Marcel Reed has been one of the more controversial players in college football for some time now— even if it doesn’t really make the most sense. Reed led the Aggies to an 11-2 record last season, Texas A&M’s best record since the days of Johnny Football, and was a common mention in Heisman talks down the stretch of the season, but he still was much-maligned in some corners.
There are nits to pick with his game, of course, but the main factor where he needed to grow was not in any sort of on-field performance. Reed’s stats will stack up well even against extremely hyped quarterbacks around the conference— he can certainly learn to do a better job of taking what the defense gives him, for example, but as far as the actual on-field play goes, he was a guy who delivered time and time again for the Aggies.
The common saying is that a quarterback takes his biggest leap from year one to year two, of course, and we’ve seen that barrier crossed by Marcel already. However, there’s an obvious parallel to what Aggie fans are hoping to see out of Marcel in the upcoming year, and the decision to take him to SEC Media Days may mean that that wish is fulfilled.
SEC Media Days selection means leadership growth from Marcel Reed might have come to pass
For as many good things that there are that you can say about Marcel, the team’s main leaders in previous years have not been the man wearing no. 10. Last season, the captains were Taurean York, Trey Zuhn, and Ar’maj Reed-Adams— even though Reed was going into the season as the unquestioned starter.
That’s not a knock on Reed or saying that he isn’t doing enough— but there’s always something different about a team when the quarterback is one of the captains and the unquestioned leader in the locker room. This season, Reed was selected as a captain, which gave Aggie fans hope in this area— and now that he’s coming along to SEC Media Days to represent the program, it’s even more of a boost in this area.
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The last time that the Aggies brought a quarterback to SEC Media Days was Kellen Mond, showing, if nothing else, the instability of that spot since that time. For whatever you think about Mond, he was definitely a leader in the Texas A&M locker room and commanded the respect of the other players therein.
It also so happens that Mond was a player that took a definite step forward for the Aggies at the quarterback position later in his career than you normally see. He battled for the starting spot in 2017, eventually losing out to Nick Starkel, but ended the 2018 season as a guy that everyone knew would be the starter in the following season.
Even though he came into that 2019 season as the unquestioned starter, there were still some questions surrounding him— and even into the following offseason. In 2020, though, when the Aggies lost only one game and finished the season as the no. 4-ranked team in the country, he answered all doubters.
That’s the kind of leap that the Aggies are hoping to see out of Reed in the upcoming season, not only on the field, but off. If Reed can cut down on interceptions, especially in the red zone, the Aggies have a chance to be special this year— and, incidentally, Mond only threw three interceptions in that 2020 season after tossing nine the previous year.
Can Reed become the face of the team in the way that Mond was in his final year? Early returns seem positive— and it looks like the team itself feels that way as well. Hopefully, this is just a sign of more good things to come.
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