#17

Nick Starkel

Senior quarterback for San José State. 2021: 1,645 passing yards, 9 TD, 7 INT.

QB · San José State · Sr. · #17

6′3″ · 214 lb · Argyle, TX

San José State 2021 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

PRO recruit

No. 520 nationally · Signed with Texas A&M

Statement game467 yds · 5 TDat New Mexico (FBS) · W 38-21

Top 1% passing yards game since 2021.

459 yards and 5 TDs for Starkel so far tonight. Career best in the former is 499 yards in the 2017 Belk Bowl. Already a career high in the latter.r/CFB game thread · ▲ 7His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 quarterback for San José State. 2021: 1,645 passing yards, 9 TD, 7 INT.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Texas A&M in 2016.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at San José State, 6,933 passing yards — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 499 yds vs Wake Forest.Wake Forest · L 52-552017

2016

Signed with Texas A&M3-star out of Liberty Christian

20207 games

All-Mountain Westsecond

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#520 national

CFB

College

3 teams

2017–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

3 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST · 2ND TEAM

All-Mountain West 2nd team (2020)

Coaching lineage · 2017–2021

1 coach

2017–2021

Brent Brennan

San José State

Played his entire career under Brent Brennan.

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2017Texas A&M7-6HC: Kevin Sumlin · Balanced

2018Texas A&M9-4HC: Jimbo Fisher · Run-leaning

2019Arkansas2-10HC: Chad Morris · Balanced

2020San José State7-1HC: Brent Brennan · Pass-leaning

2021San José State5-7HC: Brent Brennan · Balanced, slow tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

13 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: epa / dropback (13th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Interception rate#52 / 167 · 69th pct

1.6%

Sack rate#96 / 167 · 43rd pct

6.6%

Explosive rate#140 / 167 · 16th pct

7.1%

Success rate#144 / 167 · 14th pct

39.9%

EPA / dropback#145 / 167 · 13th pct

0.09

Box-score rates (8)

Interceptions#87 / 169 · 42nd pct

Pass yards#99 / 169 · 42nd pct

1645

Pass TDs#101 / 169 · 38th pct

Fumbles lost#82 / 159 · 36th pct

Rush TDs#103 / 169 · 31st pct

Yards / att#126 / 169 · 25th pct

6.6

Rush yards#156 / 169 · 8th pct

-71

Completion %#158 / 169 · 7th pct

51.6%

Season trend

EPA / dropback— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Success rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Explosive rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Sack rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Interception rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

128/246 (52.0%) · 9 TD · 7 INT

246 of 248 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

5.76134 of 204 QBs

Sack rate

4.6%53 of 204 QBs

Rarely sacked (53 of 204), but Adjusted ANY/A hasn't followed (134 of 204).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

51%of completions

65 comp4.6 yds avg3 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

28%of completions

36 comp13.6 yds avg2 TD

Deep

20+ yds

21%of completions

27 comp33.1 yds avg4 TD

Overall 52.0% completion on 246 attempts · 27 deep completions averaging 33.1 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2021 season · 7 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home3g	264	1.3	8.5	0.7
Road4g	213	1.2	5.4	1.2

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-74g	248	1.5	7.5	1.2
Weeks 8+3g	218	1.0	5.8	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Ken Niumatalolo

Pass share

51.0%

106 pass / 102 run

Plays / game

69.3

3 games

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	San José State	128	248	51.6%	1,645	6.6	9	7	113.7	38	--	--
2020	San José State	163	254	64.2%	2,174	8.6	17	7	152.6	78	--	--
2019	Arkansas	96	179	53.6%	1,152	6.4	7	10	109.4	--	--	--
2018	Texas A&M	15	22	68.2%	169	7.7	1	0	147.7	--	--	--
2017	Texas A&M	123	205	60.0%	1,793	8.7	14	6	150.2	--	--	--
Career		525	908	57.8%	6,933	7.6	48	30	132.8	59	--	--

Season	Team
2021	San José State	15	-71	-4.7	1	--
2020	San José State	13	-40	-3.1	0	--
2019	Arkansas	6	-16	-2.7	0	--
2018	Texas A&M	1	-6	-6.0	0	--
2017	Texas A&M	12	-42	-3.5	1	--
Career		47	-175	-3.7	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2021

W 45–14

vs Southern Utah

394 yds · 4 TD · 1 INT · QBR 94.7 · 3 rush yds (2 car) · 1 TD

Dominant 31-point win at home against Southern Utah.

With S. Olson — 1 rec · 70 yds · 1 TD · T. Nevens — 91 rush yds (12 car) · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 1 · Southern Utah · 3&10 · Q2 · EPA +6.86N.Starkel pass complete to SJS 35. Catch made by C.Ross at SJS 35. Gain of 65 yards. C.Ross for 65 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Week 1 · Southern Utah · 3&10 · Q2 · EPA -6.74N.Starkel pass INTERCEPTED at SJS End Zone. Intercepted by K.Singleton at SJS End Zone. K.Singleton for 0 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Week 1 · Southern Utah · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +5.69N.Starkel pass complete to SJS 30. Catch made by S.Olson at SJS 30. Gain of 70 yards. S.Olson for 70 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Week 10 · Nevada · 3&6 · Q3 · EPA +5.32Nick Starkel pass complete to Malikhi Miller for 48 yds for a TD, (Matt Mercurio KICK)
Week 1 · USC · 4&10 · Q4 · EPA +4.29N.Starkel pass complete to SJS 38. Catch made by C.Ross at SJS 38. Gain of 32 yards. Tackled by C.Thompson at USC 30.
Week 1 · Southern Utah · 1&20 · Q2 · EPA +4.11N.Starkel pass complete to SJS 27. Catch made by I.Hamilton at SJS 27. Gain of 47 yards. Tackled by D.Yancey at SUT 26.
Week 1 · Southern Utah · 3&8 · Q1 · EPA +3.47N.Starkel pass complete to SUT 23. Catch made by J.Braddock at SUT 23. Gain of 23 yards. J.Braddock for 23 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Week 10 · Nevada · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.39Nick Starkel pass complete to Jermaine Braddock for 32 yds to the Nevad 34 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Hawai'i · 3&10 · Q4 · EPA +3.16Nick Starkel pass complete to Jermaine Braddock for 22 yds to the SJSt 49 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · USC · 1&20 · Q3 · EPA +3.07N.Starkel pass complete to SJS 36. Catch made by I.Hamilton at SJS 36. Gain of 22 yards. Tackled by G.Johnson; C.Bullock at USC 42.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 7 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 45-14vs Southern Utah	16/27	394	4	1	14.6	94.7	Season-high 394 yds
Wk 1	L 7-30@ USC	24/46	308	0	2	6.7	18.0	Season-high 394 yds
Wk 3	W 17-13@ Hawai'i	23/50	235	2	1	4.7	33.9
Wk 4	L 3-23@ Western Michigan	6/14	55	0	1	3.9	4.9
Wk 10	L 24-27@ Nevada	21/40	255	3	1	6.4	71.0	3 TD passes
Wk 11	L 17-48vs Utah State	19/29	138	0	1	4.8	33.3
Wk 13	L 9-40vs Fresno State	19/42	260	0	0	6.2	32.8
Total		128/248	1645	9	7	6.8	41.2

How he plays

Play style

Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

45.5%Completion %

24.3%Conversion/dropback

40.0%Land short of sticks

2INTs

45.5% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 24.3% conversion-per-dropback — 40.0% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design