COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Down 10 points early in the third quarter of a 38-23 win against No. 8 LSU, Texas A&M backup quarterback Marcel Reed was approached by Texas A&M assistant QBs coach Josh Buford.
“It’s you,” Buford said. “Let’s go.”
The redshirt freshman had started games earlier this season, but was sent back to the bench when once-ballyhooed starter Conner Weigman got healthy. The staff did not give him any indication during halftime that turning to him might be an option. However, Weigman’s struggles against LSU opened the door to other options for the No. 14 Aggies.
Weigman completed just 6-of-18 passes for 64 yards. He was sacked multiple times and struggled mightily against a strong game plan to confuse him from LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker. After another stalled drive, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko decided it was time to make a change.
“We felt like things weren’t moving the way we wanted to,” Elko said. “It certainly wasn’t Conner’s fault. There weren’t a lot of open windows, we couldn’t get the passing game unglued at all. We couldn’t call it right, I couldn’t get them to run it right, we couldn’t get open. It was just a litany of problems. We just felt like we needed a spark. We pulled the trigger and went with Marcel, and what a spark he gave us.”
Reed’s first snap came on the LSU eight-yard line after Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw an interception. He ran a zone read, pulled the ball and ran past a wave of LSU defenders into the end zone relatively unscathed. It was only the beginning.
On the next four drives, Texas A&M scored four straight touchdowns to turn a 17-7 deicit into a 35-23 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Reed only had to throw two pass attempts in the win, but both were completed. The freshman hit Noah Thomas for a 54-yard completion down the middle of the field to set up another touchdown. Otherwise, it was Texas A&M leaning on the run over and over and over again. LSU had no answers.
“They were just crashing our running backs,” Reed said. “They put me in to give a spark with my legs a little bit. When they crashed, I’d pull the ball and run. They did it a lot and I got a lot of opportunities to get some space and run and they didn’t really make any adjustments.”
A five-star in-state prospect, Weigman was the face of Texas A&M’s legendary 2022 recruiting class, the first No. 1 group in program history. Even after a coaching change, Weigman stuck it out.
After injuries limited him, he stuck it out. But after No. 14 Texas A&M’s upset victory over No. 8 LSU to take sole possession of first place in the SEC standings, Weigman was on the sidelines – by a coaching decision, this time.
“He took it great,” Elko said. “I told him, it’s not on you. I’ll tell everybody it’s not on you. We all let him down, but we needed a spark and we were just at a point where we had to try something different.”
After he was benched, the television camera appeared to catch Weigman looking upset after Elko spoke to him. Following the Aggie War Hymn, Weigman was quick to head to the locker room. Both teammates and opponents slapped him on the back and consoled him.
Reed said that Weigman was supportive of him when he entered the game.
“We’re brothers, we’re teammates,” Reed said. “I have his back, he has mine. He was excited for me just as I would be for him.”
There was no long-term decision made on whether Weigman or Reed will start for the Aggies when they travel to South Carolina next week. Weigman could simply slide back into the starting lineup — a defensive mastermind, Elko knows well South Carolina, with a week to prepare, would be more prepared for the dimension Reed brings than flat-footed LSU. It could be an open competition in practice. Regardless, this is how quickly careers can change for quarterbacks, even highly-rated ones.
While Reed was sensational against LSU, he’s had issues of his own. Heading into the weekend, he was completing only 54% of his passes — a similar mark he met in high school. Reed has yet to throw for more than 200 yards in a game. Recruiting rankings are generally accurate in correctly pointing toward a player’s possible ceiling; Reed was on the low end of the four-star range and the No. 20 QB in the 2022 class and may still have a way to go with his arm. As 247Sports’ Cooper Petagna wrote in his scouting report of Reed:
Has some make you miss ability as a runner and has the ability to extend plays outside the pocket where he excels as a playmaker. Will need to continue to develop more consistently from an accuracy standpoint in the pocket, as he has a tendency to rely on his playmaking ability on the move.
At the same time, Weigman is down to 53% completion with one touchdown and four interceptions against FBS competition in 2024.
Elko suddenly has the Lone Star State’s biggest QB conflict on his hands. It’s a good problem to have in the wake of a massive, program-changing win that puts Texas A&M on the doorstep of a College Football Playoff berth. How he navigates the room through November is critical.
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