David Pollack explains how Marcel Reed transforms Texas A&M offense
David Pollack doesn’t analyze college football games for ESPN anymore, but that doesn’t mean the former Georgia star linebacker doesn’t have 2 eyes and a platform to speak about the game.
On Saturday night, Pollack sat back and watched Texas A&M backup quarterback Marcel Reed enter the showdown against LSU and propel the Aggies to a huge victory that has them right in the middle of the College Football Playoff conversation. Texas A&M trailed LSU, 17-7, at halftime, needed a spark with starting QB Conner Weigman struggling and turned to the freshman Reed, who responded immediately with 3 touchdown runs that led the Aggies to a 38-23 victory.
Like the raucous 12th Man at Kyle Field and Aggies fans screaming from home, Pollack took notice.
“Insert Marcel Reed, you look up and this stuff went bananas, (a) 21-0 run in 9 minutes of time,” said Pollack. “I don’t think A&M has a quarterback controversy anymore. I think they’re pretty certain that that’s Marcel Reed’s job now moving forward.”
Marcel Reed totally transforms @AggieFootball’s outlook for this season. pic.twitter.com/eTKZjD40zk
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) October 29, 2024
Reed completed both of his pass attempts on Saturday for 70 yards, and he finished with 9 carries for 62 yards and those 3 game-changing touchdown runs.
Despite Pollack’s justified excitement over Reed, nothing concrete has been decided yet by head coach Mike Elko regarding who will start at quarterback in the 10th-ranked Aggies’ Week 10 showdown at South Carolina on Saturday night. Texas A&M will kick things off with the Gamecocks at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, as the Aggies look for their 8th straight victory.
Okay, you can become too enamored with a running QB, and it’s fine if you stay ahead on the score board. IF, however, you get behind by two possessions especially in the 4th quarter, you will need a passer.
Reed can pass.
I think there will be significant packages for both QB’s going forward.
He will transform until the opposing defense stacks the line and forces him to pass.
Then it will be evident that a 50% passer will not be adequate.
“When you have two quarterbacks you have none” John Madden. Weigman is an enigma. He’s shown to be an efficient passer in some games, not so much in others. A big part of that is a lackluster WR corps. Reed is what he is. He’s a raw passer that will take one look, then tuck & run. LSU had no answer for Reed. They kept Weigman bottled up for a half. I would suspect Elko is going to start Weigman & pull him if he can’t produce. SCar is hungry for W & Williams-Brice is an imposing place to play.
Weigman had no help against LSU. Pass protection was pitiful to abysmal, as documented by their scores. Five passes hit receivers in the hands and were dropped. Receivers were not doing a good job of getting open, or not soon enough. Moss fumbled and killed a drive. Run blocking was even poor.
Elko mentioned this in the press conference.
Weigman’s strength pre-broken leg/ankle last year was the ability to step into the pocket under pressure and deliver the football accurately. Since he has returned this year, that is not the case. He floats, throws off his back foot, seems to have lost any inkling of touch on the football, and has been inaccurate. I wonder if he has the yips (as any normal person would after a gruesome lower leg injury like that). I agree with your sentiment that Marcel has not been great at completing the football (see Arkansas, Bowling Green). However, I am not sure that is entirely his fault. Lack of separation from the receiving corps has been a problem all year with Weigman or Marcel. At this point, I just don’t see how you pull a kid that has won 3 SEC football games for your team. I’d take Marcel, with Weigman ready to come in should we need him.
Well, this did not age well.
As I feared, SC stacked the line and stuffed the run. Reed could not stretch the field.
And even on short passes that were completed, he was often off target. The receiver had to go down to make the catch or climb a ladder. Neither allowed YAC. Reminds me of Mond (not a good memory).
Every opponent from here out will follow SC’s strategy.