Marcel Reed's growth manifestly evident even through stomach-churning Auburn loss

Even despite ugly loss to Auburn, Marcel Reed has announced himself as Texas A&M football's quarterback of the future

Early in the season, when Marcel Reed was forced to take over for Texas A&M football after Conner Weigman's injury, there were a lot of concerns. Reed's dynamic running ability was just as obvious then as it is now, but the worry had to do with his passing ability more than anything else.

As I explained ad nauseum around that time, Reed's running ability could be as strong as we've seen at the quarterback position, but if there was not a pass game to threaten the defense, then this was not an offense that could scale against defenses that keyed completely in on the rush.

The nadir came when Arkansas was essentially packing the box with nine players and daring Reed to throw more than five yards downfield. He was only able to make them pay one time, even though there were manifold opportunities throughout the game.

His hesitancy to attempt passes downfield really dragged down the offense. That's why, when Conner Weigman returned the next game against Missouri and was as dialed in as we've ever seen him, it felt like the answer going forward at QB was obvious.

That turned out to be maybe the best we'll ever see of Weigman, as he has gone far downhill since. When Reed took over in the second half of the LSU game, something seemed to shift.

He only attempted two passes, but he completed both of them. Notably, one was downfield into double coverage, but it was on time and on target (maybe a little short, but the completion was made).

Since then, Reed's ability to pass the ball has completely turned a corner. He doesn't even look like the same guy from earlier in the year in that respect.

Sometimes, these things just click. All of a sudden, it just works. That's how it's looking for Reed right now—and if he can keep that up, his ceiling really is as high as Aggie fans have been dreaming.

That said, he has a stiff test this Saturday. They're no South Carolina, but Pete Kwiatkowski's defense has been a strong unit all year. If Reed can put together a clean and accurate game, the Aggies will have a great shot to put away their rival on Saturday night—and that would make Marcel an A&M hero.