Texas A&M coach Mike Elko on Monday was noncommittal on the Aggies’ quarterback situation moving forward.
However, he did again express confidence in freshman Marcel Reed, who filled in for injured starter Conner Weigman and led the Aggies to a 33-20 victory over Florida last Saturday.
Elko didn’t reveal whether Reed will remain the starter on Saturday against Bowling Green if Weigman is sufficiently recovered from a sprain AC joint in his throwing shoulder.
He indicated the starter likely will be another gametime decision.
“Conner is going to be listed as day to day and week to week,” Elko said. “We’ll kind of get him through and see where he’s at with everything.
“We’ll continue to manage the quarterback room very similar to how we have and play the guy on Saturday that we think gives us the best chance to win.”
Reed demonstrated that he can give the Aggies an excellent change. He completed 11-of-17 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns against Florida. He also rushed for 83 yards and a TD.
“Conner is going to be listed as day to day and week to week. We’ll kind of get him through and see where he’s at with everything. We’ll continue to manage the quarterback room very similar to how we have and play the guy on Saturday that we think gives us the best chance to win.”
- Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko
“We have a lot of confidence in Marcel,” Elko said. “We always have. 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 us one. That’s why I think I said after the game it didn’t surprise me.
“Is he as consistent? Yeah. He’s consistent and he’s young and he goes through the ups-and-downs of being a quarterback. No different than Conner. No different than Jaylen (Henderson). He’s got a skill set we can work with and we have a lot of confidence that we can put points on the board with him as our quarterback.”
Aggie defensive tackle Albert Regis, who has frequently faced Reed in practice, said he’s been aware of that skill set for awhile.
“It was exciting to see him finally do it to someone else that’s not us,” Regis said. “We dealt with that Lord knows how long. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen him do that to our defense.
“We knew he could do it. Don’t get me wrong. When you see it against someone else that’s not one of your own teammates … that’s a different type of joy.”
Manning up
Going into the game against Florida, A&M was ranked 110th in the nation in rushing defense.
Notre Dame rushed for 198 yards in the season opener. Then, McNeese ran for 180 albeit most of it was against backups and freshmen in the second half.
“It sucked. I’m not going to lie,” Regis said. “It’s not cool when teams run the ball on you because that’s an attack on your manhood. But it happens. All we can do is just learn from it.”
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Texas A&M limited Florida to just 73 yards of offense and only 7 rushing yards in the first half of last Saturday’s 33-20 victory.
They aced their next test. The Aggies are now ranked 80th after limiting the Gators to just 52 rushing yards. A&M smothered Florida’s top running back Montrell Johnson, who was held to minus-seven rushing yards on seven carries.
“We challenge each other to stop the run,” Regis said. “Whether it’s from Notre Dame to McNeese to Florida the run game is the run game. What you put out there on film is what teams are going to try to take advantage of.
“So we challenge ourselves every week to ‘stop the run, stop the run, stop the run.’ We refuse to get the ball ran on us. When it does happen that’s a sense of frustration because that’s an attack of our manhood and who we stand for as a D-line and a defense.”
Secondary concerns
Elko wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t mad about the Aggies’ secondary play vs. Florida.
After all, the Aggies grabbed three interceptions. Bryce Anderson returned one 45 yards for a touchdown.
But they surrendered 249 yards and gave up two third-quarter touchdown passes.
Elko’s evaluation of the secondary?
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Against the Gators, Texas A&M recorded three interceptions in a game for the first time since Nov. 11, 2023, vs. Mississippi State at Kyle Field.
“Not great. We weren’t bad, but we weren’t great,” he said. “We’re still learning how to play the coverage in the system at the level that we want to. I think there’s a little more than goes into it when you start playing SEC talent on the outside. It’s not just straight ‘I’ve got him.’
“You’re trying to do some different things with combination coverages and how you’re trying to pass things off. I don’t think we always did that exactly the way we wanted to. But I do think at the end of the day we executed the plan the way we wanted to create a multitude of looks for them but we could have been a lot more detailed in the way we did it.”
Losing Chappell
Perhaps some of the secondary issues might have been a byproduct of losing nickelback Tyreek Chappell, who sustained a season-ending knee injury in a 52-10 victory over McNeese.
Last week he was replaced in the starting lineup by Jaydon Hill.
“Tyreek was having a really, really good year,” Elko said. “He had done an awful lot through spring ball and fall camp and was playing at a really high level. He’ll be missed tremendously. (He’s) Certainly one of — if not the — most talented players we had back there in the secondary.
“Injuries happen. It’s got to be the next man up. We’ve got to get ourselves ready to go. Obviously, Jaydon Hill will play a big role in that. We’ll start to figure out who potentially shuffles in and around that position.”
Elko hinted someone may move from cornerback to the nickel spot.
Chappell, a senior, could take this year as a redshirt year and have another season of college eligibility.
NOTES
- Elko praised his team’s effort in the victory over Florida, which ended a streak of 10 consecutive losses in true road games. “I just thought we played harder than we did the first two weeks. That’s something we challenged them to do. That showed up all over the tape,” he said.
- Elko announced Trey Zuhn III was named the team’s Offensive Lineman of the Week for his performance against Florida. Shemar Stewart was Defensive Lineman of the Week. Quarterback Marcel Reed was named Offensive Player of the Week. Cashius Howell was the Defensive Player of the Week. Taurean York was Special Teams Player of the Week. Zuhn was also named the SEC Lineman of the Week and Reed was named SEC Freshman of the Week.
- Center Kolinu'u Faaiu left the Florida game with an injury, but will be back soon. Elko said Faaiu and defensive back Trey Jones III, who sat out the Florida game, are “day to day.” He said they’ll likely be listed as questionable.
