As we enter the dog days of summer, AY takes a look at each position group and asks five important questions. We start with the quarterbacks, led by Marcel Reed.
1. Is Marcel Reed THE guy?
He’d better be, because A&M has pinned their hopes to him. Reed wasn’t supposed to be the starting quarterback last year, but he showed enough to wrest the job from Conner Weigman. He improved as the season went on, but the Aggies need him to take another big step forward this year. Reed has a tremendous arm and his speed makes him extremely dangerous outside of the pocket, but he’s got to be more accurate and make better decisions.
Can Reed complete 70% of his passes?
Extremely unlikely. No quarterback in A&M history has completed 70% of his passes in a season, though Johnny Manziel came extremely close in 2013 (69.9%). But he doesn’t have to in order to be a significantly improved quarterback. If he completes 65% of his passes -- he completed 61.2% last year -- that would be major step forward and, with the receivers he has, it could mean quite a few more big plays.
3. Should we expect more from Reed in Collin Klein's offense?
Yes. Reed will have a year and a half in Collin Klein’s scheme by the time the season starts, and this time the offense will emphasize his strengths, which were not necessarily the same as Conner Weigman’s. He’ll also have faster receivers, which doesn’t exactly hurt.
4. Who's the backup?
Jacob Zeno was brought in to back up Reed and it’s supposed to be him. But, at the end of the spring, Miles O’Neill definitely looked like the better of the two. Whether that’s the case by the end of the summer is clearly something we don’t know, but right now, I’d say O’Neill would be the backup if they played this Saturday.
5. What's the plan for freshmen Brady Hart and Eli Morcos?
Keep them away from the playing field for a year or two. Hart is one of the youngest players in college football (maybe the youngest) and Morcos has a lot to work on to develop into an SEC-caliber quarterback. Both have a ton of talent, but need as much time as they can get to be ready.
