkel started asking questions of himself. He determined that his professed love for football had been “circumstantial.” It needed to be true.

“If I’m playing good, I’m loving the game. If I’m starting, I’m loving the game. If I’m the backup, I’m hating it, I don’t want any part of it. I think that was a telling situation for me,” Starkel said. “It allowed me to look back and say, ‘Why did I fall in love with this game in the first place? Was it because I was a starter? Was it because of all the great things that it brought me? Or was it because I really loved just playing this game?’

“I didn’t know the answer at that point. Then, once I reconnected with the game and ... found a new home, I really understood what it meant to love this game of football and to love every opportunity that you get, whether it’s a practice rep or the final knee in the Mountain West championship. I’ve learned to appreciate every single part of this game.”

Starkel’s success with San Jose State surely had something to do with that. But the rewards weren’t immediate. As Spartans coach Brent Brennan might say, Starkel still had a mountain to climb.

Feeling at home

Starkel enrolled at SJSU for the 2020 spring semester. He and his teammates completed six spring practices before being shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gunderson was impressed with Starkel’s “effortless” throwing power and “whippy” arm. But he lost valuable practice reps and offseason opportunities because of the pandemic.

Zoom meetings helped Starkel get up to speed. His upbringing helped him form bonds with his new teammates. A self-described “army brat,” Starkel had moved frequently as the son of a lieutenant colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers. Making new friends was nothing new for Nick.

“He’s not scared of having to meet new people,” Gunderson said. “I don’t think that’s intimidating to him. If it is, he doesn’t show it.”

Starkel felt welcomed in the quarterback room, even if it was virtual for most of the offseason. He felt a connection to the San Jose State program, whose pluckiness mirrored his own. The supporting cast was deep and talented, as his predecessor had promised.

Further validation came Tuesday, when Starkel announced he would be returning for a final season at San Jose State.

“It makes me happy to know he’s enjoying his experience,” Gunderson said. “Something my wife told me recently — she had watched Nick being interviewed. He said he just wanted to enjoy playing football again. The fact he’s coming back lets me know we’re doing the right things with our guys.”

Six days before Starkel announced his return, Brennan agreed to a contract extension with SJSU after being a finalist for the opening at Arizona. Although he doesn’t coach the quarterbacks, Brennan and Starkel have become close. Brennan could relate to Starkel’s previous travails. Love’s climb had been bumpy as well.

So before every game, Brennan delivers the same heartfelt message to his well-traveled QB: “You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

“It’s just as simple as that,” Starkel said. “Don’t worry about where you’ve been or where you’re going. That calms me down. It fires me up. It gets me right for the game.”

Said Brennan: “He’s been knocked around. He’s had it not work out. Similar to how it was for Josh Love. To me, the reason Josh Love got to where he got was because he had been through the struggle. ... He had been through all the hard stuff. So I was kind of thinking the same thing for Nick.

“Really, what I just wanted him to know is we love him, and he is exactly where he’s supposed to be.”

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