Texas A&M football: Jimbo Fisher comments on Nick Starkel transfer

Texas A&M football lost their backup quarterback to transfer this offseason and head coach Jimbo Fisher commented on it recently.

Nick Starkel went through the 2018 season about as well as anyone could have expected. If you need to show a young football player what it means to be a great teammate, you’d be hard pressed to find a better example than the now-former Texas A&M football quarterback.

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He lost the starting job — that was seemingly his to lose — to Kellen Mond when Fisher named Mond his starter towards the end of fall camp, ending a year long audition for the rights to be the first quarterback in the Fisher era. It was a shock to those on the outside looking in.

During the 2017 season, Starkel looked like the much better player. He won the starting job in Kevin Sumlin’s final year but was lost for half the season in the opener against UCLA. Both Mond and Starkel had plenty of in-game reps for a coach to know what they were getting from day one.

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Credit to Fisher, he let them battle it out and Mond came away victorious. It was apparent why pretty much from the first week. He had made leaps and bounds in his pocket awareness and accuracy. They were close as passers, and Mond’s running ability and leadership gave him an edge. He seemed to galvanize his guys.

Starkel took the benching in stride. He put in the work and kept his mouth shut, even when Mond struggled midway through the season and speculation Starkel could start ran rampant.

Most figured he would transfer if he lost the job due to the fact he had the same amount of eligibility as Mond left. Fisher initially expected Starkel at spring practices, which temporarily made us think Starkel might return for one more year and be a graduate transfer, but he found out he could graduate in June and that made the decision easy.

Fisher recently commented on Starkel’s decision.

"“That’s a young man’s opportunity, and it was the opportunity that was best for him, it just happened to be a rivalry game. He did everything right and he’s a great young man — I wish him nothing but the best. He’s a very good player and we’re going to have to play real well,” Fisher said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “But like I said before, we had two starting quarterbacks.”"

It stings a little knowing the Aggies will have to face Starkel, and knowing how much of an upgrade he is over the two quarterbacks who played for Arkansas last season, but it’s hard to feel anything but good for Starkel, who now gets to realize his dream of playing college ball and aiming for the NFL.

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Jeff Shull is the Site Expert for the Gig Em Gazette on FanSided. Follow him on Twitter, and be sure to follow the Gig Em Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.