{"id":461505,"date":"2026-10-09T20:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/461505\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T20:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:22:10","slug":"texas-am-cannot-afford-to-waste-marcel-reeds-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/461505\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas A&#038;M Cannot Afford to Waste Marcel Reed\u2019s Talent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/tamu\/football\/marcel-reed-has-something-to-prove-against-kentucky\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marcel Reed<\/a> has never been a perfect quarterback. That was true when Texas A&amp;M was winning with him over the past two seasons, and it remains true now as the Aggies try to find some sort of offensive consistency in 2026.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">The difference is that the previous version of Texas A&amp;M\u2019s offense generally did a better job of working around those imperfections. Former offensive coordinator Collin Klein, who left after the 2025 season to become the head coach at Kansas State, his alma mater, built an attack that understood what Reed did well and tried to put him in those situations as often as possible.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6q\">That approach didn\u2019t suddenly turn Reed into the most polished passer in college football, nor did it eliminate some of the issues that have followed him throughout his career. What it did was make those weaknesses less damaging because Texas A&amp;M wasn\u2019t constantly asking him to overcome them.<\/p>\n<p>Texas A&amp;M Has to Make Things Easier for Reed<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01m4h3jqwt8grkmjcv37.jpg\" alt=\"Texas A&amp;M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed\" title=\"Texas A&amp;M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"77\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oct 3, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&amp;M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) celebrates after scoreing a touchdown during the second quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">Reed is at his best when the picture in front of him is relatively clean. He has never been the kind of quarterback who consistently wants to sit in the pocket and work through complicated progressions, but when the play design creates an obvious answer early, he is more than capable of delivering the football where it needs to go.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">Texas A&amp;M also has enough talent at receiver to make life easier on him. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/tamu\/football\/texas-am-avoids-major-injury-scare-with-mario-craver\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mario Craver<\/a> has shown he can be a major part of the passing game, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/tamu\/football\/the-marcel-reed-isaiah-horton-connection-is-already-in-full-swing-for-texas-am\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Isaiah Horton<\/a> gives the Aggies another dependable option on the outside. With that kind of personnel, there should be more opportunities to create simple completions instead of asking Reed to manufacture something once the original play starts to break down.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7n\">His ability to improvise should be the thing that makes the offense more dangerous. It shouldn\u2019t be the thing keeping the whole operation alive.<\/p>\n<p>Reed\u2019s Legs Have to Matter Again<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01m4h3keqx1g0jgzm6s4.jpg\" alt=\"Texas A&amp;M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed\" title=\"Texas A&amp;M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"84\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sep 26, 2026; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA;  Texas A&amp;M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) runs the ball during the second quarter against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium.  Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">The same idea applies to Reed\u2019s mobility, which hasn\u2019t been featured enough this season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8f\">Texas A&amp;M doesn\u2019t need to run its starting quarterback into the ground, but there has to be some threat of him keeping the football. Defenses have had far too many opportunities to play the Aggies without seriously worrying about Reed as a runner, which takes away one of the biggest things that made him difficult to defend in the first place.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8k\">The Arkansas game offered another reminder of what the offense can look like when Reed doesn\u2019t have to carry everything himself. Texas A&amp;M got meaningful production from the running game outside of the quarterback, and that balance allowed Reed to operate without constantly being placed in situations where individual brilliance was required.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8p\">Texas A&amp;M has already shown that Reed can be effective when the offense is built around his strengths. The Aggies don\u2019t need him to become a completely different quarterback.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8u\">They need to do a better job of helping him be the one he already is.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8z\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:click=\"q-DqWrLptv.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"95\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marcel Reed has never been a perfect quarterback. That was true when Texas A&amp;M was winning with him&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-461505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}