For Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, the move from leading a College Football Playoff run to sitting on the hot seat came fast. Reed impressed in his first season as a starter, but late-season struggles have now sparked internal questions about his future, with CFB insider Josh Pate suggesting the Aggies may explore other quarterback options before fully committing.

According to Josh Pate, Texas A&M is likely to have a conversation about bringing a quarterback from the portal as a replacement for Marcel Reed for next season, revealing the harsh reality of the modern college football trend. That uncertainty is magnified by Reed’s reported $2.1 million NIL valuation, which sources believe Texas A&M is not prepared to fully commit to before exploring its transfer portal options.

“If this were 10 years ago, it would be ‘Marcel just got to get better,” said Josh Pate on the December 21 episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show. “We’ve got to hope he makes a leap this year to next year, and the staff’s got to get behind him and support him. Got to build around him.

Now, it’s well, if he’s not good enough, we’ll just go get a guy out of the portal, and we’ll shake hands with him and tell him to be on his way. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. What I’m saying is, it’s absolutely a conversation that’s going to happen in that building. That’s a place that spends a lot of money on football players. That’s a place that would be very desirable for portal quarterbacks.”

If you take a look at Marcel Reed’s 2025 season, he wasn’t that bad as a first-time starter. He completed 234 of 377 passes for 3,169 yards for 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also rushed 483 yards for six touchdowns in 104 attempts. Reed led the Aggies to an 11-game winning streak and was also in the Heisman conversation.

However, his late-season struggles could not be ignored. The concerns weren’t really about the Samford tune-up, but what happened when the competition spiked late. Texas held the offense in check, and Miami’s playoff defense finished the job.

Over the final two games, the roughly $2 million NIL-valued Marcel Reed did not score a touchdown, but had four interceptions and was sacked eight times, seven times against the Hurricanes. This ended Texas A&M’s hard-earned CFP run, keeping Reed in the hot seat.

Mike Elko on Marcel Reed’s 2025 season

While Josh Pate questions Marcel Reed’s future as Texas A&M’s QB1, the Aggies’ head coach, Mike Elko, still believes that Reed could bounce back stronger in the upcoming season.

“Yeah, I think he’s still a young quarterback,” said Mike Elko in the postgame press conference, losing to Miami. “I still think there’s a lot of room for development and growth from him. I think you saw major strides this year, but I still think there’s a ceiling there that he’s not close to hitting.

He’s a great kid. He’s a hard worker. I know he’ll go back to work this offseason, and I think you’ll get a much better version of him next year with another year of continued development in our system.”

Though Elko hasn’t spoken about the potential replacement for Marcel Reed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Texas A&M brings a quarterback from the transfer portal. And in today’s portal-driven landscape, Texas A&M is expected to at least evaluate the quarterback market this offseason, regardless of Reed’s status entering spring.