Texas A&M football's possible breakout in the upcoming season is premised on several things— the experience of the offensive line, the skill at the running back and receiver position, Elko's greater involvement in the defense— but there's little that will cover over bad quarterback play. Most fans are counting on Marcel Reed to take a step forward, of course, but he was playing pretty well at the end of last season.
Of course, that's not the narrative around the conference and national media— maybe because most were tuned in only for his worst game of the stretch run against Texas. However, close watchers have been banging the drum for some time that Reed really did have a lot going well for him at the end of the season.
That's been shrugged off by many, but a recent tweet collecting QBR from ESPN has shown that maybe they were shrugging too quickly. Marcel Reed, believe it or not, is top 10 in QBR among returning starters headed into the upcoming year.
Marcel Reed ranks as top-10 returning passer in QBR, defies bad narratives
Even some Aggie fans were probably disbelieving when they saw the below chart hit the internet:
Top 10 returning QBR leaders in College Football from last season per ESPN🎯 pic.twitter.com/VrZEMtjp9b
— On3 (@On3sports) August 5, 2025
This shouldn't really be too shocking, in all honesty. Reed being up there with guys like Cade Klubnik, Garrett Nussmeier, and Carson Beck— all of whom have a lot of NFL upside— could be surprising to some, but those who paid close attention could see that Reed's ability was manifesting more and more as the year went on in 2024.
His passing in the last few games was night and day from his first few, demonstrating his growth. This should probably dispense with the narrative that he's not a passer, but in all likelihood, his detractors will simply ignore the numbers and continue to spew skewed narratives until their compatriots eventually become too ashamed to keep nodding and clapping.