In his first career start, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed toasted Florida for 261 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. While his performance raised eyebrows across the country, people who see him every day took it in stride.
"It was exciting to see him finally do it to someone else that's not us," defensive tackle Albert Regis said. "We dealt with that for Lord knows how long. I can't tell you the amount of times I seen him do that to our defense."
Reed's first two serious appearances at the college level can only be considered outstanding. He threw for 361 yards playing with a very short-handed squad in the Texas Bowl last December, then was unfazed by the din of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as he dismembered the Gators in a game that was a near must-win for coach Billy Napier and his staff.
"Marcel was lights out," coach Mike Elko said after the Aggies (2-1) finished off their 33-20 pasting of Florida Saturday night. "He could have thrown it a lot more ... He was calm, he was confident, he made throws."
Reed, who has received plenty of snaps with the first team after beating out Jaylen Henderson for the backup job, said he didn't know he would start instead of the injured Conner Weigman until right before gametime.
"“Coach Elko came over to me and said, ‘It’s your game,’” Reed recounted. "As we were walking in (to the locker room after warmups), Conner was telling me, 'I'll be right behind you, I got your back', and stuff like that. 'Go run the show.' Both of those guys had confidence in me and made me feel great going into the game."
He quickly showed that the din of The Swamp would not be an issue, scrambling for 31 yards to get the Aggies out of a 2nd and 21 hole deep in their own territory on A&M's first drive.
"That's the dimension that he has," Elko said. "He has the ability that when a plate breaks down, he can utilize his legs and we can make something happen. And you know, he's got a lot of confidence in his ability to do that."
That would lead to a field goal; the second drive was a touchdown. The Aggies would put up 10 more points in the first half, including a 1-yard sneak by Reed to cap off a 99-yard drive, to go into the locker room up 20-0.
The first touchdown was a 29-yard completion to tight end Theo Ohrstrom, the first in the career of the player known as Baby Thor. Reed said that play helped him catch lightning in a bottle as well.
"That was a full progression read, and I made it through just about all the way, and I kind of took a little hit at the end," Reed said. "I was like, 'I can do this, I'm not a little kid, but I can make plays in this in this conference.' And, you know, that one just set me up for some success, and gave me the confidence I needed to go play the rest of the game."
While the 99-yard drive -- almost all of which was on the ground -- my have knocked Florida down for the count, Reed made sure they didn't get back up. A quick touchdown to start the second half moved Florida back to within 20-7 and brought what was left of the crowd back to life. Reed silenced it again two plays later with a 73-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Cyrus Allen.
“My read told me to throw the flat, but I just saw that Cyrus’s cover guy just sitting there and Cyrus passing him,” Reed said of the massive coverage bust that left Allen free down the left sideline. "I know that guy's a fast dude, so I let him get the ball."
Reed was a late addition to the 2023 recruiting class, having been a commit to Ole Miss for nearly eight months before flipping to the Aggies on Dec. 19, 2022. He said that his visits to A&M gave him a much higher comfort level than those to Oxford, which led to his switch.
"I felt a lot more comfortable here. The people here who took the visits with me just made me feel like, I mean, we were brothers immediately," he said. "I just felt comfortable coming to this program, knowing people that were going to take care of me."
Even though he wasn't at A&M at the time, Elko is happy Reed had that comfort level. The redshirt freshman's presence gives the Aggies enviable depth at quarterback, and a 1-0 record in SEC play.
"We have a lot of confidence in Marcel. We always have," Elko said Monday. "I've stood on this podium multiple times and talked about him as a really talented quarterback long before he had to go into a game and try to win this one. So that's why I think I said after the game, it didn't surprise me (that Reed played well)."
