You'd be hard-pressed to find any Texas A&M football fans that are not excited about Marcel Reed going forward into the 2025 season and beyond. Though many, including myself, had a healthy dose of skepticism about his ceiling early on in last season, he showed improvement by leaps and bounds over the course of the previous year.
The thing that really sold me was not his running ability— that much was a given, anyway. His dynamic ability on the ground was what was so intoxicating to Aggie fans in the first place, and it brought a level of explosion to the offense that many felt was missing in the Notre Dame game, for example.
No, what made me change my mind was the clear progression as a passer that Reed showed from first game he started to his second stint as QB1. Admittedly, his appearance against LSU was much more about his scrambling ability than his passing ability; he only threw the ball twice against the Tigers.
When he was announced as the starter against South Carolina, though, I felt far more anxious. Even though the game as a whole was pretty dismal, however, Reed's passing was clearly much better than it had been. He was decisive and accurate on the whole, even though the game ended in disaster.
That improvement continued throughout the end of the year. Even though the Aggies went a regrettable 1-4 down the stretch, Reed's passing was not the reason they were being held back.
Further improvement in that area will make Reed one of the top weapons at the quarterback position in the entire country. Mike Elko spoke yesterday about Reed's progression as a passer, and his attitude about making those necessary strides.
Mike Elko: "Marcel (Reed) has been good. Obviously, it's early. There is still a lot to do. He has embraced the challenge in taking the next step."
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) March 26, 2025
"He knows, and he wants to throw the ball better. He's meeting that challenge head-on."
Elko downplayed things in his trademark way, as you'd expect. Reed is obviously not perfect (even if he was, of course, I imagine Elko wouldn't exactly come into the press room clicking his heels— the man knows how to talk to the media).
The confidence factor definitely took a jump last year as well. That's what RB Rueben Owens addressed in his time at the podium:
Rueben Owens: "Marcel (Reed) has been throwing pretty good. He's just got to get more confident in throwing because he can throw the ball."
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) March 26, 2025
Finding that flow state as a true dual-threat can be one of the toughest things: when you have such a potent weapon in the QB rush game, it can be tough to refrain from both defaulting to that too early, or getting too much in your head and trying to force the ball down the field when you'd be better served by tucking the ball and running.
Reps are really all that will make Marcel better in that aspect of decision-making, but we saw the improvement we'd hope down the stretch. I'm excited, as is doubtless every other Aggie fan, to see him in the spring game.
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