Maybe it was Churchill. Maybe it was Twain. Or maybe it was the Barenaked Ladies in the song “It’s All Been Done.”
Anyway, somebody once proclaimed, “History repeats itself.”
The faithful followers of Texas A&M football — who have endured several years of mediocre quarterback results — would certainly hope so.
Here’s why: The starting quarterback for 11 of the 12 teams in the College Football Playoff passed for more than 2,500 yards this season.
Whether it was due to bad luck, bad schemes or bad passers, no A&M quarterback has reached that mark in five years.
Perhaps Marcel Reed will bring an end to that drought in 2025. Reed spent about half of this season as the backup to Conner Weigman.
Weigman has transferred. Jaylen Henderson has, too. Those departures make it crystal clear that Reed, a redshirt freshman, is A&M’s quarterback of the present and future.
“Obviously, it’s a new (quarterback) room,” Reed said earlier this week. “I’m the leader of it now. It’s a different role for me that I’ve got to take accountability. Take a step forward.
“Just with a lot of new guys, young guys coming in. I’ve got to be that pillar that they can lean on or come to whenever they need help. I’ve got to that guy that leads by example and sets it for them.
“It’s a big role change. I’m looking forward to it next season.”
Reed taking steps forward will be great, especially if he takes the Aggies' quarterback production back to where it once was.
It seems like ancient history now, but in a five-year period from 2009 to 2013, four A&M starting quarterbacks passed for more than 3,500 yards. That included Jerrod Johnson (3,579 in 2009), Ryan Tannehill (3,744 yards) in 2011) and Johnny Manziel (3,706 in 2012 and 4,114 in 2013).
Since then, the only A&M starter to reach 3,000 yards was Kellen Mond with 3,107 passing yards in 2018.
This is where Aggies can glean hope that history, indeed, will repeat itself.
That was Mond’s second year. In his first season, Mond was thrust into the lineup because of injury. He passed for 1,375 yards and eight touchdowns with six interceptions in 10 games.
Similarly, Reed has passed for 1,572 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions. He’s done that in nine games (he didn’t throw a pass vs. Missouri).
He figures to add significantly to his passing totals against USC in the Las Vegas Bowl.
“It’s really important just to go out there and execute and play my best game (in the Las Vegas Bowl),” Reed said. “I feel like if I go out there and do what I need to do, we’re more than capable of winning the game.”
Winning the Las Vegas Bowl would be great. It would clinch a nine-win season. A&M hasn’t had many of those lately. The Aggies have reached nine victories just twice in the previous 10 years.
Any success Reed has in Las Vegas will be celebrated. But the basis of any celebrations will be prospects of what he might do next year.
He’ll have a full year of experience. He should have more confidence. He should have a better group of receivers with Noah Thomas and Terry Bussey returning and transfers Micah Hudson, Mario Craver and five-star recruit Jerome Myles arriving.
“Marcel is a young kid,” A&M coach Mike Elko said. “We have a tremendous amount of confidence in what he’ll be in the future and certainly what he’ll be next year.”
What will he be as a full-time starter in his second year? Who knows. Maybe in the Las Vegas Bowl, he'll show signs that he could be a 3,000-yard passer like Mond, Johnson, Tannehill or Manziel.
That may seem unlikely, given A&M’s recent quarterback production.
But it’s all been done before.
