SEC Nation may have gotten a makeover in the talent that make up the show after losing Laura Rutledge and Jordan Rodgers, but one thing has remained the same: patently puzzling doubt of Texas A&M's QB1, Marcel Reed. The Aggies are facing off with Missouri State tonight at 6 PM CT on ESPN, so there’s not a whole lot of doubt about who will win the game— so the crew instead was picking whether Marcel Reed would exceed 265 passing yards.
That’s a pretty low bar for the Aggie QB against a team like Missouri State, especially when you consider how well the Aggies have reloaded at receiver. Even with all that in mind, though, three out of the four hosts on SEC Nation selected Marcel to fail to reach that mark.
Tim Tebow, Paul Finebaum, and Chase Daniel all chose Marcel to go under 265 yards against Missouri State, with only Roman Harper— who himself has displayed skepticism about Texas A&M’s overall roster talent recently— saying Reed would hit that mark.
SEC Nation’s Marcel Reed doubt shows he’ll have to disprove a lot of narratives
There’s some strategy in this pick, in a way— it could well be that the Aggies hit some huge runs early in the first half and then decide to sit Reed for the remainder of the game. But that’s not the way it was put on the show— the hosts talked about how seldom Reed hit that number last season as their reasoning.
Of course, Reed hit that mark against all of their lower-level opponents last season— except against Utah State, where he exited due to injury. He also exceeded that mark against South Carolina and Notre Dame, as a matter of fact.
This is another piece in a long string of evidence that Reed is being extremely underrated, even by media members who should know better. Marcel is going to have to disprove a whole offseason’s worth of narratives with his play this season, and that is going to begin tonight against the Bears.
With the danger that a guy like Mario Craver poses, not to mention the matchup issues that Isaiah Horton represents against a defense like Missouri State, fans should expect Marcel to have a big day. That’s not even to mention the reported huge steps that Reed has taken over this offseason, which should show up in a big way tonight.
Reed was very reliant last year on hitting explosive plays, and he had a great receiving corps to do it with Craver and Concepcion, but under Wiggins, he’s learned to take the smaller plays against conservative defenses. A heavier dose of RPO and air-raid concepts should be enough to let Reed operate in his comfort zone the entire night, and though he will likely exit before the game ends, it should be with some pretty impressive numbers.
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