Stable would be the last word used to define Casey Dick’s career thus far as a quarterback for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Tumultuous may be a bit dramatic, but it certainly is more apt than stable.

And, yet, Dick himself seems to be a model of stability to those looking in from the outside. He is not the most candid Razorback who has ever knelt under center when speaking with the media. He’s practiced in the art of kindly answering questions, but never being controversial or saying too much. It was a quality that always kept him in good stead with his former head coach Houston Nutt, who is now Ole Miss’ head coach.

But if Dick (6-2, 215 ) did feel a bit used and abused by the system, one can understand. His time with the Hogs’ has been anything but ordinary for a quarterback.

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Those who follow Razorbacks football closely may be a bit too close to the situation to notice that, but if one takes a broad view of his landscape, the senior from Allen, Texas, has experienced some of the worst college football has to offer.

Though first-year Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino is just his second head coach, Dick has worked under four different quarterback coaches and four different offensive coordinators since his freshman season.

Speaking of his freshman year, Dick was happily redshirting in 2005 through seven games, but was called upon to replace Robert Johnson, who was benched for ineffective play, against South Carolina. The Gamecocks took a 14-10 victory to spoil the Hogs’ homecoming in his first start, but he threw three second-half touchdown passes to lead Arkansas to a 28-17 comefrom-behind victory over Ole Miss at Oxford, Miss.

The next week Arkansas topped Mississippi State, 44-10, and in the Hogs’ finale at LSU, the Razorbacks fared better than expected in 19-17 loss.

Dick’s future looked promising, but from the moment Mitch Mustain pledged a firm commitment to Arkansas, fans were wagering on how many games it would take for the Springdale phenom to beat him out.

However, a duel for the starting job wasn’t meant to be. A mysterious back injury hindered Dick’s progress late in spring practice, and the persistent pain shelved him early in preseason practice until October.

Ironically, it was Dick who wound up taking the starting job from Mustain after the freshman threw an interception on his first pass against South Carolina when Marcus Monk ran the wrong route.

From that point on, Dick found himself in the middle of a battle of wills between Nutt and Mustain that eventually drove the highly touted quarterback out of the program and to Southern California.

Dick started the Hogs’ last five games of the season, but Arkansas lost its final three games of the season to nationally ranked LSU, SEC and eventual national champion Florida, and Wisconsin.

Going into his junior season, Dick was told he only needed to be a “ bus driver ” for the Hogs with weapons like Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield and Monk at receiver. But, go-to guy Monk injured his knee early in preseason camp and the receiving chores fell upon an unproven group, which performed inconsistently.

But when defenses were able to stump McFadden and Jones, Dick was asked to do more than someone who just keeps the car between the lines. The Hogs needed a playmaker. But Dick even split time under center with McFadden, who took snaps in the Wildhog Formation. Dick’s teammates empathized with his situation. “ We did what we needed to do to win on offense, ” said senior offensive guard Mitch Petrus. “ We had to give the ball to [Darren ] McFadden and [Felix ] Jones. They were first-rounders all the way.

“ But Casey got put into some tough situations. Coming in cold on third-and-long and being expected to pick up a first down when the Wildhog didn’t work. Everybody in the stadium would know what was coming. Pretty easy to defend. They just came after him. ”

After going through a spring with Dick at the helm of Petrino’s offense, Petrus doesn’t see the Hogs falling into that trap this season.

“ Coach P’s offense is truly balanced, ” he said. “ The defense doesn’t know what’s coming, and our quarterback is a quarterback. ”

Though Petrino’s offense is still new to him, Dick quickly found a comfort zone in it, as did many of his teammates.

Dick operated from a Spread offense in high school, and while he never grumped about his role in Nutt’s offense, he feels like a quarterback coming out of spring practice rather than a third-down janitor sent in to clean up a mess.

Dick said the Razorbacks have firmly bought into Petrino’s system and that the squad is more confident in Petrino’s Power Spread formation than any offense the Hogs have run during his time at Fayetteville.

“ We’re happier and more together as a team than at any time I’ve been here, ” Dick said. “ I have more confidence in my ability and my teammates and I think they have more confidence in me. ”

“ Casey looked as in sync as he has all spring, ” Petrino said following the Hogs’ final scrimmage of the spring. “ His footwork was better. His timing. He understood coverages and distributed the ball. There were certain times I felt, ‘ Hey we know what we are doing because the timing of the receiver and the quarterback and the protection were all in line together. ’ ”

Dick said the preparation in meetings and extensive repetitions throwing and catching in practice allowed the Razorbacks to make strides from where they started in the spring, but he knows the rebuilding Razorbacks have a ways to go.

“ We’re going to pull together and hold tight like a fist, ” Dick said. “ And a fist is a lot stronger than the fingers are by themselves. We’re going to count on each other as teammates and try to win as many games as we can. ”