October has a history of turning relievers into legends.
Usually, that’s on the diamond, not the gridiron.
However, on Saturday night, it was Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed who turned in the most impressive relief performance of the week, outshining anybody toeing the rubber in the Fall Classic.
And for that, he was named the Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Week for the second time this season.
In A&M’s 38-23 victory over LSU in front of 108,852 at a blacked-out Kyle Field, Reed spurred a furious second-half rally by leading five straight scoring drives after being thrust into action early in the third quarter.
“They say every game be prepared,” he said postgame. “You know, it takes all of us. And that’s what our coaches preach all the time. It takes all of us.”
From Reed, it took 62 rushing yards, three scores on the ground and just two passing attempts (both completed) for 70 yards to erase a 17-7 second-half deficit.
He was the perfect changeup at the perfect time for scuffling starter Conner Weigman.
“He came up to me and said, ‘Let’s go, you got it,’” Reed said of Weigman. “I told him, ‘I got you.’
“You know, we’re brothers. We’re teammates. I mean, I have his back. He has mine. So, you know, he was just as excited as I would be for him if he was in the game.”
The excitement began as soon as Reed stepped on the field.
After BJ Mayes picked off Garrett Nussmeier and gave A&M the ball at the LSU 8-yard line, the redshirt freshman’s keeper found paydirt on his first play of the game.
On his second series, Reed led a seven-play — all runs — scoring march that covered 60 yards. It was Reed’s 8-yard run that put A&M ahead for good.
“It means a lot,” he said of the win. “It’s a huge win. It was LSU. You know, we all had a chip on our shoulder. We didn’t really think they respected us coming into Kyle Field. So I mean, getting that spark in the second half and getting the team going, I mean, there was no going back from that at all. The team did a great job of answering.”
Reed didn’t attempt a pass until his ninth snap of the night, a completion to Le’Veon Moss for 16 yards. His only other throw was a 54-yard bomb to Noah Thomas to immediately answer an LSU touchdown.
He didn’t need to throw as A&M’s offensive line paved the way for 229 yards on the ground in the second half alone.
On the year, Reed is now 3-0 as a starter, and keeping with the baseball analogy, he earned another win in relief to improve to 4-0. He has thrown for 655 yards, ran for 288 and accounted for 11 total touchdowns without a turnover across six games of action.
