FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas could face a redshirt freshman starting quarterback for the second consecutive SEC game Saturday.
Last week it was Auburn’s Hank Brown.
Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed might make the start when the Razorbacks (3-1, 1-0 SEC) play the No. 24 Aggies (3-1, 1-0) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Texas A&M Coach Mike Elko said Monday who starts at quarterback will be a game-time decision, but Reed has started the past two games in place of injured Conner Weigman.
Weigman, a redshirt sophomore, missed Texas A&M’s 34-22 win over Arkansas last season with a foot injury.
Now Weigman is sidelined with an injured AC joint in his shoulder.
Texas A&M is 2-0 with Reed as the starter, winning 33-20 at Florida and beating Bowling Green 26-20 at home.
“We’re familiar with him,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. “We tried to recruit him here. He’s got a strong arm and an ability to run.”
Reed, 6-2 and 180 pounds, was a 4-star recruit at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn. He initially committed to Ole Miss, then flipped to Texas A&M.
In three games, including playing off the bench in a 52-10 win over McNeese State, Reed has completed 32 of 58 passes for 422 yards and 4 touchdowns without an interception, and rushed 32 times for 217 yards and 1 touchdown.
The Razorbacks forced Brown to the bench in the second half when they intercepted him three times in the first half and won 24-14 at Auburn.
It was Brown’s second career start after he had four touchdown passes without an interception in the Tigers’ 45-19 win over New Mexico.
Florida wasn’t able to take advantage of Reed’s inexperience the way Arkansas did against Brown.
The Aggies led the Gators 33-7 in the third quarter and coasted to the victory in Elko’s first conference game.
Reed completed 11 of 17 passes for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns at Florida and rushed 13 times for 83 yards.
“I thought he was lights out,” Elko said after the game. “I thought he could have thrown it a lot more.
“We kind of took the air out of it a little bit when we got the big lead in the second half and protected it the way I think you should to win football games on the road.
“But he was calm. He was confident. He made throws.”
Texas A&M broke a 10-game road losing streak. The Aggies’ last road win had come on Oct. 16, 2021, in a 35-14 victory over Missouri at Columbia, Mo.
“Marcel helped us,” Texas A&M junior safety Bryce Anderson said after the Florida game. “Showed up in a big way.
“Got out there and wasn’t afraid of The Swamp. Came out there and played huge for us, man. Last year, he’d be giving us scout looks and be killing our No. 1 defense.
“So we pretty much knew what Marcel had. He’s just been waiting on his chance.”
It was the second game in which Reed got significant playing time after last year’s Texas Bowl against Oklahoma State.
Weigman was injured and five-game starter Max Johnson transferred to North Carolina after the regular season when Jaylen Henderson took over as the starter.
Henderson broke his arm on the first play of the bowl game and Reed took over. He completed 20 of 33 passes for 361 yards and had a 20-yard rushing touchdown.
“It helped me prepare a little bit just because of the speed of the game,” Reed said to describe the benefit of the bowl experience. “I had to get used to that really quick.”
Bowling Green, a Mid-American Conference team that lost at No. 9 Penn State 34-27 on Sept. 7, also gave Texas A&M a tough game.
Falcons quarterback Connor Bazelak, who also played at Missouri and Indiana, passed for 250 yards and a touchdown against the Aggies.
“Hats off to Bowling Green,” Elko said. “That’s a very good football team who came in here and certainly didn’t take a back seat in any way to us and in a lot of ways took it to us.”
Reed completed 16 of 29 passes for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns and rushed 12 times for 91 yards against Bowling Green. His 5-yard touchdown pass to Jahdae Walker gave the Aggies a 20-10 lead in the third quarter before the Falcons rallied.
“At times he did the things we needed him to do,” Elko said. “At times, he didn’t.
“But it’s not all on Marcel. … When you talk about settling down your quarterback, it’s probably a catch-phrase for we’ve got to operate more consistently with what we’re doing.
“So I don’t want to make it sound like it’s just on Marcel. It certainly isn’t just on Marcel.”
Weigman injured his shoulder in Texas A&M’s 23-13 home loss in the opener to Notre Dame, then aggravated it against McNeese State. He dressed out at Florida and went through warmups but did not suit out against Bowling Green.
“We didn’t want to give him the shot,” Elko said, referring to a numbing injection. “He is dealing with the pain of that shoulder. We are trying to get him to the point of throwing comfortably.”
Weigman’s status for the Arkansas game won’t be known until Wednesday night when SEC teams are required to release an injury report for conference games listing players as probable, questionable, doubtful or out.
The Razorbacks logically need to have a practice plan for Reed and Weigman.
“Conner’s athletic as well as Marcel,” Pittman said. “Probably not a tremendous amount of difference in how we’ll prepare for the game.”
Elko was asked Monday about Reed’s progress.
“He’s got a big arm,” Elko said. “He’s got tremendous athleticism. I still think there’s some progressions, reads, checks that he’s still working through.
“I think those things have made tremendous strides from spring ball through fall camp, through playing against McNeese, Florida. Last week, the multiplicity of defense and learning how to maneuver through all of that.
“I just think he’s a young quarterback who gets better every time he takes snaps under center.”
Reed is the first Texas A&M quarterback to have two touchdown passes and rush for more than 80 yards in consecutive games since Johnny Manziel did it against Alabama and Sam Houston State in 2012 — the season he won the Heisman Trophy.
”What he’s done well is he’s ran the offense,” Pittman said. “You don’t see a lot of confusion from his O-line to him. He has gotten out of bad plays.
“In other words, if he’s feeling pressure, he can run and make plays. He’s done a good job of not giving it to the opponent.
“To me, he’s just playing older than what his game experience would be.”
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66f3bde5460b41c586778da7ff81682a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wholehogsports.com%2Fnews%2F2024%2Fsep%2F25%2Ftexas-am-football-has-quarterback-question-heading-into-arkansas-game%2F&c=7091430696178998129&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-24 20:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.