FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has enough quarterbacks at football practice for a starting basketball lineup, plus a sixth man.

“That’s a lot of quarterbacks, and I’ve not been involved with that many,” Razorbacks Coach Bobby Petrino said. “We’re going to have to let it play out and then make some decisions about who the No. 1 is, who the No. 2 is, and they’ll get most of the reps.”

Senior Casey Dick, who has 22 career starts, is the projected No. 1 quarterback. Barring injury, it’s tough to imagine a scenario in which he won’t be taking the first snap in the opener against Western Illinois on Aug. 30.

Ryan Mallett, a transfer from Michigan who will be a third-year sophomore in 2009, is redshirting this year in accordance with NCAA rules.

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The other four quarterbacks — redshirt freshman Nathan Dick, true freshmen Tyler Wilson and Jim Youngblood and senior Alex Mortensen — are competing for the No. 2 spot.

Nathan Dick closed spring practice as his brother’s backup, but that was before Wilson and Youngblood joined the competition.

While Mallett can’t play this season, it’s important he get quality practice time and learn Arkansas’ offense.

“I’d rather have more players than not enough,” quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee said. “We knew it would be like this going in because we brought in three guys last year.

“ We really wanted to upgrade at the position and make sure we were stable at quarterback. Teams with the best quarterback win the majority of the time, so we wanted to make sure we had a selection to choose from.”

Nathan Dick has a year of college experience on Wilson and Youngblood, which figures to give him an edge in competing for the No. 2 job.

“Of course I want to say, ‘Yeah, I’m that guy,’ but we’re going to find out when the coaches make that decision,” Nathan Dick said.

McGee said the position will sort itself out in the first two weeks of practice.

“We get film of every practice, so we get to go back and evaluate,” he said. “We’ll know what was good and what was bad.”

Either Wilson or Youngblood figure to redshirt. Maybe both.

“If it’s best for me to be redshirt, that’s fine,” Wilson said. “But I’m going to come in to compete every day.”

Youngblood agreed.

“If they want me to redshirt, then I’ll have to go along with that decision,” he said. “But what I’d like to do is get in on second and third down and run the ball some, hopefully make an impact in the running game and complement Casey’s passing.

“ I feel like my advantage on the other quarterbacks is my speed and quickness. I feel like I’m pretty mobile compared to some of the other guys.”

Petrino said Wilson and Youngblood “were at an all-time anxiety high” for Monday’s first practice.

“They were trying to go as fast as they possibly could, so we’ve got to get that slowed down and be more precise with their footwork and just relax a bit,” Petrino said. “They were both pushing and trying real hard, and that’s not that unusual.

“ That happens in the first practice. They are both very competitive and they both want to do real well. They just need to relax and become accustomed to the tempo and the speed of the game.” Nathan Dick struggled in the early part of last spring but seems more comfortable.

“He knows the offense better,” Petrino said. “I’m impressed with his movement and his feel in the pocket. We really might not know how good Nathan is until it’s live tackle and he has the chance to move out of the pocket and make plays.

“ He has a real good sense of where the pass rush is coming and how to move.”

McGee said Nathan Dick isn’t “acting like Casey’s little brother anymore” and has become more assertive and confident.

“Nathan’s a good young player,” McGee said. “He just needs to continue to develop during camp and see where it goes.”

Nathan Dick said he knew it would be a competitive camp after Arkansas added Wilson, Youngblood and Mallett to the mix.

“My reaction was to tell myself I’ve got to work my butt off,” Nathan Dick said. “If I want to play, I’ve got to get out there every day and compete and do the best I can.”

Youngblood said while it’s not easy sharing practice reps with so many other quarterbacks, there are advantages to the situation.

“It gives you extra guys that you can study the playbook with and watch film with and learn from,” he said. “So it’s been a pretty good situation.”