FAYETTEVILLE — Choosing Arkansas’ starting quarterback came down to the player who has some experience and a healthy back.

Fourth-year junior Robert Johnson was named Arkansas’ starting quarterback Wednesday night, Coach Houston Nutt said. True freshman Mitch Mustain will be the backup.

Sophomore Casey Dick entered preseason as the No. 1 quarterback but has missed the majority of practice with a back injury. He probably will redshirt if he misses the first three or four games, Nutt said.

Coaches couldn’t wait any longer on Dick’s back to heal and needed to put a starter in place to prepare him for the Sept. 2 season opener against Southern California.

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Moving into the top spot brings Johnson’s playing status full circle.

Johnson started the first seven games last season, struggled and was replaced by Dick the final four games. Johnson had a higher completion percentage, but Dick made fewer critical mistakes.

Coaches have long praised Johnson for his sharp practice performances and were dismayed when he didn’t carry that level of play into games. Johnson had modest success in his first two games, then got knocked out of the USC game on a hard hit and never seemed the same the rest of the season.

Nutt essentially issued a plea for support when he announced Johnson’s return to No. 1.

“Robert has improved and, boy, we want everybody to get behind him,” Nutt said. “Our team is excited. We’ve been working with two quarterbacks. I feel for Casey Dick. He’s been through a lot. He’s very frustrated.”

Mustain said: “He’s earned it. We’re going to keep pushing each other.”

It couldn’t have hurt Johnson’s chances to have two new coaches on board in offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and quarterbacks coach Alex Wood, who opened up the competition in the spring.

“It gave each one of us a fresh start, come in and learn a new offense,” Johnson said. “We all started off about the same.” What separates Johnson from Mustain right now are his experience and the improvement he’s shown since last year, Nutt said. Specifically, Johnson has been making quicker, smarter decisions and has been more authoritative leading the offense. Nutt credited Johnson’s relationship with Wood for the improved decision making.

“His decision making is much better now than it was a year ago,” Nutt said. “And, again, it’s just hard to replace experience. He’s been out there and he’s a little bit more familiar with things. We’ve got two quarterbacks right now and we need both of them. We expected to have three but we’ve got two, so both of them are very, very important.”

Mustain still took about onethird of the first-team snaps Wednesday night and is mature for a freshman. He’s also made freshman mistakes at times, like forcing passes into tight double coverage that can lead to interceptions.

A considerable amount of first-team work has been given to Mustain and it seems likely that he’ll appear against USC, even if it’s only for one series. But Nutt wasn’t ready to commit to Mustain playing in the opener.

“It’s just hard to say right now, but we’re going to get them both ready,” Nutt said.

Nutt added later, “Like we told Mitch today, ‘You’re a play away. Keep working hard.’”

Nutt said he’s not sure when to expect Dick back but has counted him out for the USC game at the very least.

Dick said the plan is for him to miss practice for three to four weeks while he strengthens the muscles in his abdomen and back. He’ll also throw progressively more each day and began Wednesday night by throwing for about 20 minutes at a maximum of 30 yards.

No surgery will be needed to fix the back, Nutt said.

Johnson had hernia surgery early in the summer but has not shown signs of being bothered.

Walk-on Clark Irwin, a redshirt freshman from Little Rock, is the third-team quarterback.