Why Mike Elko and Texas A&M should avoid the DJ Lagway sweepstakes at all costs

Texas A&M football fans well recall the furious rush to sign DJ Lagway out of high school in the first days of Mike Elko's tenure as head coach in College Station. The five-star signal caller out of Willis, Texas, grew up very near Aggieland, and with his clear affinity for the school, it seemed like the Aggies might have been able to pull off a flip late in the cycle.

However, that never came to pass, and Lagway has spent the last two years in Gainesville (despite continued buzz around him and the Aggies), where he's been a top name nationally thanks to his clear physical gifts. The Aggies have gotten an up-close look at him the last two seasons, as they've faced off with the Gators both on the road and at home.

Though the flashes he's shown have been exciting, the Aggies shouldn't go near this one with a ten-foot pole. With an accomplished signal-caller already on campus— and one who was a Heisman contender for most of the year— the Aggies need to stand pat in this one.

Texas A&M doesn't need DJ Lagway— they already have Marcel Reed

Let's just do a quick comparison, shall we? In two seasons where both were part-time starters the first year and full-time starters the year after, there's a clear hierarchy between these two players— and the former five-star isn't the one who comes out on top here.

This year is where the disparity has been clearest. Reed has accounted for 3398 total yards of offense between his passing and running, while Lagway has accounted for only 2400. Reed's 7.96 yards per play is more than 2 full yards greater than Lagway's 5.88 yards per play— a pretty notable disparity over the sample size.

For whatever accuracy gripes Aggie fans have had about Reed, too, he's been far more careful with the ball. He has passed for 25 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, while Lagway has thrown only 16 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. The advanced stats bear this out as well: Aggies also notched 0.418 PPA/pass, while the Gators only managed 0.176 PPA/pass, according to collegefootballdata.com.

There have been games where the Aggies have put everything on Reed's arm to win it for them, and they've come out smelling like a rose. Meanwhile, the Gators have far more often needed to lean on the rushing attack to win them games— Jadan Baugh was the engine of that offense in Gainesville, and when Lagway was the focus, things went sour more often than not.

The Aggies need to resist the temptation to jump in on a player like this solely based off of clout. While Lagway's physical gifts are beyond question, there's more that goes into a quarterback than just that— so the Ags would be far better served by sticking with Marcel Reed.