In spring, Mike Elko’s quarterback Marcel Reed has been the hot topic of discussion. On That SEC Football Podcast, the conversation went like this- host Michael Bratton asked, “Is there a returning starting quarterback in the SEC that I think the overall SEC fans have less confidence in than Marcel Reed?” Reed’s marks were deducted as he struggled with the pocket and downfield accuracy. Cousin Shane doubled down with a hot take, “I think Reed is the one. It’s kind of funny; not funny, it’s sad. But I’ve talked about this multiple times. Would you be surprised in November if we’re not talking about Reed as one of the best quarterbacks in this conference? I wouldn’t be blown away.” While November is still a long way to go, Reed dishes out some threats for his rivals. 

Against Utah State, Reed left the game in the third quarter after landing awkwardly at the end of a run. However, Elko did not panic and said he was OK without dropping any hint that Reed was injured. Instead, the head coach sounded confident that the quarterback would play against Notre Dame. Being a physically demanding game, Reed was asked to share his experience, and that’s when he ended up with a sharp promise. 

On September 18, the Texas A&M quarterback was invited on the TexAgs podcast. He shared, “Yeah. I’m feeling better. You know, that was a game that had to kind of thug it out a little bit. Yeah. And you know, thankfully, I did.” Reed can’t be thankful enough to the universe for the divine timing. As the quarterback shared, “But yeah, you know, this bye-week, like I said, is at a good time. Got time to rest up and get treated. But you know, it’s nothing too, it wasn’t anything too bad. It was just kind of, you know, taking a couple of blows to the same spot.” Time for the Aggies fans to let out a big sigh of relief. With this, Reed puts his rivals on high alert as he warned, “But we’re back.”

Reed lost his footing while scrambling and was struck by a defender while on the ground. He stayed down briefly as trainers quickly attended to him. After a couple of minutes, he got to his feet and walked to the sideline. Reed then spent some time in the medical tent before emerging and jogging off the field alongside the trainers.

In the Utah State game, the quarterback played a starring role, scoring on a 1-yard run and hitting a 12-yard touchdown pass to help the Aggies pull away. On the defensive side, Texas A&M was relentless. Defensive end Cashius Howell made history by sacking Bryson Barnes on three consecutive plays, forcing a punt in the second quarter. The last time a player has recorded sacks on three straight snaps was when Jack Cichy pulled off the feat for Wisconsin against USC in the 2015 Holiday Bowl. Meanwhile, head coach Elko could not be more prouder of Reed. 

Mike Elko’s praise for Marcel Reed sets the tone

The quarterback had yet to run a play for the 2025 season. Even before that, during the first SEC weekly Zoom conference of the year, Elko showered heavy praise on Reed. “I think he understands what it takes to be a quarterback in the conference and this league, and you’ll start to see the star that he is,” said the Texas A&M head coach. 

A month later, Elko still holds the same notion. On September 16, TexAgs tweeted, “Mike Elko at the @HoustonTDClub: “The reality is Marcel Reed was a top ten guy in QBR and nobody talked about it. For whatever reason, the narrative created about him was that he was just a running quarterback, but he’s never just been that. He got so much better last year, throwing the ball, but so many people missed it because we were losing games. We saw the growth, but a lot of people missed it.””

Elko shed light on Reed’s feat last season. The quarterback led the Aggies to a win in his first career start, throwing 11-of-17 for 178 yards and two touchdowns. In Week 3, he became the first Aggie quarterback to pass for 175-plus yards and rush for 75-plus yards in a game since Kellen Mond in 2017. But again, the Aggies ended the season with a three-loss streak, and Reed’s passing talent got buried underneath. Cut to 2025, the spark of the Utah State clash came when Reed dropped a dime to Mario Craver, who hauled in a 34-yard beauty for the early Aggie lead. 

The fact that Marcel Reed comes off as the package made analyst Billy Liucci his biggest fan. “Good throws are good throws. Quicker decision-making is quicker decision-making. A greater willingness to take off and run is a greater willingness to take off and run. And the leadership we’ve seen from him—I like that as my freak,” said the analyst. Now the question is: can Reed and his crew back up the warning shot they’ve fired at their rivals?